Steven Utley
Bewildering Stories biography
to Bewildering Stories bibliography
In response to a request for personal data, Mr. Utley replied only that he is “an internationally unknown author.” The publishers have resorted to a simple name-search on the internet to glean the following information: Mr. Utley was born on March 28, 1736, and is also a professional golfer, a former NFL Pro lineman, a jazz musician, and a corporate executive. Married since 1894, he currently teaches middle-schoolers and died at the age of 62.
[Your ever-diligent copy editor gleaned the following from the Asimov's forum. It seemed a shame to let such an interesting and informative bio go to waste when it could be immortalized in Bewildering Stories.]
Usually I just tell people that I’m an internationally unknown author and let it go at that. I’m making an effort here to break out of my shell.
I am a former Air Force brat who got through adolescence on Famous Monsters of Filmland, Marvel comics, the Beatles, and Ace paperback editions of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Earlier, much earlier, I had learned to enjoy marking on paper in imitation of what I read, but when I was 14 or 15 Ray Bradbury set a fire in my soul, and I knew that I must, somehow, Write. I leave it to others to decide how well I’ve succeeded at this ambition.
I am a voracious and fairly omnivorous reader. During the past week, I’ve finished off Mars: The Lure of the Red Planet, Philip K. Dick’s Galactic Pot-Healer, and John Updike’s Assorted Prose, and got deep into William James’ Varieties of Religious Experience. I’m also working on The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain and, last night, began reading an old scientifiction novel by Fletcher Pratt, The Onslaught from Rigel, in a pulp magazine called Wonder Stories Annual. At my house, Jane Austen, Vladimir Nabokov, and Tarzan live together in peace. I still have lots of comics, too.
I’ve always loved comics (which is not quite the same thing as loving everything in comics). I went directly from Classics Illustrated adaptations of Jules Verne novels to the novels themselves — this was in 1958, ’59 — and also made the acquaintance of H.G. Wells, Mary Shelley, and others through that series.
Copyright © 2004 by Steven Utley
