BIXBY, Jerome (Drexel Jerome Lewis)

(1923-)

   US writer and editor; an extremely prolific story-writer, though relatively little of his work is sf. Pseudonyms used on magazine stories include Jay B. Drexel, Harry Neal and Alger ROME, the last in collaboration with Algis BUDRYS. His stories include many Westerns; he has also written sf and horror screenplays and teleplays, including IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (1958), Curse of the Faceless Man (1958), the original script, later rewritten, for FANTASTIC VOYAGE (1966), and several episodes of STAR TREK; he claims that Isaac ASIMOV's Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain (1987) was based on a treatment by him. JB edited PLANET STORIES Summer 1950-July 1951 and initiated its companion magazine, TWO COMPLETE SCIENCE-ADVENTURE BOOKS, editing its first 3 issues; he also worked on GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION, THRILLING WONDER STORIES, STARTLING STORIES and several comics. He began publishing sf with "Tubemonkey" for Planet Stories in 1949, and collected much of his output in this genre in Space by the Tale (coll 1964). Devil's Scrapbook (coll 1964; vt Call for an Exorcist 1974) is horror and fantasy. His widely anthologized and best-known story is sf/horror: "It's a Good Life" (1953), about a malignant superchild with PSI POWERS (see also CHILDREN IN SF); it was dramatized on tv in The TWILIGHT ZONE, and later as an episode, directed by Joe DANTE, of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). His work is professional, as evidenced by his perfectly competent Star Trek novel, Day of the Dove * (1978), but not of great significance in the field.

   JC

   See also: MUSIC; PSYCHOLOGY; SUPERMAN.