William Tenn
Encyclopedia
William Tenn was the pseudonym
of Philip Klass (May 9, 1920 – February 7, 2010), a British
-born American
science fiction
author, notable for many stories with satirical elements.
, Phillip Klass moved to New York
with his parents before his second birthday and grew up in Brooklyn, the oldest of three children. After serving in the United States Army
during World War II
as a combat engineer in Europe, he held a job as a technical editor with an Air Force radar and radio laboratory and was employed by Bell Labs
.
His second story, the widely reprinted "Child's Play" (1947), told of a lawyer who creates people with his Build-A-Man kit, a Christmas gift intended for a child of the future. After publication in Astounding Science Fiction (May 1946), Tenn was soon hailed as the science fiction field's reigning humorist, and during the early 1950s, readers of Galaxy Science Fiction
looked forward to issues featuring his satirical science fiction.
Many stories followed, including "Venus and the Seven Sexes
" (1951), "Down Among the Dead Men" (1954), "The Liberation of Earth
", "Time in Advance" (1956) and "On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi" (1974). One of his non-fiction articles, "Mr. Eavesdropper," was later collected in Best Magazine Articles, 1968. His essay and interview collection, Dancing Naked, was nominated for a Hugo Award
for Best Related Book in 2004. He was given the Author Emeritus
honor by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
in 1999.
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
ranked Tenn as "one of the genre's very few genuinely comic, genuinely incisive writers of short fiction." Theodore Sturgeon
summed up Tenn's humorous viewpoint on life:
(October 1963). A Lamp for Medusa was published as a double novel with Dave Van Arnam's The Players of Hell. This novella was an expansion of his story "Medusa Was a Lady!" from the October, 1951 issue of Fantastic Adventures
.
, where he taught English and comparative literature at Penn State University for 24 years. Students of his who would go on to professional careers as writers included Rambo creator David Morrell
, screenwriter Steven E. de Souza
, technology writer Steven Levy
and crime novelist Ray Ring
.
Phil's wife, Fruma Klass (b. 1935), grew up in New York City
and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science
and Brooklyn College
to work as a lab technician, a medical editor and a Harper & Row copy editor. At Penn State, she was a writing instructor and a copy editor for the Penn State University Press
.
When Phil Klass retired, the couple moved to the Pittsburgh
suburb of Mt. Lebanon
in 1988, and she took a job as an editor with Black Box Corporation
. That same year, her first short story, "Before the Rainbow," was published in the anthology Synergy 3. In 1996, her second story, "After the Rainbow," won a Writers of the Future prize; the story was published in Writers of the Future, Vol. XII. In 2004, she entered a worldwide essay competition, the Power of Purpose Awards, sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation
. Competing against 7,000 entrants from 97 countries, she won $25,000 for her essay, "Streets of Mud, Streets of Gold."
Phil and Fruma Klass were members of the Pittsburgh Area Real Time Science Fiction Enthusiasts Consortium (PARSEC), and were frequent speakers at its local conference, Confluence.
Phil Klass was a Guest of Honor at Noreascon 4
, the 2004 World Science Fiction Convention. He was the Author Guest of Honor at Loscon 33 at the LAX Marriott in Los Angeles in 2006.
He has published most of his fiction as William Tenn and much of his nonfiction as Phil (or Philip) Klass. He is sometimes confused with UFO
debunker Philip J. Klass
, who was born six months earlier and who died August 9, 2005.
Klass was related to a number of other writers, including his nieces, Perri Klass
and Judy Klass, his nephew David Klass
, and his brother Morton Klass.
He died on February 7, 2010, of congestive heart failure, and was survived by his wife Fruma, daughter Adina, and sister Frances Goldman-Levy.
Pittsburgh's Malacandra Productions staged a nine-character play adapted by John Regis from the classic Tenn science fiction short story, "Winthrop Was Stubborn". Directed by David Brody for the Three Rivers Arts Festival, this production ran from June 2 through June 17, 2006.
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Philip Klass (May 9, 1920 – February 7, 2010), a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
author, notable for many stories with satirical elements.
Early life
Born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Phillip Klass moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
with his parents before his second birthday and grew up in Brooklyn, the oldest of three children. After serving in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as a combat engineer in Europe, he held a job as a technical editor with an Air Force radar and radio laboratory and was employed by Bell Labs
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
.
Writing
Klass published academic articles, essays, two novels and more than 60 short stories. He began writing while working at Bell Labs, and his radar lab experience prompted his first story, "Alexander the Bait," about a radar beam aimed at the moon. It was published in Astounding Science Fiction (May 1946), and within months a Signal Corps lab bounced a radar beam off the moon, making his story obsolete. He commented, "It was a bad story, just good enough to be published. Others in the same magazine were much better, so I really worked hard on my second one. I did as well as I knew how."His second story, the widely reprinted "Child's Play" (1947), told of a lawyer who creates people with his Build-A-Man kit, a Christmas gift intended for a child of the future. After publication in Astounding Science Fiction (May 1946), Tenn was soon hailed as the science fiction field's reigning humorist, and during the early 1950s, readers of Galaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...
looked forward to issues featuring his satirical science fiction.
