Sterner St. Paul Meek was a US military chemist, early science fiction author, and children's author. He published much of his work first as Capt. S.P. Meek, then, briefly, as Major S.P. Meek and, after 1933, as Col. S. P. Meek. He also published one story as Sterner St. Paul.

Biography

Meek received his Associate degree from University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 in 1914 and his Bachelor's degree in Metallurgical Engineering from University of Alabama

University of Alabama

The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....

 in 1915. He continued his education at University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

 (1916) and MIT (1921–1923). He married in 1927 and had one son.

When the United States entered World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 in 1917, Meek joined the military as a chemist and ordnance expert. He served as Chief, Small Arms

Small arms

Small arms is a term of art used by armed forces to denote infantry weapons an individual soldier may carry. The description is usually limited to revolvers, pistols, submachine guns, carbines, assault rifles, battle rifles, multiple barrel firearms, sniper rifles, squad automatic weapons, light...

 Ammunition

Ammunition

Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...

 Research, in 1923-1926, and Chief Publications Officer, Ordnance Dept., in 1941-1945. He retired a colonel in 1947, at which point he became a full time writer.

Writing career

Meek sold his first fiction story, "Taming Poachers", to Field and Stream, where it appeared in September 1928. Between early 1929 and January 1933, he published over 20 science fiction stories and short novels in pulp

Pulp magazine

Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...

 science fiction magazines like Astounding Science Fiction and Amazing Stories

Amazing Stories

Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...

, most of them in his popular Dr. Bird and Operative Carnes series. Meek left the field in early 1933, with only one further science fiction story published in 1939.

Like many early pulp science fiction writers, Meek used fiction to give detailed descriptions of current and projected scientific advances. He utilized many contemporary science fiction tropes

Trope (literature)

A literary trope is the usage of figurative language in literature, or a figure of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning...

, e.g. the notion that atom

Atom

The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...

s were miniaturized

Miniaturization

Miniaturization is the creation of ever-smaller scales for mechanical, optical, and electronic products and devices...

 solar system

Solar System

The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...

s in his stories "Submicroscopic" and "Awlo of Ulm".

Meek quickly became popular with pulp magazine readers and was eagerly sought out by editors. In the first issue of Astounding Science Fiction in 1930, its editor Harry Bates

Harry Bates (author)

Harry Bates was an American science fiction editor and writer. His 1940 short story "Farewell to the Master" was the basis of the well-known 1951 science fiction movie The Day the Earth Stood Still.-Biography:Harry Bates was born Hiram Gilmore Bates III on October 9, 1900 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...

 listed Meek among "some of the finest writers of fantasy in the world", alongside Murray Leinster

Murray Leinster

Murray Leinster was a nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history...

, Ray Cummings

Ray Cummings

Ray Cummings was an American author of science fiction, rated one of the "founding fathers of the science fiction pulp genre". He was born in New York and died in Mount Vernon, New York....

 and others. However, Meek's stories were crudely executed and the higher standards introduced with the Golden Age of Science Fiction

Golden Age of Science Fiction

The first Golden Age of Science Fiction — often recognized as the period from the late 1930s through the 1950s — was an era during which the science fiction genre gained wide public attention and many classic science fiction stories were published...

 soon made them of strictly historical interest. Science fiction writer and critic Samuel R. Delany

Samuel R. Delany

Samuel Ray Delany, Jr., also known as "Chip" is an American author, professor and literary critic. His work includes a number of novels, many in the science fiction genre, as well as memoir, criticism, and essays on sexuality and society.His science fiction novels include Babel-17, The Einstein...

 later called Meek's writing "unbelievably bad"

After leaving science fiction, Meek published over twenty children's books between 1932 and 1956, starting with Jerry, the Adventures of an Army Dog, usually about dogs or horses. Many of these books drew on Meek's experiences in the military.

"Pat: The Story of a Seeing Eye Dog," written in 1947, became a much-loved children's story.

The Atlantis series

• The Drums of Tapajos. "Amazing Stories", 1930. New York, Avalon Books, 1961, 224pp.
• Troyana, "Amazing Stories", 1932. New York, Avalon Books, 1961, 224pp.

Collections

• Arctic Bride. [London, Utopian Publications Ltd.], [1944]
• The Monkeys Have No Tails in Zamboanga
  The Monkeys Have No Tails in Zamboanga
  "The Monkeys Have No Tails in Zamboanga" is a song, probably written during the Spanish American War or the Moro Rebellion. It was popular with US soldiers in the Pacific in World War II.-History:...
  
  . New York, W. Morrow & Company, 1935, 288pp.

Children's Novels

• Jerry, the Adventures of an Army Dog. New York, London, The Century co, 1932, 235pp.
• Frog: The Horse That Knew No Master, New York, Grosset & Dunlap, 1933, 302pp.
• Gypsy Lad: the Story of a Champion Setter. New York, W. Morrow, 1934, 314pp.
• Franz : A Dog of the Police. Wm. Penn Publishing, 1935, 319pp.
• Dignity: a Springer Spaniel. Wm. Penn Publishing, 1937, 304pp.
• Island Born [as by J. P. Meek], New York, Godwin, 1937, 271 pp.
• Rusty, A Cocker Spaniel. Philadelphia, The Penn publishing company, 1938, 296pp.
• Gustav, a Son of Franz: a Police Dog in Panama. The Penn Publishing Co., 1940, 296pp.
• Pat: the Story of a Seeing Eye Dog. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1947, 190pp.
• Boots, the Story of a Working Sheep Dog. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1948, 234pp.
• Midnight, a Cow Pony. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1949, 217pp.
• Ranger, a Dog of the Forest Service. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1949, 232pp.
• Hans, A Dog of the Border Patrol, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1950, 253pp.
• Surfman: The Adventures of a Coast Guard Dog, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1950, 267pp.
• Pagan, A Border Patrol Horse. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1951, 238pp.
• Red, a Trailing Bloodhound. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1951, 225pp.
• Boy, An Ozark Coon Hound. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1952, 238pp.
• Rip, a Game Protector. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1952, 266pp.
• Omar, a State Police Dog. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1953, 240pp.
• Bellfarm Star: the Story of a Pacer. New York, Dodd, Mead, 1955, 213pp.
• Pierre of the Big Top: the Story of a Circus Poodle. New York, Dodd, Mead, 1956, 208pp.

Non-fiction

• So You're Going to Get a Puppy: A Dog-Lover's Handbook. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1947, 149pp. 7 printings through 1963.

External links