Editing Reginald Bretnor

{{short description|American novelist}}
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{{Infobox person
| name        = Reginald Bretnor
| image       = <!-- just the filename, without the File: or Image: prefix or enclosing [[brackets]] -->
| alt         = 
| caption     = 
| birth_name  = Alfred Reginald Kahn
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1911|7|30}}
| birth_place = [[Vladivostok]], [[Imperial Russia|Russia]]{{cn|date=March 2025}}
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|1992|7|22|1911|7|30}}
| death_place = [[Medford, Oregon]]{{cn|date=March 2025}}
| nationality = 
| other_names = 
| known_for   = 
| occupation  = 
}}
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'''Reginald Bretnor''' (born '''Alfred Reginald Kahn'''; July 30, 1911 – July 22, 1992)<ref name=BioBretnorDotCom/> was an American [[science fiction]] editor and author, and contributor on warfare and other subjects, who published substantial work between the 1950s and 1980s. Bretnor worked extensively both to write science fiction and to edit science and science fiction-related compendia (e.g., his trilogy of symposia beginning with ''Science Fiction Today and Tomorrow: A Discursive Symposium'' (1975),<ref name = SFcompendium1/><ref name=SFcompendium2/><ref name=SFcompendium3/><ref name="MSF_1979"/> and he edited some of the earliest books to consider science fiction from the perspective of [[Literary criticism|literary theory and criticism]].{{says who|date=March 2025}}{{citation needed lead|date=March 2025}} His non-fiction included works on military history, theory, and [[futurology]] (e.g., his trilogy on ''The Future of War'', beginning 1979),<ref name=Decisive/><ref name=TFaWIImars/><ref name=TFaWIIIorion/> as well as on public affairs.{{citation needed lead|date=March 2025}} Most of Bretnor's own fiction, science fiction and otherwise, was in short story form, and often featured whimsical story lines or ironic plot twists.{{citation needed lead|date=March 2025}}

==Early life and education==
Reginald Bretnor was born on July 30, 1911, in [[Vladivostok]],<ref name=BioBretnorDotCom>{{cite web | author=Flaxman, Fred | date = 2004 | title = Reginald Bretnor | work = Bretnor.com | format = author-provided biographical page | location = Weaverville, NC | publisher = Story Books and Fred Flaxman | url=http://www.bretnor.com/BretnorBio.html |access-date=2010-02-15 |archive-date=2008-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222210811/http://www.bretnor.com/BretnorBio.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> in the [[Imperial Russia|Russian empire]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | date = February 8, 2025 | title = Russian Empire | encyclopedia = [[Encyclopaedia Britannica]] (EB, Britannica.com) | url = https://www.britannica.com/place/Russian-Empire | access-date = 22 March 2024}} This citation establishes that the political structure of which Vladivostok was a part, in 1911, was the Russian empire. Note, this work is properly cited, indicating the author given at the source. Wikipedia's red-labeling of this as an error is a shortcoming of their system.</ref> Bretnor's father, Grigory Kahn,{{cn|date=March 2025}} has alternatively been described as a "Latvian Jewish banker",<ref name=BioBretnorDotCom/> and a [[Russian Jew]],{{cn|date=March 2025}} and his mother, her name not yet identified in a biographical source, alternatively as an English governess,<ref name=BioBretnorDotCom/> and one born British that became a Russian subject.{{cn|date=March 2025}} Bretnor's family left Siberia for Japan, spending from 1917 to 1920 there,<ref name=BioBretnorDotCom/> then moving to [[San Diego, California]]. Al least one other source states it was his mother that settled them—she, and the children Reginald and Margaret—in the United States, in 1920.{{verification needed|date=March 2025}}

==Military and governmental service==
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According to papers in the SOHS Archives, Bretnor's military background included service in the last cavalry unit in the U.S. Army. Health issues led to his discharge in August 1941. He tried to reenlist in 1942, but was rejected. He was hired by the [[United States Office of War Information|Office of War Information]] to write propaganda to be sent to Japan, and papers related to his work are held in the SOHS Archives. After World War II, Bretnor worked for the U.S. State Department until ill health once again caused him to resign.

