REED, David V.

   Pseudonym used by US writer David Vern (1924-) for almost all his fiction, mostly for Ray PALMER's magazines, starting with "Where is Roger Davis?" for AMZ in 1939. He collaborated with Don WILCOX (who wrote thefirst of the 2 stories from which it was cobbled together, DVR writing the second) on The Whispering Gorilla (1940-43 Fantastic Adventures; fixup 1950 UK), about an ape with a man's brain (Hyperlink to: APES ANDCAVEMEN); the book was published as by DVR alone. Murder in Space (1944 AMZ; 1954) unconvincingly attempts to combine mystery and sf techniques. DVR was probably the first writer to use the house name Alexander BLADE; he used also the house names Craig ELLIS and Peter HORN and wrote 1 story as Clyde Woodruff.

   JC/PN

   Other work: The Thing that Made Love (1943 Fantastic Adventures as "The Metal Monster Murders"; 1952?), a mystery.