GOULART, Ron(ald Joseph)

(1933-)

   US writer, born in California, where he lived until the late 1960s and which he has made the setting (whether or not literally so) for much of his sf. After graduation he worked in an advertising agency; he has put on record the influence of this experience on the forming of his concise, polished style. He published his first sf, "Letters to the Editor", in FSF in 1952, and wrote many stories before the appearance ofhis first sf novel, The Sword Swallower (1968), which features the Chameleon Corps of shapeshifting agents; the book - like much of hisensuing work - is set in a SPACE-OPERA venue called the Barnum System which much resembles Southern California: urbanized, helter-skelter, crazed and balkanized, the planets of this system, where the Corps originates, are populated in large part by traditional comic stereotypes or humours, deftly drawn. Again like many of its successors, the novel features a gangly detective on the trail of a complex crime (CRIME AND PUNISHMENT); his need to search out clues and suspects takes him(conveniently) through a wide spectrum of scenes and characters. Similarities of plot and setting (and numerous cross-references) dog any anatomizer of series in the RG universe, but other books specifically connected to the Barnum System include The Fire-Eater (1970), Death Cell (1971), The Chamelon Corps and Other Shape Changers (coll 1972), Plunder(1972), Shaggy Planet (1973), Flux (1974), Spacehawk, Inc. (1974), A Whiff of Madness (1976), The Wicked Cyborg (1978), Daredevils, Ltd (1987), Starpirate's Brain (1987) and Everybody Comes to Cosmo's (1988); the StarHawk sequence of novels - Empire 99 (1980) and The Cyborg King (1981), based on the COMIC strip illustrated by Gil Kane - are also set in Barnum. Along with the remarkable AFTER THINGS FELL APART (1970), these booksshare a swiftness of telling, a constant hilariousness and a cogency; elsewhere, jokes sometimes seem to guide the storylines, which can be flimsy.Much of RG's work is, in fact, journeyman, though even in the most desultory tale his smooth dialogue-driven style is always recognizable. In the mid-1970s and 1980s he wrote under various pseudonyms (including the house names Kenneth ROBESON and Con Steffanson, as well as personal pseudonyms like Chad Calhoun, R.T. Edwards, Ian R. Jamieson, Josephine Kains, Jillian Kearny, Howard Lee, Zeke Masters, Frank S. Shawn and JosephSilva) a large number of novelizations and other routine work (see listing below for titles of genre interest). As RG, his Vampirella series - Bloodstalk * (1975), On Alien Wings * (1975), Deadwalk * (1976), BloodWedding * (1976), Deathgame * (1976) and Snakegod * (1976) - put a character derived from stories published in Vampirella, a comic book which ran from 1969 to 1983; his versions were thinly humorous. The Wild Talents sequence, which includes A Talent for the Invisible (1973 and Hello, Lemuria, Hello (1979), and the Gypsy sequence about an identity-quest,which includes Quest of the Gypsy (1976) and Eye of the Vulture (1977), similarly lacked their author's full attention.A darker, sharper, more attentive aspect of the RG vision of California-as-Barnum can be seen in those of his novels - Wildsmith (1972), among others - which feature the highly humanized, eccentric, wilful ROBOTS which are perhaps his most enduring creation. Quite remarkably comic in their deadpan obsessiveness and pernickety sang-froid, they serve also as genuinely effective icons of a time - the NEAR FUTURE - and a place - either Southern California itself or the world which it portends - caught in the throes of convulsive change.The slightness of RG's plotting does at times make his satirical intent difficult to perceive; an underlying saliency can be detected more clearly, perhaps, in collections like What's Become of Screwloose? and Other Inquiries (coll 1971), Broke Down Engine and Other Troubles withMachines (coll 1971), Nutzenbolts and More Troubles with Machines (coll 1975) and Skyrocket Steele Conquers the Universe and Other Media Tales (coll 1990) - the last being connected with the novel Skyrocket Steele (1980). Odd Job No. 101 and Other Future Crimes and Intrigues (coll 1975), Calling Dr Patchwork (1978), Big Bang (1982) and Brainz, Inc. (1985) make up the Odd Jobs sequence, whose interest diminishes with extension.Though he is prolific and acute, it can still be said of RG that his dark wit and adroit handling of plot and theme have not yet been directed to a project of a scope sufficient to give those talents full play.