==Literary career==
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Bretnor contributed substantial work as an American [[science fiction author]] and editor between the 1950s and 1980s.{{cn|date=March 2025}} As well, Bretnor worked extensively to edit science and science fiction-related compendia,<ref name = SFcompendium1/><ref name=SFcompendium2/><ref name=SFcompendium3/><ref name="MSF_1979"/> and he edited some of the earliest books to consider science fiction from the perspective of [[Literary criticism|literary theory and criticism]].{{says who|date=March 2025}}{{cn|date=March 2025}} 

Bretnor wrote and edited extensively in the area of non-fiction, including substantial works on military theory,<ref name=Decisive>{{cite book | author = Bretnor, Reginald | year = 1969 | title = Decisive Warfare: A Study in Military Theory | series =  | edition =  | location =  | publisher =  | isbn =  | url =  | access-date =  | quote =  }}{{full|date=March 2025}}</ref>{{full|date=March 2025}}<ref name=TFaWIthor>{{cite book | editor = Bretnor, Reginald | year = 1979 | title = The Future at War I: Thor's Hammer | series =  | edition =  | location =  | publisher =  | isbn =  | url =  | access-date =  | quote =  }}{{full|date=March 2025}}</ref>{{full|date=March 2025}}<ref name=TFaWIImars>{{cite book | editor = Bretnor, Reginald | year = 1980 | title = The Future at War II: The Spear of Mars | series =  | edition =  | location =  | publisher =  | isbn =  | url =  | access-date =  | quote =  }}{{full|date=March 2025}}</ref>{{full|date=March 2025}}<ref name=TFaWIIIorion>{{cite book | editor = Bretnor, Reginald | year = 1980 | title = The Future at War III: Orion's Sword | series =  | edition =  | location =  | publisher =  | isbn =  | url =  | access-date =  | quote =  }}{{full|date=March 2025}}</ref>{{full|date=March 2025}} and some on public affairs.{{cn|date=March 2025}} He wrote multiple articles,{{cn|date=March 2025}} including on cats, and he translated ''Les Chats'', the first known book about cats, written by [[François-Augustin de Paradis de Moncrif|Moncrif]] in 1727.<ref name=BioBretnorDotCom/>

==Bibliography==
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===Papa Schimmelhorn series===
* ''[[The Gnurrs Come from the Voodvork Out]]'' (short story, 1950),<ref>{{cite magazine | author = Bretnor, Reginald | date = 1950 | title = The Gnurrs Come from the Voodvork Out | magazine = [[Fantasy & Science Fiction]] (Winter/Spring) | location =  | publisher =  | url =  | access-date =  | quote =  }}{{full|date=March 2025}}</ref>{{full|date=March 2025}} a Retro-Hugo Best Short Story award nominee for 1951.<ref>{{cite web | author = [[Hugo Award]] Staff | date = August 31, 2001 | title = 1951 Retro-Hugo Awards | work = TheHugoAwards.org | location =  | publisher =  | url = http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/1951-retro-hugo-awards/ | access-date = 22 March 2025 | quote =  }}</ref>
* ''Little Anton'' (novelette, 1951).{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''Papa Schimmelhorn and the S.O.D.O.M. Serum'' (1973).{{what|date=March 2025}}{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''Count Von Schimmelhorn and the Time-Pony'' (novella, 1974).{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''The Ladies of Beetlegoose Nine'' (novella, 1976).{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''Papa Schimmelhorn's Yang'' (novelette, 1978).{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''The Schimmelhorn File: Memoirs of a Dirty Old Genius'' (collection, 1979).{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''Schimmelhorn's Gold'' (novel, 1986).{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''Nobelist Schimmelhorn'' (novelette, 1987).{{full|date=March 2025}}

===Symposia on science fiction===
Reginald Bretnor organised and edited several substantial volumes, inviting leading SF authors and science writers to contributing essays to his virtual symposia,<ref name="Nicol1974">{{cite web |url=http://www.depauw.edu/SFs/reviews_pages/r3.htm#c3 |title=Bretnor Returns |publisher=[[DePauw University]] |work=Science Fiction Studies #3 |first=Charles |last=Nicol |author-link=Charles Nicol |date=Spring 1974 |access-date=2008-12-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509164511/http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/reviews_pages/r3.htm#c3 |archive-date=2008-05-09 }}</ref> including the following, discussing the science fiction genre:

