Richard S. Shaver

Richard Sharpe Shaver (October 8, 1907 - November 5, 1975) was an American artist and writer, the originator of "The Shaver Mystery" popularised in the 1940s and 50s by Ray Palmer.

Amazing Stories
Shaver was first published by Amazing Stories as a letter-writer in the January 1944 issue (18.1, p. 200), entitled "AN ANCIENT LANGUAGE?", in which he outlined the Atlantean coded meanings of the letters of the alphabet. Following the printing of this letter, Shaver began active correspondence with editor Ray Palmer, culminating in an extensive body of short fiction, detailing his beliefs as fantasy adventure stories.


 * &mdash; [introduced by Shaver's Open Letter to the World (p. 12-15), in which he outlines his beliefs, asserting the story-behind-the-fiction to be true]
 * &mdash; [introduced by Shaver's Open Letter to the World (p. 12-15), in which he outlines his beliefs, asserting the story-behind-the-fiction to be true]

Collected Works

 * "Cult of the Witch Queen" (1946) &mdash; with Bob McKenna
 * "I Remember Lemuria, and the Return of Sathanas" (1948) &mdash; collection of earlier stories from 1945-7
 * "Gods of Venus" (1948)
 * "The Sun-Smiths" (1952)
 * "Beyond the Barrier" (1953)

Resources

 * Internet Speculative Fiction Database entry on Richard S. Shaver (isfdb.org)