   JC

   Other works: Gadget Man (1971); Clockwork's Pirates (1971 dos); Ghost Breaker (coll 1971 dos); Hawkshaw (1972); The Tin Angel (1973), later assembled with Flux as Flux and The Tin Angel (omni 1978 UK); Shaggy Planet (1973); When the Waker Sleeps (1975); The Hellhound Project (1975); The Enormous Hourglass (1976); Challengers of the Unknown * (1977); Crackpot (1977);The Emperor of the Last Days (1977); The Panchronicon Plot (1977); Nemo (1977); Capricorn One * (1978) (CAPRICORN ONE); Dr Scofflaw (1979 dos); Hail Hibbler (1980); The Robot in the Closet (1981); Brinkman (1981); Upside Downside (1982); 3 Battlestar Galactica novels, all with Glen A. LARSON, Greetings from Earth * (1983), Experiment in Terra * (1984) and The Long Patrol * (1984); Hellquad (1984); The Prisoner of Blackwood Castle (1984); Suicide, Inc. (1985); Galaxy Jane (1986); The Curse of the Obelisk (1987); The Tijuana Bible (1989). The introduction to William SHATNER's extremely Goulart-like TekWar (1989) thanks RG for his help; this book and its two sequels, TekLords (1991) and TekLab (1991), have been attributed to RG.As Josephine Kains: The Devil Mask Mystery (1978); The Curse of the Golden Skull (1978); The Green Lama Mystery (1979); TheWhispering Cat Mystery (1979); The Witch's Tower Mystery (1979); The Laughing Dragon Mystery (1980);The Witch's Tower Mystery (1980), a non-sf tale with RECURSIVE elements.As Howard Lee: Two Kung Fu novels: Chains (1973) and Superstition (1973).As Frank S. Shawn: Books in the Phantomseries: The Veiled Lady * (1973); The Golden Circle * (1973); The Mystery of the Sea Horse * (1973); The Hydra Monster * (1973); The Goggle-Eyed Pirates * (1974); The Swamp Rats * (1974).As Kenneth Robeson (house name):Books in the The Avenger series: The Man from Atlantis * (1974); Red Moon * (1974); The Purple Zombie * (1974); Dr Time * (1974); The Nightwitch Devil * (1974); Black Chariots * (1974); The Cartoon Crimes * (1974); The Death Machine * (1974); The Blood Countess * (1975); The Glass Man * (1975); The Iron Skull * (1975); Demon Island * (1975).As Con Steffanson (house name): Books in the Flash Gordon series: The Lion Men of Mongo * (1974); The Plague of Sound * (1974); The Space Circus * (1974).As Joseph Silva: The Island of Dr Moreau * (1977) (The ISLAND OF DR MOREAU); Stalker from the Stars * (1977) with Lein Wein and Mary Wolfman; Holocaust for Hire * (1979), a Captain America novel. The pseudonym plays on the name of one of RG's many private eyes, Jose Silvera.As Editor: The Hardboiled Dicks (anth 1965); Lineup Tough Guys (anth 1966); The GreatBritish Detective (1982); The Encyclopedia of American Comics (1990), for which he also wrote about half the entries.Nonfiction: The Assault on Childhood (1972); Cheap Thrills: An Informal History of the Pulp Magazines(1972); An American Family (1973); The Adventurous Decade: Comic Strips in the Thirties (1976); Focus on Jack Cole (1986 chap); The Great Comic Book Artists (1986) and The Great Comic Book Artists Volume 2 (1988); RonGoulart's Great History of Comic Books (1986); The Dime Detectives (1988).

   See also: HUMOUR; MEDIA LANDSCAPE; ROBERT HALE LIMITED; SATIRE; TIME TRAVEL.