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Joseph Harold ("Harry") Dockweiler (1920- August 1948) was a science-fiction author and literary agent. Dockweiler was best known by his pen name Dirk Wylie. Dockweiler was a member of The Futurians, a 1940s-era science-fiction fan community.[1]

Biography

Dockweiler attended Brooklyn Technical High School in the 1930s, where he became friends with fellow student Frederik Pohl.[2]

In 1934, a teen Dockweiler had a letter published in periodical Wonder Stories inquiring about "Science Fiction Week".[3] Both Dockweiler and Pohl dropped out of Brooklyn tech after their junior year.[4]

In 1937, Dockweiler published a fanzine titled Fantasy Mirror.[4] As an adult, Dockweiler wrote stories in collaboration with Frederik Pohl, Arnold Kummer Jr. and Cyril M. Kornbluth.[5] Dockweiler also used the pen names "Dennis Lavond" and "Elliott Whitney".

In 1937, Dockweiler joined the Committee for the Political Advancement of Science Fiction (CPASF), a left-wing group of Futurians who supported the views of fellow member John B. Michel.[6]

When the Futurians group fractured, Dockweiler and Pohl followed Michel and Donald Wollheim to form the East New York Science Fiction League.[2] In 1940, Dockweiler married fellow Futurian Rosalind "Roz" Cohen.[2][4]

Dockweiler was drafted and served as a sergeant in a military police company in World War 2. He was stationed in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge.[2] Dockweiler suffered a spine injury after jumping from a transport truck; he was evacuated from theater and spent two years in a Veterans Administration hospital.[4] While hospitalized, Dockweiler penned a letter to Amazing Stories in which he reported two instances of having witnessed an unidentified objects, in some cases rise from the ocean and returning to it.[7]

In 1947, Dockweiler and Pohl set up the "Dirk Wylie Literary Agency".[8][9] In August 1948, Dockweiler died from tuberculosis of the spine.[2] After his death, Pohl and Rosalin continued to run the agency.[2]

Works

• "Stepsons of Mars" (April 1940 Astonishing Stories) (with C M Kornbluth and Richard Wilson)
• "Vacant World" (January 1941 Super Science Stories) (with C M Kornbluth)
• Stuff (1940)
• The Mantle of Graag (1941) with Robert A. W. Lowndes and Frederik Pohl
• Something from Beyond (1941) with Robert A. W. Lowndes and Frederik Pohl
• Highwayman Of The Void [10][11]
• Asteroid of the Damned (1942) [12][13]
• Sky Test (1942)
• Outpost of the Eons (1943)
• Star of the Undead(1948) with Robert A. W. Lowndes and Frederik Pohl
• When Time Went Mad (publish posthumously in 1950) with Frederic Arnold Kummer, Jr.

References

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