Los lectores más veteranos de ciencia ficción sin duda recuerdan a Murray Leinster, prolífico autor americano, editado asiduamente en las antiguas colecciones Nebulae (1ª época), Galaxia, Cenit, Infinitum… Mucha de su producción novelística se editó en España durante los años cincuenta y sesenta, principalmente, o en la revista argentina
Pistas del espacio. Posteriormente quedó olvidado editorialmente, aunque algún título ha seguido apareciendo.
Nacido en 1896, William Fitzgerald Jenkins se dedicó a escribir tras licenciarse de la Primera Guerra Mundial, firmando sus obras con los nombres de Will F. Jenkins y sobre todo de Murray Leinster, su nom de plume más conocido –si bien los lectores pronto supieron que Will F. Jenkins y Murray Leinster eran la misma persona–, además de algún seudónimo ocasional.
En su obra se encuentran algunas curiosidades: en Atentado a los EE.UU. (firmada como Will Jenkins y publicada en 1946) nos presenta un ataque terrorista contra los Estados Unidos, un aviso del 11-S, por decirlo así. Su relato "Un lógico llamado Joe", publicado también en 1946 y con la misma firma de Will F. Jenkins, pero reeditado siempre como Murray Leinster, está considerado el primer relato de ciencia ficción en donde encontramos algo muy parecido a lo que hoy es internet (y que por lo visto no se le ocurrió a nadie, ni antes ni después de él: justamente por eso Leinster se ha convertido en un clásico, modesto, pero clásico).
Publicó su primer relato de ciencia ficción en 1919 y su primera novela apareció en 1931. Escribió asimismo relatos y novelas de fantasía, westerns y alguna novela romántica con seudónimo femenino. Su fuerte, desde luego, fue la ciencia ficción, y dentro de ella la llamada space opera o ciencia ficción de aventuras, bien en novelas independientes o en series con algunos personajes fijos. Entre sus muchos títulos –firmados con uno u otro nombre– vertidos al castellano se encuentran
Operación Terror, Ataque desde la cuarta dimensión, Capitán del espacio, Punto de control Lambda, Los duplicadores, Atentado a los EE.UU… Novelas de acción, de aventura, con personajes simples, intrigas algo repetitivas, escasa originalidad muchas veces, ninguna profundidad casi siempre… Pero eran una lectura estimable en aquellos años (los treinta, los cuarenta, los cincuenta) en que se iba creando un género que evolucionaría a formas expresivas más adultas (para involucionar, dicho sea de paso, en épocas recientes…).
Una de sus novelas ha dado lugar a un premio dedicado a obras sobre ucronías. Son curiosidades de un autor prolifico, esforzado, sencillo (o meramente simple), que escribió con el ánimo de entretener a lectores que buscaban simplemente esparcimiento, y lo consiguió. Su relato
Equipo de exploración ganó un premio Hugo en 1956 (póstumamente ha "ganado" otros).
En los últimos años de su vida, se le consideraba el escritor del género más veterano en activo. Falleció en 1975. El pasado año fue homenajeado en su pueblo natal. Yo me permitiría recomendar la lectura de su novela
Los duplicadores (hay también una versión de la misma publicada en revista con título distinto), porque es ciertamente divertida y original.
