SHAVER, Richard S(harpe)

(1907-1975)

   US writer, author of some sf stories (some under the house name Paul LOHRMAN) but now remembered almost exclusively for his hoax-like sequence of Shaver Mystery stories, presented as based on fact, published in Raymond A. PALMER's AMAZING STORIES 1945-7, beginning with "I Remember Lemuria" in March 1945. It brought over 2500 letters in response, and thesequence boosted AMZ's circulation though at the same time alienating many fans; the June 1947 AMZ was an all-Shaver issue. RS continued to release the same sort of material briefly in Other Worlds (still as Palmer's protege), and enjoyed a further comeback in Palmer's small-circulation The HIDDEN WORLD in 1961. A selection of the "articles" was published as IRemember Lemuria \& The Return of Sathanas (coll 1948). Essentially the "articles" comprise a series of messages from an underground world and, VON DANIKEN-like, establish a new, conspiracy-oriented, highly lurid history and cosmology in which humans (it transpires) have long been manipulated by "deros" (detrimental robots) through various ESP powers. Until the end of his life RS maintained that he genuinely believed what hewrote.

   JC/PN

   See also: HOLLOW EARTH; PARANOIA; PSEUDO-SCIENCE; SF MAGAZINES.