How does a plumber, construction worker, carpenter, power plant engineer, shipyard welder and longshoreman become a science fiction writer? Rog Phillips seems like the kind of guy you’d want to sit down and have a beer with, a hard-working blue-collar guy. Born in 1909 in Spokane Washington, Roger Phillip Graham wasn’t only a man with many different jobs, he was also a man of many names. In fact, Phillips had more pseudonyms than any sci-fi writer that we’ve discovered so far. Twenty of them!

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He wrote more than 160 short sci-fi stories published in the 1940s and 50s, and 3 more in the early 60s. His first published work was a detective story, "Murder Note," credited to Charles Mann. “Murder Note” appeared in the Winter 1943 issue ofThe Masked Detective. Raymond Palmer, the editor of Amazing Stories started Rog on his science fiction career with a $500 advance in 1945 for his first story, "Let Freedom Ring! That was a hefty sum in 1945, worth more than $7,000 today.

Today’s story can be found in the March 1952 edition of If Worlds of Science Fiction, you can find it on ebay for $12.99. The Old Martians by Rog Phillips.

Phillips, the blue-collar guy, turned sci-fi writer once taught a writing course to prisoners at San Quentin.

He died of heart failure in California in 1966 days after his 57th birthday.

Next week on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast It was a nice little world; everything about it reminded Steve of Earth—except for the people. They looked as human—as steel could make them!... Thanks for listening and we hope you’ll join us next week onThe Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, with at least one lost vintage sci-fi short story in every episode.

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