BROWNE, Howard

(1908-)

   US author and editor who worked 1942-7 for ZIFF-DAVIS where, among other responsibilities, he was managing editor of AMAZING STORIES and FANTASTIC ADVENTURES, then under Raymond A. PALMER's editorship. He contributed stories to the magazines, two serials about the prehistoric adventurer Tharn being published also in book form as Warrior of the Dawn (1943) and The Return of Tharn (1948 AMZ; 1956). His work appeared under a variety of pseudonyms and Ziff-Davis house names including Alexander BLADE, Lawrence Chandler, Ivar JORGENSEN (stories only) and Lee Francis. After a period in Hollywood, HB became in 1950 editor of AMZ - where he rejected a mass of material by Richard S. SHAVER - and Fantastic Adventures. He presided over AMZ's change from PULP to DIGEST format, and over the demise of Fantastic Adventures in favour of the digest-sized FANTASTIC. He returned to Hollywood in 1956. Primarily a mystery writer - his work in that field being signed John Evans - HB is reported to have detested sf.

   MJE

   See also: POLITICS.