F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre
Encyclopedia
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and said he had lived in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. MacIntyre's writings include the science-fiction novel The Woman Between the Worlds and his anthology of verse and humor pieces MacIntyre's Improbable Bestiary. As an uncredited “ghost” author, MacIntyre is known to have written or co-written several other books, including at least one novel in the Tom Swift IV
Tom Swift IV
Tom Swift IV is the unofficial name of this series of juvenile science fiction adventure novels, the fourth to feature a protagonist named Tom Swift. Unlike the previous series, it was not created by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, but was created by Byron Preiss Visual Productions for Simon & Schuster,...
series, The DNA Disaster, published as by "Victor Appleton" (a house pseudonym) but with MacIntyre's name on the acknowledgments page.
MacIntyre claimed that in the early 1960s he had been an employee of Lew Grade
Lew Grade
Lew Grade, Baron Grade , born Lev Winogradsky, was an influential Russian-born English impresario and media mogul.-Early years:...
and to have worked as a trainee technician on the crews of the television series The Champions
The Champions
The Champions is a British espionage/science fiction/occult detective fiction adventure series consisting of 30 episodes broadcast on the UK network ITV during 1968–1969, produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment production company...
and The Prisoner
The Prisoner
The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...
, under a different name.
On June 25, 2010 MacIntyre’s apartment was set on fire by himself and body was found in his burned out Brooklyn apartment.
Personal life
MacIntyre often told people he was orphaned by a Scottish family and raised in an Australian orphanage and a child labor camp.He used the aliases Paul Grant Jeffery, Timothy/Tim C. Allen, Oleg V. Bredikhine, and the nickname Froggy. But a teenage acquaintance alleged that the young MacIntyre spoke then with a plain New York accent from Long Island or Queens, raising questions about his claims of foreign origin. An acquaintance remembers MacIntyre sharing the reason for the "Gwynplaine" in his name; it was, he said, from the film The Man Who Laughs, based on the Victor Hugo novel, in which the title character, Gwynplaine, has had a permanent smile surgically carved on his face. MacIntyre stated that he identified with Gwynplaine and thus chose the name as part of his own.In 2000, MacIntyre was arrested after a neighbor said he duct-taped her to a chair, shaved her head, and painted her black. He wound up pleading guilty to third-degree misdemeanor assault.
On June 24, 2010, he was removed from his apartment by police and taken to Coney Island Hospital
Coney Island Hospital
Coney Island Hospital is a public hospital located in Brooklyn, New York City. It is owned by the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.-History:...
for evaluation after sending a despondent email to friends, one of whom called 911. He was released hours later, and returned home, where he reportedly lit his apartment in a crowded apartment building on fire. The fire "grew quickly into an 'all-hands' blaze that took 12 trucks and 60 firefighters more than an hour to extinguish" but no other residents of the building were killed.
Works
Although MacIntyre professionally published many works of non-fiction and literature, he is best known as an author of genre fiction: specifically, science fiction, fantasy, horror and mystery stories. His short stories were published in Weird TalesWeird Tales
Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....
, Analog
Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
, Asimov's Science Fiction
Asimov's Science Fiction
Asimov's Science Fiction is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy and perpetuates the name of author and biochemist Isaac Asimov...
, Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
, Absolute Magnitude
Absolute magnitude
Absolute magnitude is the measure of a celestial object's intrinsic brightness. it is also the apparent magnitude a star would have if it were 32.6 light years away from Earth...
, Interzone
Interzone
Interzone may refer to:* International zone, such as in Tangiers* Interzone , the title of a short story collection by William Burroughs; it is also a setting in his 1959 novel Naked Lunch...
, the Strand Magazine
Strand Magazine
The Strand Magazine was a monthly magazine composed of fictional stories and factual articles founded by George Newnes. It was first published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950 running to 711 issues, though the first issue was on sale well before Christmas 1890.Its immediate...
and numerous anthologies, including Terry Carr
Terry Carr
Terry Gene Carr was a U.S. science fiction author, editor, and teacher.Terry Carr was born in Grants Pass, Oregon...
's Best Science Fiction of the Year #10, Michael Reaves
Michael Reaves
James Michael Reaves is an American writer, known for his contributions as producer and story editor to a number of 1990s animated television series, including Disney's Gargoyles and Batman: The Animated Series. He has also written media tie-in novels, children's books, and original fiction...
and John Pelan
John Pelan
John C. Pelan is an American author, editor and publisher in the small press science-fiction, weird and horror fiction genres.He first founded Axolotl Press in 1986 and published several volumes by authors such as Tim Powers, Charles de Lint, Michael Shea and James P. Blaylock. Following this, he...
's mystery/horror anthology Shadows Over Baker Street
Shadows Over Baker Street
Shadows Over Baker Street: New Tales of Terror! is an anthology of stories, each by a different author and each concerning an exploit of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes set against the backdrop of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos...