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Legal Name: Jenkins, William Fitzgerald
Birthplace: Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Birthdate: 16 June 1896
Deathdate: 8 June 1975
Wikipedia Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Leinster
IMDB Entry: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0500494/
Webpage: http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/leinster.html
Used These Alternate Names: Will F. Jenkins , William Fitzgerald , Will Jenkins , M. Leinster , William Fitzgerald Jenkins
Fiction Series
Bud Gregory
The Gregory Circle (1947) [SF] [also as by William Fitzgerald ]
The Nameless Something (1947) [SF] [also as by William Fitzgerald ]
The Deadly Dust (1947) [SF] [also as by William Fitzgerald ]
The Seven Temporary Moons (1948) [SF] [also as by William Fitzgerald ]
Out of This World (1958)
Burl
The Mad Planet (1920) [SF]
The Red Dust (1921) [SF]
Nightmare Planet (1953) [SF]
The Forgotten Planet (1954) also appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
The Forgotten Planet (Complete Novel) (1955)
The Forgotten Planet (Complete Novel) (1964)
Colonial Survey
Sand Doom (1955) [SF] [also as by William Fitzgerald Jenkins ]
Colonial Survey (1956) also appeared as:
Variant Title: Planet Explorer (1957)
Variant Title: The Planet Explorer (1957)
Exploration Team (1956) [SF] also appeared as:
Variant Title: Combat Team (1956)
Critical Difference (1956) [SF] also appeared as:
Variant Title: Solar Constant (1956)
The Swamp Was Upside Down (1956) [SF]
Kim Rendell
The Disciplinary Circuit (1946) [SF]
The Manless Worlds (1947) [SF]
The Boomerang Circuit (1947) [SF]
The Last Space Ship (1949) also appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
The Last Space Ship (Complete Novel) (1963)
Land of the Giants
1 Land of the Giants (1968)
2 The Hot Spot (1969)
3 Unknown Danger (1969)
Med Service
Ribbon in the Sky (1957) [SF]
Med Service (1957) [SF]
The Grandfathers' War (1957) [SF]
Pariah Planet (1961) [SF]
Tallien Three (1963) [SF] also appeared as:
Variant Title: The Hate Disease (1963)
Med Ship Man (1963) [SF]
Plague on Kryder II (1964) [SF]
Quarantine World (1966) [SF]
The Med Series (1983) [O]
Quarantine World (1992) [C]
Med Ship (2002) [O]
1 S.O.S. from Three Worlds (1966) [C]
2 The Mutant Weapon (1959)
3 Doctor to the Stars (1964) [C]
4 This World Is Taboo (1961)
Time Tunnel
1 The Time Tunnel (1967) also appeared as:
Variant Title: Time Tunnel (1971)
Magazine Appearances:
The Time Tunnel (Complete Novel) (1967)
2 Timeslip! (1967)
To the Stars (Leinster)
1 Space Platform (1953) also appeared as:
Variant Title: Space Platform (1965) (1965)
Magazine Appearances:
Space Platform (Complete Novel) (1957)
2 Space Tug (1953)
3 City on the Moon (1957)
Novels
Murder Madness (1931) also appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
Murder Madness (Part 1 of 4) (1930)
Murder Madness (Part 2 of 4) (1930)
Murder Madness (Part 3 of 4) (1930)
Murder Madness (Part 4 of 4) (1930)
The Earth-Shaker (1933) only appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
The Earth-Shaker (Part 1 of 4) (1933)
The Earth-Shaker (Part 2 of 4) (1933)
The Earth-Shaker (Part 3 of 4) (1933)
The Earth-Shaker (Part 4 of 4) (1933)
The Man Who Feared (1942) [only as by Will Jenkins ]
The Murder of the U.S.A. (1946) only appeared as:
Variant Title: Destroy the U.S.A. (1950 Canada) (1946) [as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Variant Title: The Murder of the U.S.A. (1946) [as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Magazine Appearances:
The Murder of the U.S.A. (Complete Novel) (1953) [as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Fight for Life (1949)
The Black Galaxy (1954)
The Brain-Stealers (1954)
Gateway to Elsewhere (1954) also appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
Journey to Barkut (Part 1 of ?) (1950)
Journey to Barkut (Part 2 of ?) (1951)
Journey to Barkut (Complete Novel) (1952)
Operation: Outer Space (1954) also appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
Operation: Outer Space (Complete Novel) (1957)
Operation: Outer Space (Complete Novel) (1963)
The Other Side of Here (1955) also appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
The Incredible Invasion (Part 1 of 5) (1936)