Many stories followed, including "Venus and the Seven Sexes
Venus and the Seven Sexes
"Venus and the Seven Sexes" is a short science-fiction story written by William Tenn in 1949.It was first published in the anthology The Girl with the Hungry Eyes, and Other Stories, and in 1953 in the anthology Science-Fiction Carnival by Fredric Brown and Mack Reynolds, published by Shasta...
" (1951), "Down Among the Dead Men" (1954), "The Liberation of Earth
The Liberation of Earth
"The Liberation of Earth" is a science fiction short story by William Tenn, written in 1950, first published in 1953, and reprinted over a dozen times in various anthologies and in 1955 in the William Tenn collection Of all Possible Worlds...
", "Time in Advance" (1956) and "On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi" (1974). One of his non-fiction articles, "Mr. Eavesdropper," was later collected in Best Magazine Articles, 1968. His essay and interview collection, Dancing Naked, was nominated for a Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
for Best Related Book in 2004. He was given the Author Emeritus
Author Emeritus
Author Emeritus award is an honorary title bestowed by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. It was created "as a way to recognize and appreciate senior writers in the genres of science fiction and fantasy who have made significant contributions to our field but who are no longer...
honor by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, or SFWA is a nonprofit association of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. It was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight under the name Science Fiction Writers of America, Inc. and it retains the acronym SFWA after a very brief use of the SFFWA...
in 1999.
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction is an English language reference work on science fiction.- Publication history :The first edition, edited by Peter Nicholls with John Clute and Brian Stableford appeared in 1979, published by Granada. It was retitled The Science Fiction Encyclopedia in the US...
ranked Tenn as "one of the genre's very few genuinely comic, genuinely incisive writers of short fiction." Theodore Sturgeon
Theodore Sturgeon
Theodore Sturgeon was an American science fiction author.His most famous novel is More Than Human .-Biography:...
summed up Tenn's humorous viewpoint on life:
- It would be too wide a generalization to say that every SF satire, every SF comedy and every attempt at witty and biting criticism found in the field is a poor and usually cheap imitation of what this man has been doing since the 1940s. His incredibly involved and complex mind can at times produce constructive comment so pointed and astute that the fortunate recipient is permanently improved by it. Admittedly, the price may be to create two whole categories for our species: humanity and William Tenn. For each of which you must create your ethos and your laws. I've done that. And to me it's worth it.
Novels
Tenn wrote two novels, both published in 1968. Of Men and Monsters is an expansion of his story "The Men in the Walls," originally in Galaxy Science FictionGalaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...
(October 1963). A Lamp for Medusa was published as a double novel with Dave Van Arnam's The Players of Hell. This novella was an expansion of his story "Medusa Was a Lady!" from the October, 1951 issue of Fantastic Adventures
Fantastic Adventures
Fantastic Adventures was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1953 by Ziff-Davis. It was initially edited by Ray Palmer, who was also the editor of Amazing Stories, Ziff-Davis's other science fiction title. The first nine issues were in bedsheet format, but in June 1940...
.
Biography
Phil and Fruma Klass married in 1957, and they moved in the mid-1960s to State College, PennsylvaniaState College, Pennsylvania
State College is the largest borough in Centre County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is the principal city of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Centre County. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 42,034, and roughly double...
, where he taught English and comparative literature at Penn State University for 24 years. Students of his who would go on to professional careers as writers included Rambo creator David Morrell
David Morrell
David Morrell is a Canadian-American novelist, best known for his debut 1972 novel First Blood, which would later become the successful Rambo film franchise starring Sylvester Stallone. He has written 28 novels, and his work has been translated into 26 languages...
, screenwriter Steven E. de Souza
Steven E. de Souza
Steven E. de Souza is an American producer, director and screenwriter. He is among a handful of screenwriters whose films have earned over two billion dollars at the worldwide box office.-Life and career:...
, technology writer Steven Levy
Steven Levy
Steven Levy is an American journalist who has written several books on computers, technology, cryptography, the Internet, cybersecurity, and privacy.-Career:...
and crime novelist Ray Ring
Ray Ring
-Works:*, High Country News, July 24, 2006*, High Country News, Aug 15, 2009-External links:...
.