* ''Science Fiction Today and Tomorrow: A Discursive Symposium'' (1975, with [[Frederik Pohl]], [[Poul Anderson]], [[Jack Williamson]], [[Ray Bradbury]], [[Hal Clement]], [[Isaac Asimov]], [[Frank Herbert]], [[Hugo Gernsback]], [[Theodore Sturgeon]], [[A. E. van Vogt]], [[Cory Panshin]], [[Larry Niven]], [[James Blish]], [[Harlan Ellison]], [[E. E. Smith]])<ref name = SFcompendium1>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=52dlAAAAMAAJ |title=Google Book Search: Science Fiction, Today and Tomorrow |isbn=9780060104672 |access-date=2008-12-12|last1=Bova |first1=Ben |year=1974 |publisher=Harper & Row }}</ref>
* ''The Craft of Science Fiction: A Symposium on Writing Science Fiction and Science Fantasy'' (1976, with [[Robert A. Heinlein]], [[Frederik Pohl]], [[Larry Niven]], [[Poul Anderson]], [[Harlan Ellison]], [[Hal Clement]], [[A. E. van Vogt]], [[Frank Herbert]], [[Jerry Pournelle]], [[Isaac Asimov]], [[Jack Williamson]], [[Norman Spinrad]])<ref name=SFcompendium2>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=up1ZAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Craft+of+Science+Fiction |title=Google Book Search: The Craft of Science Fiction |isbn=9780060104610 |access-date=2008-12-12|last1=Bretnor |first1=Reginald |year=1976 |publisher=Harper & Row }}</ref>
* ''Modern Science Fiction: Its Meaning and Its Future'' (1953,<ref name=SFcompendium3>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j2YOAAAAIAAJ&q=Modern+Science+Fiction:+Its+Meaning+and+Its+Future|title=Google Book Search: Modern Science Fiction: Its Meaning and Its Future |access-date=2008-12-12|last1=Campbell |first1=John W. |year=1953 }}</ref> second edition 1979, with [[John W. Campbell, Jr.]], [[Anthony Boucher]], [[Fletcher Pratt]], [[L. Sprague de Camp]], [[Isaac Asimov]], [[Arthur C. Clarke]], [[Philip Wylie]], [[Gerald Heard]])<ref name="MSF_1979">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gChaAAAAMAAJ&q=Second+edition|title=Google Book Search: Modern Science Fiction: Its Meaning and Its Future 'second edition' |isbn=9780911682236 |access-date=2008-12-12|last1=Campbell |first1=John Wood |year=1979 |publisher=Advent Publishers }}</ref>

===Non-fiction anthologies and related works===
Further volumes Bretnor wrote or organised, again leading to substantial volumes, were on the subject of the military and war.{{cn|date=March 2025}} In 1969, Bretnor published ''Decisive Warfare''.<ref name=Decisive/> Largely unnoticed by his science fiction readership and foreshadowing his ''Future at War'' series in 1979-1980,{{cn|date=March 2025}} it proved him a scholar of varied talents.{{says who|date=March 2025}}{{cn|date=March 2025}} His collection ''Of Force and Violence and Other Imponderables: Essays on War, Politics, and Government'' was published in 1992,{{cn|date=March 2025}} the year of his death.
* ''Decisive Warfare: A Study in Military Theory'' (1969, author).<ref name=Decisive/>{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''The Future at War I: Thor's Hammer'' (1979, editor).<ref name=TFaWIthor/>{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''The Future at War II: The Spear of Mars'' (1980, editor).<ref name=TFaWIImars/>{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''The Future at War III: Orion's Sword'' (1980, editor).<ref name=TFaWIIIorion/>{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''Of Force and Violence and Other Imponderables: Essays on War, Politics, and Government'' (1992, editor).{{cn|date=March 2025}} 

===Other fiction works===
* ''Maybe Just A Little One'' (short story, 1947).<ref name="fsf1stswho">{{cite web |url=http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/bibliography/fsf1stswho01.htm |title=First publications (by author)
|work=[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction]]|access-date=2008-12-12}}{{full|date=March 2025}}</ref>{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''A Killing in Swords'' (1978).{{what|date=March 2025}}{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''The Doorstep'' (1957, and earlier).{{what|date=March 2025}}<ref>First published in ''[[Astounding]]'',{{full|date=March 2025}} and later in ''The Year's Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy'', [[Judith Merril]] editor, June 1957, pp. 89-97.{{full|date=March 2025}}</ref>{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''The Man On Top''.{{when|date=March 2025}}{{what|date=March 2025}}{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''Cat''.{{when|date=March 2025}}{{what|date=March 2025}}{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''[[Genius of the Species]]''.{{when|date=March 2025}}{{what|date=March 2025}}{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''The Past and Its Dead People''.{{when|date=March 2025}}{{what|date=March 2025}}{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''Old Uncle Tom Cobleigh and All''.{{when|date=March 2025}}{{what|date=March 2025}}{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''The Proud Foot of the Conqueror''.{{when|date=March 2025}}{{what|date=March 2025}}{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''Unknown Things''.{{when|date=March 2025}}{{what|date=March 2025}}{{full|date=March 2025}}
* ''The Timeless Tales of Reginald Bretnor'' (posthumous collection, 15 short stories).{{when|date=March 2025}}{{full|date=March 2025}}

===Ferdinand Feghoot series===
{{unreferenced section|date=March 2025}}
Under the pseudonym '''Grendel Briarton''' (an anagram of Reginald Bretnor), he published a series of over eighty science-fiction themed [[shaggy dog story|shaggy-dog]]  [[Vignette (literature)|vignettes]] featuring the time-traveling hero Ferdinand Feghoot.  Known as "[[Feghoot]]s", the stories involved Feghoot resolving a situation encountered while traveling through time and space (à la [[Doctor Who]]) with a bad pun.  In one example, he explained his inability to pay his dues for a Sherlock Holmes fan society by turning out his empty pockets and declaring "share lack". In his adventures, Feghoot worked for the Society for the Aesthetic Re-Arrangement of History and traveled via a device that had no name but was typographically represented as the ")(".  In 1980, ''The Compleat Feghoot'' collected all of Bretnor's Feghoots published up to  that time and included a selection of winners and honorable mentions from a contest run by ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction]]''. The book is, as of 2006, out of print and very rare.