, James Robert Smith
James Robert Smith
James Robert Smith is an American author. His first novel, The Flock was published August 2, 2006 by Five Star.- External links :*...
and Stephen Mark Rainey
Stephen Mark Rainey
Stephen Mark Rainey is an author of novels, short stories, and various works of nonfiction. From 1987 to 1997, he edited Deathrealm, a magazine of horror and dark fantasy fiction, for which he won several awards for Best Editor.-Biography:...
's horror anthology Evermore
Evermore (book)
Evermore is an anthology of short stories about or in honor of Edgar Allan Poe and edited by James Robert Smith and Stephen Mark Rainey. It was released in 2006 by Arkham House in an edition of approximately 2,000 copies.- Contents :...
, and Stephen Jones
Stephen Jones
Stephen Jones may refer to:In the arts:*Stephen Jones , English magazine editor*Stephen Jones , Australian music and video artist*Stephen Jones , British editor and author...
's The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror. For Mike Ashley
Mike Ashley (writer)
Michael Ashley is a British bibliographer, author and editor of science fiction, mystery, and fantasy.He edits the long-running Mammoth Book series of short story anthologies, each arranged around a particular theme in mystery, fantasy, or science fiction...
's The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives, MacIntyre wrote "Death in the Dawntime," a locked room mystery
Locked room mystery
The locked room mystery is a sub-genre of detective fiction in which a crime—almost always murder—is committed under apparently impossible circumstances. The crime in question typically involves a crime scene that no intruder could have entered or left, e.g., a locked room...
(or rather, sealed cave mystery) set in Australia around 35,000 BC, which Ashley suggests is the furthest in the past a historical whodunnit
Historical whodunnit
The historical whodunnit is a sub-genre of historical fiction which bears elements of the classical mystery novel, in which the central plot involves a crime and the setting has some historical significance. One of the big areas of debate within the community of fans is what makes a given setting...
has been set.
In addition to publishing science fiction in Analog, MacIntyre also contributed to that magazine as an artist, illustrating his own stories and some by Ron Goulart
Ron Goulart
Ron Goulart is an American popular culture historian and mystery, fantasy and science fiction author.The prolific Goulart wrote many novelizations and other routine work under various pseudonyms: Kenneth Robeson , Con Steffanson , Chad Calhoun, R.T...
. MacIntyre also published stories in the Russian-language science fiction magazine Esli
Esli
Esli is a Russian science fiction magazine, concentrating on science fiction in its written form.It won the European Science Fiction Award for best science fiction magazine in 2000.-See also:* Science fiction magazine...
.
A characteristic of MacIntyre's writing (both fiction and non-fiction) is his penchant for coining new words and resurrecting obscure words. Language authority William Safire
William Safire
William Lewis Safire was an American author, columnist, journalist and presidential speechwriter....
had acknowledged MacIntyre's neologisms.
From October 2002 through November 2005, MacIntyre was a regular contributor to the “Big Town” feature of the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
, publishing more than 30 bylined articles about Broadway musicals, restaurants, songwriters, athletes and other figures in New York City's history. The May 2, 2007 issue of the New York Press
New York Press
New York Press was a free alternative weekly in New York City, that was published from 1988 to 2011. During its lifetime, it was the main competitor to the Village Voice...
carried his first bylined article for that paper.
MacIntyre wrote a considerable number of book reviews for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a digest-size American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House and then by Fantasy House. Both were subsidiaries of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Publications, which took over as publisher in 1958. Spilogale, Inc...
. In the July 2003 issue of that magazine, MacIntyre mentioned that he was related to the wife of Scottish author Eric Linklater
Eric Linklater
Eric Robert Russell Linklater was a British writer, known for more than 20 novels, as well as short stories, travel writing and autobiography, and military history.-Life:...
. This admission is significant, as MacIntyre had stated (in interviews and at science-fiction conventions) that he was estranged from his abusive family and did not acknowledge them. He had legally changed his name, officially filing a deed poll: "Fergus MacIntyre" was therefore his legal name but not his birth name. He had acknowledged that he took the name "Gwynplaine" from the protagonist of The Man Who Laughs
The Man Who Laughs
The Man Who Laughs is a novel by Victor Hugo, originally published in April 1869 under the French title L'Homme qui rit. Also published under the title By Order of the King...
, a novel by Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
.
As a screenwriter, MacIntyre contributed substantial script material to a 2006 documentary about actress Theda Bara
Theda Bara
Theda Bara , born Theodosia Burr Goodman, was an American silent film actress – one of the most popular of her era, and one of cinema's earliest sex symbols. Her femme fatale roles earned her the nickname "The Vamp" . The term "vamp" soon became a popular slang term for a sexually predatory woman...
