Literary hoaxes William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 11-7-19

Theodore Sturgeon, the noted writer of science fiction and literary hoaxes, gets his name from his stepfather William Dickie Sturgeon who was a professor at Drexel University.

Besides SF, Sturgeon collaborated with Jean “A Christmas Story” Shepherd on I Libertine, which was a noted hoax on the book industry in 1956.

Shepherd made up the title and began talking about it on his radio show. His listeners started asking booksellers for it. The hoax became real when publisher Ian Ballantine hired Sturgeon to write it up based on Shepherd’s notes.

The real rub? I Libertine is fairly accurate historical fiction concerning the life of  Elizabeth Chudleigh.

Sturgeon motto was “ask the next question.” He represented it with the symbol a Q with an arrow through it. He signed his name with it and wore it around his neck for his last 15 years.

Literary hoaxes William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 11-7-19
Literary hoaxes William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 11-7-19

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