Donald Roynald Bensen also known as Don Bensen and sometimes listed as D.R. Bensen, was an American editor and science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 writer. Editorally he is best known for editing works of P. G. Wodehouse and his involvement in their re-issue in paperback in the United States. Authorially, he is best known for his 1978 alternative history novel, And Having Writ…

And Having Writ…

And Having Writ... is a 1978 science fiction/alternate history novel written by Donald R. Bensen.It was nominated for the 1979 John W. Campbell Award.-Plot introduction:...

, published first by Bobbs-Merrill.

Bensen's literary career began as a literary agent at Scott Meredith. He was appointed editor of Pyramid Publications

Pyramid Books

Jove Books, formerly Pyramid Books, is a paperback publishing company, founded in 1949 by Almat Magazine Publishers . The company was sold to the Walter Reade Organization in the late 1960s. It was acquired in 1974 by Harcourt Brace which renamed it to Jove in 1977 and continued the line as an...

 in 1957, and was eventually, if not immediately, editor-in-chief there. Later he was a senior editor for Ballantine Books

Ballantine Books

Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann AG in 1998 and remains part of that company today. Ballantine's logo is a...

 and afterwards the Berkely Publishing Corporation

Berkley Books

Berkley Books is an imprint of Penguin Group that began as an independent company in 1955. It was established by Charles Byrne and Frederic Klein, who were working for Avon and formed "Chic News Company". They renamed it Berkley Publishing Co. in 1955. They soon found a niche in science fiction...

 of New York. In 1983 he joined Keats Publishing, where he also became editor-in-chief.

As a writer, Bensen was the author of And Having Writ…, the "Tracker" western novels, and a number of other books. He was associated with the Mystery Writers of America

Mystery Writers of America

Mystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday....

 and the Trap Door Spiders

Trap Door Spiders

The Trap Door Spiders are a literary male-only eating, drinking, and arguing society in New York City, with a membership historically composed of notable science fiction personalities...

 (on whose fictional equivalent, the Black Widowers

Black Widowers

The Black Widowers is a fictional men-only dining club created by Isaac Asimov for a series of sixty-six mystery stories which he started writing in 1971...

, he published a poem of the same name in 1977).

He died at the age of 70 at his home in Croton-on-Hudson, New York

Croton-on-Hudson, New York

Croton-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 8,070 at the 2010 census. It is located in the town of Cortlandt, in New York City's northern suburbs...

 in 1997.

Tracker series

• Mask of the Tracker (1992)
• The Renegade (1992)
• Death in the Hills (1992)
• Fool's Gold (1992)
• Final Mask (1993)
• Deathwind (1993)
• Final Mask (1993)

External links