Ron Goulart

[Dan]

I found a copy of something worth reading I thought I'd share. This first story isn't Weird probably, but it's definitely metafiction. Ron Goulart's very first story, only one page long, was originally written in 1950 when he was a freshman college student in California: https://archive.org/details/Fantasy_S...

His second published short story is eight pages long, but refreshingly full of dialogue. It was written in 1952 when he was a junior and is both Weird and SF in my judgment: https://archive.org/details/Fantasy_S....

(Ron Goulart http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?824 would not publish again until 1958.) Why my interest in Goulart? In 1977 he wrote a Challengers of the Unknown novel that's better than it has a right to be. I followed him ever since reading that. (The Challengers are a comic book superhero/adventure team originally conceived by Jack Kirby. They are not Weird however, just unknown.)

[Scott]

I read a Goulart novel last year that was quite entertaining.

[Kateblue]

I read me some Goulart years ago, but I forgot! Thanks for reminding me because now he's on my radar again

[Dan]

As I mentioned earlier, Ron Goulart's first two stories linked to above, came out in 1950 and 1952. After that we see nothing from him once he graduated from college and tried to make it as a journalist, according to one report, or in the business world, according to another, in San Francisco. He gave that up to turn to writing full-time in 1958 and never looked back, much to our great fortune.

The next piece I've been able to find of his was published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, just as his earlier two pieces were, the January 1958 issue, but what he published wasn't called a story by ISFDB. It's in their essay section. Really? If so, then we have the only example I have ever seen of a non-fiction piece written in the Weird genre. Most of us probably would not have thought it possible. Are we mistaken? Did Goulart really achieve the writing of a Weird essay way back in 1958? You be the judge: https://archive.org/details/Fantasy_S...

I also found Goulart's first fiction piece of 1958, "...And Curioser", about a man whose wife learned to control her size mentally: https://archive.org/details/Fantasy_S...

I'd give these third and fourth stories a five and four on a ten-point scale. In other words, they're Weird but not that great. I just provide them for the sake of Goulart fans.

[Jim]

My father died in the late 60s & I got a few books by Goulart that I read back in the 70s. I'm not sure what they were or when they were published, though. They're no longer on my shelves, but I remembered his style well enough that back when Tek War came out that I recognized it even though it was supposed to be written by William Shatner. I have since been vindicated in my opinion.

[Dan]

That's impressive. I don't think I have yet read enough Goulart to recognize his style unattributed. These four early Weird stories are different than his later stuff. One indication these early stories are Weird is the difficulty editors have classifying the genre of them. The magazine blurb before either the third or fourth story actually states he writes satire! Anyway, I plan to keep reading Goulart between all my other reads somehow. He has a smooth style that's easy to understand and something unexpected is always going on.

[Jim]

I don't think I could do it any more, unfortunately.