Ron Goulart

Since Don Wollheim was one of the people who got me hooked on science fiction in the first place, it seemed only fair that he eventually bought some twenty of my books in the genre, the majority of them for DAW.
Back in 1947, by way of a junior high book club, I acquired a copy of The Pocket Book of Science-Fiction, edited by Donald A. Wollheim. This was the first time I'd encountered the work of such writers as Heinlein, Sturgeon, John Collier, and Stanley Weinbaum. Weinbaum's A Martian Odyssey helped plant the idea that there was a place for humorists in science fiction. About a year later, I discovered Wollheim's Avon Fantasy Reader and I bought every issue from then on.
I first met Don Wollheim in the middle Sixties, when he was visiting San Francisco and addressed a group I belonged to. Later in the decade, when my wife and I had relocated in the East, I encountered him again at Ace. I'd gone up there to pitch something to Terry Carr and he reintroduced me to Don. In a fairly short time I sold a book to Don (The Fire Eater) and one to Terry (After Things Fell Apart). That sale to Don Wollheim caused me to part company with my then agents. A sedate and conservative outfit, they didn't want me to taint my reputation by writing directly for paperbacks.
When Don left Ace to start DAW, I sent him pitches there. Between 1972 and 1983, I sold him sixteen novels and a short story collection. Like my father, Don Wollheim never turned my head with enthusiastic Praise. I'd send him a proposal—usually three chapters and an outline— and in a few weeks he'd send a note. Usually he'd say something like, This is okay. Contract follows." For a freelancer that was better than effusive words of encouragement. The only thing Wollheim ever changed was some of my titles—Naps became When The Waker Sleeps and Slow Virus was converted to Upside Downside, etc. But he seldom changed a word of any of the novels and he allowed me to be as funny as I wanted. He even mentioned in the cover blurbs that the novels were humorous. Outside of larger advances, who could ask for anything more?
—RG