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References on the internet often disappear, thus the following information was copied from http://www.gwillick.com/Spacelight/pratt.html and it is placed here for informational and educational purposes only.                       Sid Harrison Feb.2004.

Fletcher Pratt 
B/April 25, 1897, Buffalo, NY
D/June 10, 1956, Long Branch, New Jersey
Married Inga Stephens (1926)
Go to Bibliography

Librarian, newspaper reporter, writer; Fletcher was best known for his work as a naval historian. Author of over 50 books on multiple subjects, Pratt was also a linguist and translated works from German and French. WWII shaped his output (see bibliography) and generated an intense interest in all things military. Pratt was often researching and writing three and four works at once.

It would be deceptive to say that Fletcher was another of the Civil War historian/writers, which he was. But more exactly, Fletcher's main area of expertise and hobby was studying the legendary battles of war, from prehistory up until modern times. Pratt's first book, 1934's The Heroic Years, was about the War of 1812 and the James Madison administration. Fletcher's military output during WWII was awesome.

Pratt's first short story appeared in the pulps in the late 1920s. His SF was mostly in short form but often in novella or novelette length when he was the sole author. In collaboration, the works were usually short stories. In SF, Pratt's name is closely tied to L. Sprague de Camp, with whom Fletcher seems to have had an easy and comfortable partner. Pratt's wife, Inga, was a gifted artist and often illustrated his books.

Pratt's last work, The Compact History of the United States Navy was completed one week before he died.

PEN NAMES: George W. Fletcher, Irwin Lester


Bibliography of FLETCHER PRATT
Copied from http://www.gwillick.com/Spacelight/pratt.html 



1941 The Incomplete Enchanter (w L. S. de Camp), fantasy novel, Holt
1941 Castle of Iron (w L. S. de Camp), fantasy novel, Unknown, April
1942 Land of Unreason (w L. S. de Camp), fantasy novel, Holt
1948 The Well of the Unicorn (as George W. Fletcher), fantasy, Sloane
1951 World of Wonder, anthology, (F. Pratt ed), Twayne
1951 Carnelian Cube (w L. S. de Camp), Gnome
1951 Double in Space, 2 story collection, Doubleday
  • Project Excelsior (aka Asylum Satellite), (na)
  • The Wanderer's Return, (na)
    1952 Double in Jeopardy, 2 story collection, Doubleday
  • Double Jeopardy, (novel)
  • The Square Cube Law, (na)
    1952 Blue Star, sf novel, Witches Three, Twayne (Ballatine pb 1969)

    1953 The Undying Fire (aka The Conditioned Captain), novel, Ballantine
    1953 The Wall of Serpents (w L. S. De Camp), Fantasy Fiction. (Avalon 1960)
    1953 Tales from Gavagan's Bar (w L. S. de Camp), collection, Twayne
  • All That Glitters, (original ss)
  • The Ancestral Amethyst, (ss)
  • Beasts of Bourbon, (ss)
  • The Better Mousetrap, (ss)
  • The Black Ball, (ss)
  • Caveat Emptor, (ss)
  • Corpus Delectable, (original ss)
  • A Dime Brings You Success, (original ss)
  • Elephas Frumenti, (ss)
  • The Eve of St. John, (original ss)
  • The Gift of God, (ss)
  • Gin Comes in Bottles, (original ss)
  • The Green Thumb, (ss)
  • Here, Putzi!, (original ss)
  • The Love Nest, (original ss)
  • More Than Skin Deep, (ss)
  • My Brother's Keeper, (original ss)
  • No Forwarding Address, (original ss)
  • The Palimpsest of St. Augustine, (original ss)
  • The Rape of the Lock, (ss)
  • The Stone of the Sages, (original ss)
  • When the Night Wind Howls, (ss)
  • Where to, Please?, (ss)

  • 1954 Double in Space, 2 story collection, Boardman
  • The Conditioned Captain (aka The Undying Fire), (na)
  • Project Excelsior (aka Asylum Satellite), (na)

