From: Peter David <[72550 2517] at [CompuServe.COM]>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: Gardner Fox
Date: 28 Dec 1996 04:32:45 GMT

Steve Cadigan writes:  "Anyone out there have any nice Gardner Fox
stories to share?"

I spoke to Gardner Fox exactly one time, and it was under extremely
bizarre circumstances.

About fifteen or so years ago, I was working for a publisher called
Elsevier-Nelson.  One of the books EN had published was a science fiction
novel called "Star Crash," by an author whose name I don't recall.  And
going through the mail one day, I came upon a letter from a reader
informing us that "Star Crash" was a 100% plagiarism.  It had been swiped
line for line, word for word, from an SF novel written by Gardner Fox back
in the early 1960s.

I immediately brought the matter to the publisher's attention.  She wondered
whether "Gardner Fox" might be a pen name that the "Star Crash" author had
once used:  It still would have been fraud, since the work was presented as
original, but it wouldn't be as catastrophic as a complete swipe.  But I
assured her that Gardner Fox was definitely the real name of a real writer,
and it sure weren't the author of "Star Crash."

We wound up getting back the entire advance from the plagiarist and sending
it to Fox, along with any future royalties and a guarantee that the book
would carry his name on it should it go back to press.  DC put us directly
in touch with Gardner.  Considering the circumstances, he was extremely
gentlemanly about it.  His attitude was that it was found money for him;
the book had been out of print for ages and all of a sudden it was generating
new revenue for him.  Not bad.

PAD