Robert Augustine Ward "Doc" Lowndes was an American science fiction author, editor and fan. He was known best as the editor of Future Science Fiction, Science Fiction, and Science Fiction Quarterly, among many other crime-fiction, western, sports-fiction, and other pulp and digest sized magazines for Columbia Publications. Among the most famous writers he was first to publish at Columbia was mystery writer Edward D. Hoch, who in turn would contribute to Lowndes's fiction magazines as long as he was editing them. Lowndes was a principal member of the Futurians. His first story, "The Outpost at Altark" for Super Science in 1940, was written in collaboration with fellow Futurian Donald A. Wollheim, uncredited.
Lovecraftian work
Lowndes was also a horror enthusiast—as a young fan, he received two letters of encouragement from H. P. Lovecraft in 1937. The two Lovecraft letters are reprinted in Crypt of Cthulhu Volume 8, No 3, a special issue devoted to Lowndes. He wrote a number of dark fantasy stories such as "The Abyss" and "The Leapers", inspired by Lovecraft. The Crypt of Cthulhu tribute issue also reprints Lowndes' Lovecraftian stories "Leapers" and "Settler's Wall". The Lowndes tribute issue also includes two Lovecraftian poems, "The Burrowers Beneath" and "Forbidden Books" ; along with two critical articles by Lowndes which first appeared in Magazine of Horror, and an essay on Lowndes - "Lowndes, Lovecraft and the Health Knowledge Years" by Mike Ashley. Lowndes also wrote a series of poems inspired by Lovecraft's Fungi from Yuggoth - "The Annals of Arkya", which he followed up with "The New Annals of Arkya." The 12-sonnet sequence "Annals of Arkya"was reprinted in Crypt of Cthulhu 10, No 3 . These have also been reprinted in an issue of Shawn Ramsey's "Revelations from Yuggoth". His nonfiction "A Tribute to H. P. Lovecraft" appears in Peter Cannon, ed. Lovecraft Remembered.
The Health Knowledge magazines
In 1963, Lowndes initiated the Magazine of Horror for Health Knowledge Inc., which mixed reprints with new stories. The magazine was popular and spawned several companion magazines: Startling Mystery Stories, Famous Science FictionWeird Terror Tales and Bizarre Fantasy Fiction. Lowndes also edited two non-fantastic-fiction magazines for the company, Thrilling Western Magazine and World Wide Adventure, along with the speculative nonfiction titles they published. However, the collapse of Health Knowledge in 1971 ended these magazines. Startling Mystery Stories was notable for carrying the first stories of Stephen King and F. Paul Wilson. Lowndes subsequently went on to work on the Gernsback Publications' non-fiction magazine, Sexology. In 1991 he received the First Fandom Hall of Fame award.
Works
Novels
Mystery of the Third Mine, Philadelphia, Winston, 1953, 201p..
The Abyss and other Dark Places, UK, Logos Press, 1998. Edited by Stephen Sennitt.
Non-fiction
Three Faces of Science Fiction: SF as Instruction, Propaganda, and Delight, Boston, NESFA Press, 1973, 96p. Collects Lowndes' literary columns from Famous Science Fiction.
Orchids for Doc: The Literary Adventures and Autobiography of Robert A.W. "Doc" Lowndes, Borgo Press, Borgo Bioviews No 7,, Note: According to the Internet Science Fiction Database, this volume was never published.
The Gernsback Days: A Study of the Evolution of Modern Science Fiction from 1911 to 1936, Wildside Press, 2004, hardcover, paperback, 500p.
"Introduction" in Dracula; New York: Airmont Publishing Company, Inc., 1965.
"Introduction" for The Time Chariot, Avalon Books, 1966.
Editor
Blish, James and Robert Lowndes. The Best of James Blish. New York: Ballantine Books, 1979.