, The Woman with the Hungry Eyes: his contributions included the film's title and an interview he had conducted with author Fritz Leiber
Fritz Leiber
Fritz Reuter Leiber, Jr. was an American writer of fantasy, horror and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theatre and films, playwright, expert chess player and a champion fencer. Possibly his greatest chess accomplishment was winning clear first in the 1958 Santa Monica Open.. With...
. Claiming to be contractually prevented from receiving a screenplay credit, MacIntyre received "special thanks" in the film's credits. MacIntyre reviewed dozens of older and silent motion pictures for IMDB.com, including a large number of lost films which he claimed to have seen under circumstances the details of which he could not reveal. Some silent film critics and fans believe the reviews to be elaborate jokes, others have accused MacIntyre of muddying the historical record by publishing fake reviews, although they have no actual evidence of this.
MacIntyre reportedly worked extensively as a ghost writer, and claimed to have contributed to Jerzy Kosinski
Jerzy Kosinski
Jerzy Kosiński , born Józef Lewinkopf, was an award-winning Polish American novelist, and two-time President of the American Chapter of P.E.N.He was known for various novels, among them The Painted Bird and Being There...
's Pinball, which has a character named "Anne Gwynplaine."
Books
Novels and collections include:- The Woman Between the Worlds (1994, ISBN 0-440-50327-2 and 2000, ISBN 0595088848)
- MacIntyre's Improbable Bestiary (2005, ISBN 1587154722)
Short stories
Short stories include:- Asimov's Science FictionAsimov's Science FictionAsimov's Science Fiction is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy and perpetuates the name of author and biochemist Isaac Asimov...
:- "For Cheddar or Worse" (volume 4 number 11, November 1980)
- "Martian Walkabout" (volume 5 number 13, December 1981)
- "Isle Be Seeing You" (volume 6 number 4, April 1982)
- Amazing StoriesAmazing StoriesAmazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
:- "The Man Who Split in Twain" (May 1986)
- Weird TalesWeird TalesWeird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....
:- "The Ones Who Turn Invisible" (#293, 1988)
- "Beddy-Bye" (Summer, 1998)
- Absolute MagnitudeAbsolute Magnitude (magazine)Absolute Magnitude is a discontinued, semi-professional science fiction magazine started in 1993 under the name Harsh Mistress. However, in 1994 after only two issues the name was changed to Absolute Magnitude. In 2002 the name was changed again to Absolute Magnitude & Aboriginal Science Fiction...
:- "The Minds Who Jumped" (Spring 1995)
- Albedo OneAlbedo oneAlbedo One is an Irish horror, fantasy and science fiction magazine founded in 1993 and currently published by Albedo One Productions.-Overview:...
, (Ireland):- "An Actor Prepares" (#20, 1999)
- Analog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
:- "OOPS!" (March 1991)
- "Teeny-Tiny Techno-Tactics" (March 1997)
- "Time Lines" (June 1999)
- "A Real Bang-Up Job" (July 2000)
- "'Put Back That Universe!'" (October 2000)
- "Schrödinger's CatSchrödinger's catSchrödinger's cat is a thought experiment, usually described as a paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. It illustrates what he saw as the problem of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics applied to everyday objects. The scenario presents a cat that might be...
-Sitter" (July 2001) - "A Deadly Medley of Smedley" (April 2003)
- "Annual Annular Annals" (January 2004)
- InterzoneInterzoneInterzone may refer to:* International zone, such as in Tangiers* Interzone , the title of a short story collection by William Burroughs; it is also a setting in his 1959 novel Naked Lunch...
, (Britain):- "Sundowner Sheila" (February 2006)
- Strand MagazineStrand MagazineThe Strand Magazine was a monthly magazine composed of fictional stories and factual articles founded by George Newnes. It was first published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950 running to 711 issues, though the first issue was on sale well before Christmas 1890.Its immediate...
:- "Down the Garden Path" (February 2008)
- EsliEsliEsli is a Russian science fiction magazine, concentrating on science fiction in its written form.It won the European Science Fiction Award for best science fiction magazine in 2000.-See also:* Science fiction magazine...
, (Russia):- "Random" (July 2008)
- "Smart Fashions" (June 2009; cover story)
- "Boarder Incidence" (February 2010)
- Space and Time Magazine:
- "Another Fine Messiah" (#110, Spring 2010)
- SF Magajin, (Japan):
- "The Adventure of Exham PrioryThe Adventure of Exham Priory"The Adventure of Exham Priory" is a short story about Sherlock Holmes written by F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre. It was originally published in Shadows Over Baker Street, a 2003 anthology edited by Michael Reaves and John Pelan for Del Rey Books...
" (May 2010)
- "The Adventure of Exham Priory
External links
- Fiery End for an Eccentric Recluse, video at the New York Times