Ron Goulart

Ron Goulart was an American popular culture historian and mystery, fantasy and science fiction author. Goulart was prolific, and wrote many novelizations and other routine work under various pseudonyms: Kenneth Robeson, Con Steffanson, Chad Calhoun, R.T. Edwards, Ian R. Jamieson, Josephine Kains, Jillian Kearny, Howard Lee, Zeke Masters, Frank S. Shawn, and Joseph Silva. Goulart's first professional publication was a 1952 reprint of the SF story "Letters to the Editor" in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction; this parody of a pulp magazine letters column was originally published in the University of California, Berkeley's Pelican. His early career in advertising and marketing influenced much of his work. In the early 1960s, Goulart wrote the text for Chex Press, a newspaper parody published on Ralston Purina cereal boxes. He contributed to P.S. and other magazines, along with his book review column for Venture Science Fiction Magazine. Cheap Thrills: An Informal History of the Pulp Magazines (1972) is his best known non-fiction book. Goulart was a professional author for several decades and had over 180 books to his credit, including more than 50 science fiction novels and 20 some mystery novels. His fiction is characterized by several themes, notably humor, technology gone wrong (usually through incompetence rather than malice) and heroes with superhuman powers. His humorous crime and science fiction includes tales about robots and historical Hollywood figures, such as Groucho Marx. In the 1970s, he wrote several novels based on Lee Falk's The Phantom for Avon Books, using the pseudonym "Frank Shawn" (a play on his wife and son's names). He has also written comic book stories and short stories about The Phantom for Moonstone Books from 2003 to present. Goulart has also written novelizations for television programs such as Laverne & Shirley, and wrote several "romance" novels under feminine pseudonyms (they contain familiar Goulart themes and are hilarious.) It is widely known that Goulart ghost wrote the popular TekWar series of books credited to the actor William Shatner (Shatner is said to have written the outlines for the books). He has also ghosted novels featuring the Phantom, Flash Gordon and the pulp character the Avenger. In the early 1970s, Goulart wrote several scripts for Marvel Comics, mostly adaptations of classic science fiction stories. Later in the decade, he collaborated with artist Gil Kane on the Star Hawks newspaper strip. In the early 1990s, he scripted Marvel's TekWar comics series. He was twice nominated for an Edgar Award and was considered one of the country's leading authorities on comic books and comic strips. His latest book on comics, Comic Book Culture, was published in May 2000. Ron lived with his wife, author Frances Sheridan Goulart, in Ridgefield, Connecticut, and had two sons, Sean-Lucien and Steffan Eamon.