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Richard Sharpe Shaver

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Author

The Resume

    (October 8, 1907-November 1975)
    Born in Berwick, Pennsylvania
    Wrote the 'Shaver Mystery,' published in installments in 'Amazing Stories,' 'The Hidden World' and 'Shaver Mystery Magazine'
    Wrote about an underground race, the deros ('detrimental robots'), that abducted surface dwellers, used ray machines to spy on people and plant voices in their minds, and had dealings with equally malevolent extraterrestrials
    Claimed his stories were not fiction and he had been imprisoned by the deros for several years

Why he might be annoying:

    While working on an assembly line, his welding gun started to let him read the thoughts of his fellow workers.
    It then let him telepathically record 'a torture session conducted by malign entities in caverns deep within the earth.'
    Much of his writing featured a misogynistic S&M streak (usually toned down by his editors before publication).
    His editor, Ray Palmer, later admitted that Shaver had actually spent the time when was allegedly imprisoned by the deros in a mental hospital.

Why he might not be annoying:

    The 'Shaver Mystery' boosted the monthly circulation of 'Amazing Stories' by 50,000 copies.
    His paintings have become popular examples of outsider art.
    One critic noted, 'With a little more salesmanship, he might have founded a successful religion, as did another pulp SF writer of Shaver's period.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 11 Votes: 81.82% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 13 Votes: 61.54% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 11 Votes: 72.73% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 12 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 22 Votes: 77.27% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 27 Votes: 66.67% Annoying