The Incredible Invasion (Part 2 of 5) (1936)
The Incredible Invasion (Part 3 of 5) (1936)
The Incredible Invasion (Part 4 of 5) (1936)
The Incredible Invasion (Part 5 of 5) (1936)
The Other Side of Here (Complete Novel) (1955)
War With the Gizmos (1958) also appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
The Strange Invasion (Complete Novel) (1958)
War With the Gizmos (Complete Novel) (1962)
The Pirates of Zan (1959) also appeared as:
Variant Title: The Pirates of Ersatz (2007)
Magazine Appearances:
The Pirates of Ersatz (Part 1 of 3) (1959)
The Pirates of Ersatz (Part 2 of 3) (1959)
The Pirates of Ersatz (Part 3 of 3) (1959)
The Pirates of Zan (Complete Novel) (1968)
The Monster from Earth's End (1959) also appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
The Monster from Earth's End (Complete Novel) (1966)
Four from Planet 5 (1959)
Men Into Space (1960)
The Wailing Asteroid (1960) also appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
The Wailing Asteroid (Complete Novel) (1962)
Creatures of the Abyss (1961) also appeared as:
Variant Title: The Listeners (1969)
Magazine Appearances:
Creatures of the Abyss (Complete Novel) (1962)
Operation Terror (1962) also appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
Operation Terror (Complete Novel) (1964)
Talents, Incorporated (1962)
The Duplicators (1964) also appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
The Duplicators (Complete Novel) (1965)
Spaceman (1964) only appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
Spaceman (Part 1 of 2) (1964)
Spaceman (Part 2 of 2) (1964)
Spaceman (Complete Novel) (1964)
The Other Side of Nowhere (1964)
Time Tunnel (1964)
The Greks Bring Gifts (1964)
Invaders of Space (1964) also appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
Invaders of Space (Complete Novel) (1965)
Space Captain (1966) also appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
Killer Ship (Part 1 of 2) (1965)
Killer Ship (Part 2 of 2) (1965)
Space Captain (Complete Novel) (1966)
Checkpoint Lambda (1966) also appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
Stopover In Space (Part 1 of 2) (1966)
Stopover In Space (Part 2 of 2) (1966)
Miners in the Sky (1967)
Space Gypsies (1967)
Collections
Sidewise in Time (1950)
Monsters and Such (1959)
Twists in Time (1960)
The Aliens (1960)
Get Off My World! (1966)
The Best of Murray Leinster (UK) (1976)
The Best of Murray Leinster (US) (1978)
First Contacts: The Essential Murray Leinster (1998)
Planets of Adventure (2003)
The Silver Menace and A Thousand Degrees Below Zero (2007)
The Runaway Skyscraper and Other Tales from the Pulps (2007)
Operation Terror with Long Ago, Far Away (2010)
Adventures in the Fifth-Dimension (2010)
Omnibus
Quadratic (1953) [O] with Olaf Stapledon
The Weapon Shops of Isher / Gateway to Elsewhere (1954) [O/2N] with A. E. van Vogt
The Brain-Stealers / Atta (1954) [O/2N] with Francis Rufus Bellamy
One Against Eternity / The Other Side of Here (1955) [O/2N] with A. E. van Vogt
Contraband Rocket / The Forgotten Planet (1956) [O] with G. Harry Stine [only as by Lee Correy and Murray Leinster ]
Men on the Moon / City on the Moon (1958) [O/1N,1A] with Donald A. Wollheim
The Mutant Weapon / The Pirates of Zan (1959) [O/2N]
The Duplicators / No Truce with Terra (1964) [O/2N] with Philip E. High
Space Captain / The Mad Metropolis (1966) [O/2N] with Philip E. High
A Murray Leinster Omnibus (1968) [O]
A Logic Named Joe (2005) [O]
Planet of Dread & Twice Upon a Time (2011) [O] with Charles L. Fontenay
Serials
The Strange People (Part 3 of 3) (1928)
The Strange People (Part 1 of 3) (1928)
The Strange People (Part 2 of 3) (1928)
The Other World (complete novel) (1949)
The Challenge From Beyond (Part 2 of 2) (1976) with Edward E. Smith and Harl Vincent
Anthologies
Great Stories of Science Fiction (1951)
Three Stories (1967) with Jack Williamson and John Wyndham
Chapterbooks
Conquest of the Stars (1952)
The Unknown (1952)
The Runaway Skyscraper (2005)
Morale (2007)
Sand Doom (2007) [also as by William Fitzgerald Jenkins ]
Sand Doom (2007)
Attention Saint Patrick (2007)
The Leader (2007)
A Matter of Importance (2007)
Scrimshaw (2007)
Long Ago, Far Away (2007)
The Aliens (2008)
The Ambulance Made Two Trips (2008)