==Other writings==
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Bretnor also wrote nonfiction articles for the [[survivalist]] newsletter ''P.S. Letter'', edited by [[Mel Tappan]].{{cn|date=March 2025}}

==Personal life==
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Brentor was married to Helen Harding, a translator and U.C. Berkeley librarian, from 1948 until her death in 1967.{{cn|date=March 2025}} He subsequently married Rosalie,{{when|date=March 2025}} whom he referred to in a letter in the Southern Oregon Historical Society Archives as Rosalie McShane, although she wrote under the name Rosalie Bodrero.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

Brentnor died at the age of 80, in [[Medford, Oregon]], on July 22, 1992.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

The [[Church of Satan]] website alleges that Bretnor was an early associate of [[Anton Szandor LaVey]] before his founding of the [[Church of Satan]], and that Bretnor and other science fiction authors were members of LaVey's "Order of the Trapezoid" in the early 1950s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/CShistory2MC.html |title=The Church of Satan—A Brief History |first=Blanche |last=Barton |author-link=Blanche Barton |access-date=2008-12-12}}{{better source|date=March 2025}}</ref>{{dubious|date=March 2025}}<!--This is not a reliable source, but a self-published work that is intended to be promotional for its ideology/cause (promotion which includes stating celebrity authors influenced). If the same purported fact is not listed separately, elsewhere, in a reliable source, this paragraph should be removed.-->
<!--Even less attributible and so less reliable, it has been said that Bretnor considered himself to have a psychic connection to cats.{{cn}}-->

==See also==
<!--*[[Retreat (survivalism)]]
*[[Survivalism]]-->
*[[Mel Tappan]]

==Further reading==
<!--Adding titles here that can help with the long backlog of unsourced statements herein. Entries appearing here have either not yet been used as sources, or they contain substantial content that is related to statements appearing that have not yet been cited.-->
<!--Works appear in inverse chronological order, by date of publication.-->
* {{cite encyclopedia | author = Clute, John | date = 13 January 2025 | chapter = Bretnor, Reginald | title = SF Encyclopedia | url = https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/bretnor_reginald | access-date = 22 March 2024}}
* {{cite web | author=Flaxman, Fred | date = 2004 | title = Reginald Bretnor | work = Bretnor.com | format = author-provided biographical page | location = Weaverville, NC | publisher = Story Books and Fred Flaxman | url=http://www.bretnor.com/BretnorBio.html |access-date=2010-02-15 |archive-date=2008-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222210811/http://www.bretnor.com/BretnorBio.html |url-status=dead }}{{better source|date=March 2025}}


==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/bibliography/fsfserieswho04.htm Ferdinand Feghoot series] in ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction]]''
* [http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/bibliography/fsfserieswhen13.htm Schimmelhorn series] in ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction]]''
* [http://authors.wizards.pro/authors/writers/reginald-bretnor AuthorWars.com Bibliography]
* [http://www.bretnor.com/BretnorBio.html Biographical introduction] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050922085851/http://www.bretnor.com/BretnorBio.html |date=2005-09-22 }} to ''The Timeless Tales of Reginald Bretnor''
* [http://www.bretnor.com/BretnorIntro.html Biographical remembrance of Reginald Bretnor] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050306053221/http://www.bretnor.com/BretnorIntro.html |date=2005-03-06 }} by [[Poul Anderson]]
* [http://sohs.harperintranets.com/?q=exhibits/8545 Bretnor Archives Virtual Exhibit]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} by the Southern Oregon Historical Society
* {{isfdb name|id=Reginald_Bretnor|name=Reginald Bretnor}}
* [https://www.freesfonline.net/authors/Reginald_Bretnor.html Reginald Bretnor's online fiction] at ''Free Speculative Fiction Online''
* {{Gutenberg author | id=35755| name=Reginald Bretnor}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bretnor, Reginald}}
[[Category:1911 births]]
[[Category:1992 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American science fiction writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Vladivostok]]
[[Category:American male short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American short story writers]]
[[Category:People of the United States Office of War Information]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States]]