This is the 5th post in our Author of the Week series.
R. A. Lafferty was born November 7th, 1914 in Iowa. Despite his success and popularity as a writer R. A. Lafferty did not immediately get into writing. Instead he dropped out of college and went to work for the electric company. He also served for four years during World War II. (1942-1946)
It was in the 1950s that R. A. Lafferty began writing. He published his first story in 1959 in The New Mexico Quarterly and it was called "The Wagons." The following year his first science fiction story, "Day of the Glacier" was published in The Original Science Fiction Stories."
It would be another 8 years that he would actually publish his first novel, Past Master in 1968. Until 1971, he continued his work as an electrical engineer after which he retired in order to continue writing. He wrote up until 1980 when he suffered a stroke. He suffered another stroke in 1994 and eventually passed away in 2002.
Though he spent a relatively short time writing R. A. Lafferty produced 32 novels and over 200 short stories.
To learn more about R. A. Lafferty visit this fansite