Sand Doom (2008)
The Machine That Saved the World (2008)
Pariah Planet (2009)
Invasion (2009)
The Fifth-Dimension Tube (2009)
The Invaders (2010)
Sam, This Is You (2010)
The Hate Disease (2010)
The Mad Planet (2011)
Nongenre
Scalps: A Murder Mystery (1930) also appeared as:
Variant Title: Wings of Chance (1935)
Murder Will Out (1932)
Sword of Kings (1933)
No Clues (1935)
Black Sheep (1936) [only as by Will Jenkins ]
The King of Halstead Street (1938)
No More Battles (1940)
Dallas (1950) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Cattle Rustlers (1952)
Short Fiction Series
Preston-Hines
The Runaway Skyscraper (1919)
The City of the Blind (1929)
The Storm That Had to Be Stopped (1930)
The Man Who Put Out the Sun (1930)
Tommy Reames
The Fifth-Dimension Catapult (1931)
The Fifth-Dimension Tube (1933)
Davis & Gerrold
A Thousand Degrees Below Zero (1919)
The Silver Menace (1919) also appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
The Silver Menace (Part 1 of 2) (1919)
The Silver Menace (Part 2 of 2) (1919)
Shortfiction
Atmosphere (1918)
Oh, Aladdin! (1919)
Footprints in the Snow (1919)
Juju (1919)
The Gallery Gods (1920)
Nerve (1921)
The Street of Magnificent Dreams (1922)
The Oldest Story in the World (1925)
The Darkness on Fifth Avenue (1929)
The Purple Warning (1930)
Tanks (1930)
The Murderer (1930)
The Man Who Didn't Shoot (1931)
The Man Who Went Black (1931) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
The Seventh Bullet (1931)
The Power Planet (1931)
Morale (1931) also appeared as:
Variant Title: Morale: A Story of the War of 1941-43 (1931)
The Sleep Gas (1932)
The Racketeer Ray (1932)
Politics (1932)
The Monsters (1933)
Borneo Devils (1933)
Invasion (1933)
Beyond the Sphinxes' Cave (1933)
War of the Purple Gas (1934) only appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
War of the Purple Gas (Part 1 of 2) (1934)
War of the Purple Gas (Part 2 of 2) (1934)
Sidewise in Time (1934)
The Mole Pirate (1934)
The Rollers (1934)
Uneasy Home-coming (1935) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Proxima Centauri (1935)
The Morrison Monument (1935)
The Extra Intelligence (1935)
The Fourth-Dimensional Demonstrator (1935) also appeared as:
Variant Title: The Fourth Dimensional Demonstrator (1935)
Side Bet (1937) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Mr. Wildbeck's Brother-in-Law (1938) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Message from the Countess (1938) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
El amor de Senor Duchet (1938) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Board Fence (1938)
Lifeboat (1941) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
The Forth Moment (1941) only appeared as:
Variant Title: The Forth Moment (1941) [as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Variant Title: The Making of a Man (1941)
The Hermit (1942) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
The Wabbler (1942)
Four Little Ships (1942)
". . . If You Can Get It" (1943)
Plague (1944)
Trog (1944)
The Eternal Now (1944)
De Profundis (1945)
First Contact (1945)
The Ethical Equations (1945)
Tight Place (1945)
Pipeline to Pluto (1945)
Things Pass By (1945)
The Power (1945)
Interference (1945)
Incident on Calypso (1945)
Terror (1946) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
The Plants (1946)
Adapter (1946)
A Logic Named Joe (1946) [also as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Like Dups (1946)
Dead City (1946) also appeared as:
Variant Title: Malignant Marauder (1954)
Pocket Universes (1946)
The End (1946)
Time to Die (1947)
Friends (1947)
The Laws of Chance (1947)
Skit-Tree Planet (1947) also appeared as:
Variant Title: The Skit-Tree Planet (1947)
From Beyond the Stars (1947) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Magazine Appearances:
From Beyond the Stars (Part 1 of 2) (1954) [as by Will Jenkins ]
From Beyond the Stars (Part 2 of 2) (1954) [as by Will Jenkins ]
Symbiosis (1947) [also as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Propagandist (1947)
The Day of the Deepies (1947)
The Man in the Iron Cap (1947)
Forbidden Sanctuary (1948) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Planet of Sand (1948)
West Wind (1948)
The Strange Case of John Kingman (1948)
