There is one fact no sane man can quarrel with ... everything has a beginning and an end. But some men aren't sane; thus it isn't always so! And It Comes Out Here by Lester del Rey, that’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, with at least one lost vintage sci-fi short story in every episode.

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Lester del Rey was an interesting fellow. He often told people his real name was Ramon Felipe Alvarez-del Rey. But his sister confirmed that his name was in fact Leonard Knapp. He told people his father was a poor sharecropper but that’s not true either. It seems Lester del Rey was destined to become a great storyteller.

He was born in 1915, some say he was born in Clydesdale, Minnesota, but I looked and looked and couldn’t find Clydesdale, Minnesota. Wonder if that was made up too? His mother died shortly after he was born, his father hired a woman to care for him and his older sister, eventually marrying the woman. But she didn’t able to connect with young Lester, actually Leonard.

In 1931, at the age of 16, he moved by himself to Washington D.C. to attend George Washington University on a scholarship. He didn’t stay long. For the next two years he supported himself doing a variety of odd jobs and writing poetry. He sold 20 poems to various publications before coming to the realization that poetry was not his thing.

In 1938 he wrote a science fiction short story on a dare from a friend after he criticized the work of a professional writer. He wrote “The Faithful” in one day and submitted it to Astounding Science Fiction magazine. Eight days later he got a check in the mail and his professional writing career had begun. By the way, you will hear “The Faithful” in a future episode.

Let’s open the pages of Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine in February 1951, turn to page 62 for And It Comes Out Here by Lester del Rey…

In two days on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, The whole fighting fleet of the United Nations is caught in Kreynborg's marvelous, unique trap. Invasion by Murray Leinster. That’s in two days on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, with at least one lost vintage sci-fi short story in every episode. Support the show

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