  • 1960 Invaders From Rigel, sf novella, exp of 1931's "Onslaught From Rigel," Airmont pb
    1962 Alien Planet, sf novel, exp of "A Voice Across the Years," Avalon hc
    1975 The Compleat Enchanter (w L. S. de Camp), collection, SF Book Club
  • The Castle of Iron, (novel)
  • The Incompleat Enchanter, (novel)
    1988 The Intrepid Enchanter (w L. S. de Camp), first omnibus of the Harold Shea stories, (see below), Sphere (UK)
  • 1989 The Complete Compleat Enchanter (w L. Sprague de Camp), omnibus of the Harold Shea stories, Baen
  • The Castle of Iron, (novel), Unknown, April 1941
  • The Green Magician, (na), Beyond #9, 1954
  • The Mathematics of Magic, (na), Unknown, Aug 1940
  • The Roaring Trumpet, (na), Unknown, May 1940
  • The Wall of Serpents, (na), Fantasy Fiction, June 1953


  • 1934 The Heroic Years, (War of 1812), Smith & Haas
    1936 Julius Caesar, novel, Wms and Norgate
    1938 The Navy - A History, Doubleday
    1938 The Lost Battalion (w Thomas Johnson), Bobbs-Merrill
    1939 Road to Empire, Doubleday
    1939 Sea Power and Today's War, Harrison-Hilton
    1939 Secret and Urgent, Bobbs-Merril
    1941 Fighting Ships of the U. S. Navy, Garden City
    1941 America and Total War, Smith and Durrell
    1941 Naval War Game, Harrison-Hilton
    1942 What the Citizen Should Know about Modern War, Norton
    1943 The Navy has Wings, Harper
    1944 The Navy's War, Harper
    1944 My Life to the Destroyers (w L. A. Abercrombie), Holt
    1946 Fleet Against Japan, Harper
    1946 Empire and the Sea, Holt
    1946 Night Work, Holt
    1947 Man and His Meals (w Robeson Bailey), Holt
    1948 The Marine's War, Sloane
    1948 Ordeal by Fire, (Civil War), Sloane
    1949 Empire and Glory, Sloane
    1949 Eleven Generals, Sloane
    1950 The Third King, Sloane
    1950 Prebble's Boys, (Birth of American Sea Power), Sloane
    1951 The Monitor and The Merrimac, Random House
    1951 Rockets, Jets, Guided Missiles, and Space Ships, (w J. Croggins), Random House
    1951 War For the World, (chronicle of WW II), Yale
    1952 A Short History of the Civil War, Pocket Books
    1952 By Space Ship to the Moon (w J. Croggins), Random House
    1953 Stanton, Lincoln's Secretary of War, Norton
    1954 My Diary, North and South, Harper
    1955 Famous Inventors and Their Inventions, Random House
    1955 All About Rockets and Jets, Random House
    1955 The Civil War, Garden City Books
    1955 The Civil War in Pictures, Holt
    1956 Battles That Changed History, Doubleday & Hanover House
    1956 Civil War on Western Waters, Holt
    1957 The Compact History of the United States Navy, Hawthorn