Space-Can (1948)
Regulations (1948)
The Devil of East Lupton, Vermont (1948) only appeared as:
Variant Title: The Devil of East Lupton (1948)
Variant Title: The Devil of East Lupton, Vermont (1948) [as by William Fitzgerald ]
The Night Before the End of the World (1948)
The Ghost Planet (1948)
The Story of Rod Cantrell (1949)
Assignment on Pasik (1949) [also as by William Fitzgerald ]
The Black Galaxy (1949)
The Lost Race (1949)
The Life-Work of Professor Muntz (1949)
Fury from Lilliput (1949)
Doomsday Deferred (1949) [also as by Will F. Jenkins ]
The Queen's Astrologer (1949)
This Star Shall Be Free (1949)
Cure for a Ylith (1949) [also as by William Fitzgerald ]
The Lonely Planet (1949) [also as by M. Leinster ]
Night Drive (1950) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
The Fear Planet (1950)
Planet of the Small Men (1950)
Nobody Saw the Ship (1950)
Be Young Again! (1950)
Historical Note (1951)
The Other Now (1951)
Skag with the Queer Head (1951)
If You Was a Moklin (1951)
Keyhole (1951)
Conquest of the Stars (1952)
The Unknown (1952)
Love Letters (1952) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
The Soldado Ant (1952) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Devil's Henchman (1952) [also as by Will Jenkins ]
The Gadget Had a Ghost (1952)
The Middle of the Week After Next (1952)
The Barrier (1952)
Overdrive (1953)
The Journey (1953)
The Sentimentalists (1953)
The Invaders (1953)
Dear Charles (1953) [also as by William Fitzgerald ]
The Castaway (1953)
The Ship Was a Robot (1953)
The Little Terror (1953) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Jezebel (1953) also appeared as:
Variant Title: The Jezebel (1953)
The Trans-Human (1953)
Second Landing (1954)
The Girl With Secret Charm (1954) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Fugitive from Space (1954) also appeared as:
Magazine Appearances:
Fugitive from Space (Part 1 of 2) (1962)
Fugitive from Space (Part 2 of 2) (1962)
The Amateur Alchemist (1954)
The Psionic Mousetrap (1955)
Sam, This Is You (1955)
White Spot (1955)
Honeymoon on Dlecka (1955)
Scrimshaw (1955)
Teletype (1956) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Women's Work (1956)
Anthropological Note (1957)
The Machine That Saved the World (1957)
Short History of World War Three (1958)
Mr. Binder and the Solid Vacuum (1958)
The Aliens (1959)
A Matter of Importance (1959)
Long Ago, Far Away (1959)
Thing from the Sky (1960)
Rogue Star (1960)
Attention Saint Patrick (1960)
The Leader (1960)
Tyrants Need to Be Loved (1960)
The Ambulance Made Two Trips (1960)
The Corianis Disaster (1960)
The Covenant (Part 4 of 5) (1960)
The Men at the Top (1961) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Doctor (1961)
The Case of the Homicidal Robots (1961)
No Road too Hard (1962) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Planet of Dread (1962)
Night to Survive (1962) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Imbalance (1962)
Third Planet (1963)
Manners and Customs of the Thrid (1963)
Lord of the Uffts (1964)
A Planet Like Heaven (1966)
To All Fat Policemen (1998)
The Great Catastrophe (1998)
Stories of The Hungry Country: The Case of The Dona Clotilde (2007)
Grooves (2007)
Essay Series
Science Fact (Analog)
Applied Science Fiction (1967) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Essays
The Story Behind the Story: The Eternal Now (1944)
The Story Behind the Story: Things Pass By (1945)
The Story Behind the Story:The End (1946)
Meet the Author: Murray Leinster (1947)
The Story Behind the Story: The Gregory Circle (1947) [only as by William Fitzgerald ]
The Story Behind the Story: The Boomerang Circuit (1947)
Foreword (The Last Space Ship) (1949)
Why I Selected- The Lost Race (1949)
Introduction (Sidewise in Time) (1950)
Recommended Other Stories (1951)
Let's Call It a Hobby (1951)
Guest Editorial (Startling Stories, September 1952) (1952)
To Quote: Murray Leinster (1953)
Editorial: Where Are Those Spaceships? (1953)
To Build a Robot Brain (1954)
The Monumental Mistake (1955) [only as by Will F. Jenkins ]
Labor of Love (1956)
About the Characters in This Book (The Forgotten Planet) (1961)
That Moon Plaque (Men on the Moon) (1969)
Author's Note (The Forgotten Planet) (unknown)
