Arthur Porges

Arthur Porges [pó"r"džIs] , (20 August 1915, Chicago, Illinois – 12 May 2006) was an American author of numerous short stories, most notably in the 1950s and 1960s, though he continued to write and publish stories until his death.

Life

Arthur Porges was born in Chicago, Illinois, on 20 August 1915. After completing his B.A. and masters degrees in mathematics, he was drafted into the army in World War II and served as an instructor in California for the duration of the war. [ [http://www.porges.net/FamilyTreesBiographies/ArthurIrwinPorges1915.html] ]

Teaching mathematics at college level before retiring to write, he became a full-time writer in 1957. After living in Los Angeles for many years, Porges moved north, eventually settling in Pacific Grove.

Family background

Porges's father, Israel Podgursky, was born in 1885 in a small town near the Russia-Poland border and had American connections through his two brothers—Mortimer, a lawyer in Chicago, and Dave, who worked for the Chicago Board of Education—and two sisters, Lilian and Rose, neither of whom married. Mortimer had two daughters, Lois and June. On migrating to the U.S. he adopted the name of a relative, Leo Porges, with a business in Chicago. Of this, Arthur wrote, "I've never known if he ... picked the name out of the air, ... or had some ties to the Jewish Porges network." Now James Porges, his father, who worked at the Bell Telephone Company in Chicago, had four sons: Leonard, Irwin, Arthur, and Walter. Porges observed, "None had children, although all but me married rather late in life." [ [http://www.porges.net/FamilyTreesBiographies/ArthurIrwinPorges1915.html] ]

Porges's mother was Clara Kurzin, who died when he was nine.

Porges's brother Irwin (1909-1998) was a biographer of the American author Edgar Rice Burroughs ("The Man Who Created Tarzan"). A creative sibling, Irwin studied piano and music arranging at a music conservatory, became a professional pianist with dance orchestras, and composed popular songs.

Career

Porges was most prolific during the mid-twentieth century, publishing most frequently in mystery magazines. He wrote many essays and non-fiction articles down the years and was a frequent contributor of poetry, letters, and various articles to the "Monterey Herald", in addition to numerous other periodicals. [ [http://www.porges.net/FamilyTreesBiographies/ArthurIrwinPorges1915.html] ] Porges's literary influences are as diverse as his stories. [ [http://www.porges.net/FamilyTreesBiographies/ArthurIrwinPorges1915.html] ]

Many of Porges's heroes do not survive. This element adds tension—for example, in his first published story, "The Rats" (1950), where mutated rats eventually overcome a lone survivor in a post-holocaust world. The publication of this story in "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction", began the working relationship between Porges and the editor Anthony Boucher.

A noted author himself, Boucher helped Porges find his way in the writing world and in the 1950s influenced his writing style a great deal. Porges is quoted as saying that Anthony Boucher taught him "the facts of life about plotting". [ [http://www.porges.net/FamilyTreesBiographies/ArthurIrwinPorges1915.html] ] Around this time, Forrest J. Ackerman, working out of Hollywood, was Porges's literary agent. Among the stories of this period was "The Ruum". Perhaps his best-known story, "The Ruum" deals with a human who is chased by an indestructible alien machine designed to capture specimens and keep them in suspended animation. Stories of the 1960s include "The Arrogant Vampire" (1961), "One Bad Habit" (1961), and "The Fanatic" (1964), about a lone scientist who captures and tortures animals, believing that many of them are possessed by alien invaders from outer space.

His brother Irwin collaborated with him on one story, "A Touch of Sun" (1959). Porges also wrote at times under pseudonyms such as Peter Arthur, Pat Rogers, Maxwell Trent, Abel Jacobi, and Derek Page. [ [http://www.porges.net/FamilyTreesBiographies/ArthurIrwinPorges1915.html] ] He wrote in several genres, with his science fiction/fantasy and mystery stories being most celebrated. His output of short stories numbers in the hundreds.

A collection of his short stories, "The Mirror and Other Strange Reflections" (ISBN 1-55310-044-1) was published in 2002 by Ash-Tree Press.

Influences

Porges read widely as a young man and loved the works of such authors as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Saki, O. Henry, T. H. Huxley, Samuel Johnson, G. K. Chesterton, Rudyard Kipling, Jack London, H. G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, R. L. Stevenson, Charles Dickens and Edgar Wallace. His scholastic background shows through in many of his science fiction stories. The intellectual puzzles faced by his protagonists involve applied mathematical reasoning and his physics background.

Porges was a lover of classical music throughout his life, and this passion manifests itself in the stories "Words and Music" (1960), "The Second Debut" (1968), and "The Mozart Annuity" (1962). Michael H. Kean, in his introduction to "Three Porges Parodies and a Pastiche" (a collection of some of Porges's Sherlockian parodies), describes him as "tall, slender, and with a scholarly demeanor". [ [http://www.porges.net/FamilyTreesBiographies/ArthurIrwinPorges1915.html] ]

Adaptations

The seventh episode, filmed in 1982, of the Soviet science fiction TV series "This Fantastic World" was based on one of the finest science fiction stories by Porges, "The Priceless Possession" and Oleg Lukyanov's story "Uncertainty Principle". [ru icon [http://www.gtrf.ru/item.asp?ob_no=258674 State Fund of Television and Radio Programs] ]

elected short stories

"The Rats" (1950)
"The Fly" (1952)
"The Liberator" (1953)
"Mop-Up" (1953)
"The Ruum" (October 1953), in "Adventure Stories for Boys", Octopus Books, 1988
"Dead Drunk" (1959)
"Circle in the Dust" (1960)
"A Specimen for the Queen" (1960)
"Solomon's Demon" (1961)
"The Rescuer" (1962)
"The Missing Bow" (1963)
"The Fanatic" (1964)
"Blood Will Tell" (1966)
"The Mirror" (1966)
"Swan Song" (1966), in "Adam’s Best Fiction", ed. Thomas H. Schulz, Holloway House Publishing Co., 1966

Collections

"Three Parodies and a Pastiche" (1988)
"The Mirror and Other Strange Reflections" (2002)

Anthologies

"The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction" 4th Series (1955)
"Best SF" (1955)
"Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales" (1963)
"Anti-Social Register" (1965)
"Everyman's Book of Classic Horror Stories" (1965)
"Best SF 6" (1966)
"The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" 185 (1966)
"This Day's Evil" (1967)
"Coffin Corner" (1968)
"Legends for the Dark" (1968)
"The Stars and Under" (1968)
"The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus" (1973)
"Coffin Break" (1974)
"Tales of Terror from Outer Space" (1975)
"The Best Science Fiction Stories" (1977)
"The Giant Book of Horror Stories" (1981)
"100 Great Fantasy Short Short Stories" (1984) [ [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/arthur-porges] ]

References

Further reading

"St. James Guide to SF Writers" (St. James Press, 1996) – a short analytical essay, by the science fiction author and editor of some of the collections, David A. Drake.