Long before 1961, when Yuri Gagarin and Alan Shephard became the first humans to journey beyond Earth's atmosphere, writers envisioned spaceflight and life on other planets. These authors, all born before 1900, took their readers to the moon ... beyond ... and into our future.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Edwin Balmer (1883-1959)

Edwin Balmer, son of Thomas Balmer and Helen Clark, was born in Chicago, IL on 26 Jul 1883. He died on 21 Mar 1959. In 1909 he married Katharine MacHarg, sister of writer William McHarg. After her death he married Grace A. Kee.

Together with author Philip Wylie, Balmer wrote the catastrophe novels "When Worlds Collide" (1933) and "After Worlds Collide" (1934). The former was made into an award winning movie in 1951. With artist Marvin Bradley, Balmer also helped create the syndicated comic strip "Speed Spaulding", partiall based on the Worlds Collide series, which ran from 1938-1941 in the commic book Famous Funnies.
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