Roman Frederick Starzl


Roman Frederick Starzl was an American author. He, and earlier, his father, owned the Le Mars Globe-Post newspaper of Le Mars, Iowa. Roman Frederick was also the father of physician Thomas E. Starzl. His writing is largely forgotten now, but he was called a "master" by the pioneer of space opera E. E. Smith. Starzl's Interplanetary Flying Patrol, in The Hornets of Space, may have influenced Smith's Galactic Patrol. There is an extensive interview with Thomas Starzl about his father in Eric Leif Davin's Pioneers of Wonder.

Biography

Born Roman Frederick Starzl, he was the son of John V. Starzl and Margaret Theisen. John V. Starzl was born April 9, 1865 in Webrowa in southwest Bohemia, the son of Josef Starzl and Magdalena Ruba. Josef Starzl immigrated with his wife and 5 children in 1878 to the USA. John V. Starzl sold his pharmacy in Chicago around the time of his marriage and moved back to Le Mars, Iowa, near where his Bohemian immigrant parents had settled after immigration. There, he purchased the German-language newspaper, Der Herold, which later became Le Mars Globe Post, and raised Starzl and two other surviving children. Starzl started his career as a reporter for this newspaper. He reportedly started writing for pulp magazines as part of his efforts to raise enough money for a specific goal. Said goal was to acquire ownership of the newspaper and printing establishment associated with his family. Starzl eventually achieved this goal and retired from writing. Or so the story goes. His writing career indeed lasted only six years, during which he published about 24 stories. But it is possible that his writing career ended as his duties in the newspaper increased. A decision of necessity rather than choice. He became a partner in the Globe-Post in 1934, and sole owner and publisher in 1940. He continued in this role until 1968, when his printing plant fell victim to a fire. He was a member of both the German Rocket Society and the American Rocket Society. Later in life, he developed an interest in right-wing politics.
His literary output in science-fiction consists of about twenty stories, a few of them in collaborations with Everett E. Smith and Festus Pragnell. He also tried his hand in other genres. His stories are essentially "action fiction with science-fictional trappings". Though nine of them feature the Interplanetary Flying Police, they can hardly be seen as a series. There is little to no consistency between them, and they are often set in different time periods. He managed to somewhat stand out among the writers of this era, through a skill with words and a capacity for creative ideas. He did not, however, avoid the tendencies of his contemporaries in science fiction. Already in 1931, the readers of Wonder Stories complained that some of the stories published in the periodical seemed to be regular western fiction, crime fiction, adventure fiction with superficial science-fiction elements. Stories like The Man who Changed the Future by Starzl are evidence that this was quite true.
His first story Out of the Sub-Universe, was featured in an issue of Amazing Stories Quarterly and inspired its cover. It depicted a young couple shrinking in size. The story built on an idea previously used in The Man from the Atom by Green Peyton Wertenbaker, but it also served as a parody of the Golden Atom tales by Ray Cummings. The Last Planet, on the other hand, seems to be a precursor to the generation ship tales. Unfortunately, Starzl never fully dwelt on the subject. Leaving The Voyage That Lasted 600 Years by Don Wilcox to be the first fully realized example of this subgenre.

Partial list of works

Short stories

in 1932
The comic book issue Justice League of America No. 18 featured the story "Journey into the Micro-World", featuring a travel to a sub-atomic world. The story used a familiar theme from Out of the Sub-Universe, while writer Gardner Fox and editor Julius Schwartz probably had a hand in naming its miniature civilization "Starzl", in tribute to the writer.