Phil's wife, Fruma Klass (b. 1935), grew up in New York City
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 graduated from the Bronx High School of Science
Bronx High School of Science
The Bronx High School of Science is a specialized New York City public high school often considered the premier science magnet school in the United States. Founded in 1938, it is now located in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx...
and Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
to work as a lab technician, a medical editor and a Harper & Row copy editor. At Penn State, she was a writing instructor and a copy editor for the Penn State University Press
Penn State University Press
The Penn State University Press, also called Penn State Press was established in 1956, and is a non-profit publisher of scholarly books and journals. It is the independent publishing branch of the Pennsylvania State University and is a division of the Penn State University Library system...
.
When Phil Klass retired, the couple moved to the Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
suburb of Mt. Lebanon
Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania
Mt. Lebanon is a home rule municipality, formerly a township, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 33,137 at the 2010 census....
in 1988, and she took a job as an editor with Black Box Corporation
Black Box Corporation
Black Box Corporation, d/b/a Black Box Network Services, is headquartered in the Pittsburgh suburb of Lawrence, Pennsylvania, USA. The company is a provider of communications and infrastructure solutions...
. That same year, her first short story, "Before the Rainbow," was published in the anthology Synergy 3. In 1996, her second story, "After the Rainbow," won a Writers of the Future prize; the story was published in Writers of the Future, Vol. XII. In 2004, she entered a worldwide essay competition, the Power of Purpose Awards, sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation
John Templeton Foundation
"The John Templeton Foundation is a philanthropic organizationthat funds inter-disciplinary research about human purpose and ultimate reality. It is usually referred to simply as the Templeton Foundation...
. Competing against 7,000 entrants from 97 countries, she won $25,000 for her essay, "Streets of Mud, Streets of Gold."
Phil and Fruma Klass were members of the Pittsburgh Area Real Time Science Fiction Enthusiasts Consortium (PARSEC), and were frequent speakers at its local conference, Confluence.
Phil Klass was a Guest of Honor at Noreascon 4
62nd World Science Fiction Convention
The 62nd World Science Fiction Convention was Noreascon 4, which was held in Boston, Massachusetts, from September 2–6, 2004. The venues for the 62nd Worldcon were Hynes Convention Center, Sheraton Boston Hotel and Boston Marriott Copley Place...
, the 2004 World Science Fiction Convention. He was the Author Guest of Honor at Loscon 33 at the LAX Marriott in Los Angeles in 2006.
He has published most of his fiction as William Tenn and much of his nonfiction as Phil (or Philip) Klass. He is sometimes confused with UFO
Unidentified flying object
A term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...
debunker Philip J. Klass
Philip J. Klass
Philip Julian Klass was an American journalist and UFO researcher, known for his skepticism regarding UFOs. In the ufological and skeptical communities, Klass tends to inspire strongly polarized appraisals. Klass has been called the "Sherlock Holmes of UFOlogy"...
, who was born six months earlier and who died August 9, 2005.
Klass was related to a number of other writers, including his nieces, Perri Klass
Perri Klass
Perri Klass, MD, is a pediatrician and writer, who has published extensively about her medical training and pediatric practice. She is well-known for her writing about the issues of women in medicine, about relationships between doctors and patients, and about children and literacy. She is the...
and Judy Klass, his nephew David Klass
David Klass
David Klass is an American screenwriter and novelist. He has written more than 40 screenplays for Hollywood studios and published 14 young adult novels...
, and his brother Morton Klass.
He died on February 7, 2010, of congestive heart failure, and was survived by his wife Fruma, daughter Adina, and sister Frances Goldman-Levy.
Theater
In 1978, the University Readers at Penn State University presented a dramatization, directed by Joseph Wigley, of four of Tenn's short stories under the title Four From Tenn. The selected stories were "The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway", "Bernie the Faust", "The Tenants", and "My Mother Was a Witch".Pittsburgh's Malacandra Productions staged a nine-character play adapted by John Regis from the classic Tenn science fiction short story, "Winthrop Was Stubborn". Directed by David Brody for the Three Rivers Arts Festival, this production ran from June 2 through June 17, 2006.
Works online
- William Tenn: "Constantinople" (full text)
- William Tenn: "Poul Anderson" (full text)
- William Tenn: "Remembrance of Worldcons Past" (full text)
- William Tenn: "Welles or Wells: The First Invasion from Mars" (full text)
- "Streets of Mud, Streets of Gold," $25,000 award-winning essay by Fruma Klass (full text)
External links
- William Tenn official site
- William Tenn at the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 3rd edition (draft)
- Bibliography
- "More Than a Touch of Klass" by Laurie Mann
- Past Masters - In a Klass By Himself (or Tops On a Scale of One to Tenn) by Bud WebsterBud WebsterClarence Howard "Bud" Webster is a science fiction and fantasy writer who is also known for his essays on both the history of science fiction and sf/fantasy anthologies as well. He is perhaps best known for the Bubba Pritchert series, which have won two Analytical Laboratory readers' awards from...
, at Galactic Central