EVANS, E(dward) Everett

(1893-1958)

   US sf fan and writer. He began in the latter capacity late in life and had mixed success, though there is no doubt of the affection in which other Californian sf writers and fans held him, as evinced in the many tributes to him from writers such as E.E. "Doc" SMITH and A.E. VAN VOGT included in a compilation of his macabre fantasy stories, Food for Demons (coll 1971). This was originally conceived as a homage to the man, and set up and printed, though not bound, as early as 1959; it contains his best work. EEE's novels were digestible but routine. The adventures of ESPER spy George Hanlan in Man of Many Minds (1953) and its sequel, Alien Minds (1955), are without much bite; and EEE's juvenile, The Planet Mappers (1955), is also very mild. He collaborated with E.E. Smith, whom he admired greatly, on one story, which Smith expanded into the novel Masters of Space (1961-2 If; 1976).

   JC