  • All That Glitters (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), Tales from Gavagan's Bar, Twayne, 1953
  • The Ancestral Amethyst (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), F&SF, Aug 1952
  • Asylum Satellite (aka Project Excelsior), (na), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Oct 1951
  • Beasts of Bourbon (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), F&SF, Oct 1951
  • Bell, Book, and Candle (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), Fantastic Universe, Oct 1959
  • The Better Mousetrap (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), F&SF, Dec 1950
  • The Black Ball (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), F&SF, Oct 1952
  • The Blue Star, (na), Witches Three, (F. Pratt ed), Twayne, 1952
  • The Castle of Iron, (na), Unknown, April 1941
  • Caveat Emptor (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), Weird Tales, Mar 1953
  • The City of the Living Dead (w L. Manning), (nv), Science Wonder Stories, May 1930
  • The Conditioned Captain (aka The Undying Fire), (na), Startling Stories, May 1953
  • Corpus Delectable (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), Tales from Gavagan's Bar, Twayne, 1953
  • Danger (w Irving Lester), (ss), Amazing, July 1929
  • A Dime Brings You Success (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), Tales from Gavagan's Bar, Twayne, 1953
  • Doctor Grimshaw's Sanitarium, (ss), Amazing, May 1934
  • Double Jeopardy, (na), Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1952
  • Elephas Frumenti (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), F&SF, Winter/Spring 1950
  • The Eve of St. John (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), Tales from Gavagan's Bar, Twayne, 1953
  • Expedition to Pluto, (nv), Planet, Winter 1939
  • Gavagan's Bar, (ss), F&SF, Winter/Spring 1950
  • The Gift of God (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), F&SF, Win/Spr 1950
  • Gin Comes in Bottles (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), Tales from Gavagan's Bar, Twayne, 1953
  • The Great Steel Panic (w Irving Lester), (ss), Amazing, Sept 1928
  • The Green Magician (w L. S. de Camp), (na), Beyond #9, 1954
  • The Green Thumb (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), F&SF, Feb 1953
  • Here, Putzi! (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), Tales from Gavagan's Bar, Twayne, 1953
  • Hormones, (ss), Star SF Stories #2, (F. Pohl ed), Ballantine, 1953
  • The Land of Unreason (w L. S. de Camp), (na), Unknown Worlds, Oct 1941
  • The Long View, (na), The Petrified Planet, Twayne, 1952
  • The Love Nest (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), Tales from Gavagan's Bar, Twayne, 1953
  • The Mad Destroyer, 1930
  • The Mathematics of Magic (w L. S. de Camp), (na), Unknown, Aug 1940
  • Methought I Heard a Voice (w L. S. de Camp), (aka When the Night Wind Howls), (ss), Weird Tales, Nov 1951
  • More Than Skin Deep (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), F&SF, April 1951
  • My Brother's Keeper (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), Tales from Gavagan's Bar, Twayne, 1953
  • No Forwarding Address (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), Tales from Gavagan's Bar, Twayne, 1953
  • Octopus Cycle (w Irving Lester), (ss), Amazing, May 1928
  • Official Record, (nv) Space SF, Sept 1952
  • Oh, Say! Can You See (w L. S. de Camp), (aka Ward of the Argonaut), (ss) Fantastic Universe, Jan 1959
  • One Man's Meat (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), F&SF, Sept 1953
  • The Onslaught from Rigel, (na), 1931(Wonder Story Annual 1950)
  • The Palimpsest of St. Augustine (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), Tales from Gavagan's Bar, Twayne, 1953
  • Pardon My Mistake, (ss), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Dec 1946
  • Potemkin Village, (nv), Startling Stories, Feb 1953
  • Project Excelsior (aka Asylum Satellite), (na), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Oct 1951
  • The Rape of the Lock (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), F&SF, Feb 1952
  • The Reign of the Ray (w Irving Lester), (na), Science Wonder Stories, June/July 1929
  • The Roaring Trumpet (w L. S. de Camp), (na), Unknown, May 1940
  • The Roger Bacon Formula (w Irvin Lester), (ss), Amazing, Jan 1929
  • Second Chance (w Walter Kubilius), (ss), Fantastic Story Magazine, Fall 1952
  • The Seed from Space, (na), Startling Stories, May 1951
  • Solution Vital, (ss), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Feb 1952
  • The Spiral of the Ages, (na), Startling Stories, Summer 1954
  • The Square Cube Law, (na), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Jun 1952
  • The Stone of the Sages (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), Tales from Gavagan's Bar, Twayne, 1953
  • There'd Be Thousands in It (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), Tales from Gavagan's Bar, Twayne, 1978
  • The Thing in the Woods (w B. F. Ruby), (ss), Amazing, Feb 1935
  • Ultimate Purpose (w Walter Kubilius), (ss), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Aug 1951
  • The Untimely Toper (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), F&SF, July 1953
  • A Violation of Rules, (nv), Startling Stories, Feb 1952
  • A Voice Across the Years (w I. M. Stephens), (na), Amazing, Winter 1932
  • The Wall of Serpents (w L. S. de Camp), 1953
  • The Wanderer's Return, (na), Thrilling Wonder Stories, Dec 1951
  • The War of the Giants, (ss), Wonder Stories, May 1931
  • Ward of the Argonaut (w L. S. de Camp), (aka Oh, Say! Can You See), (ss), Fantastic Universe, Jan 1959
  • The Weissenbroch Spectacles (w L. S. de Camp), (ss), F&SF, Nov 1954
  • When the Night Wind Howls (w L. S. de Camp), 1951
  • Where to, Please? (w L. S. de Camp), 1952

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