Roger Sherman Hoar (April 8, 1887 – October 10, 1963) was an American state senator and assistant
Attorney General, for the state of
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. He wrote and published
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
under the pseudonym of Ralph Milne Farley.
Family
Hoar was the son of
Sherman Hoar
Sherman Hoar (July 30, 1860 – October 7, 1898), was an American lawyer, member of Congress representing Massachusetts, and U.S. District Attorney for Massachusetts.
As a young man he was the model for the head of the John Harvard statue no ...
, grandson of former
US Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar
Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar (February 21, 1816 – January 31, 1895) was an American politician, lawyer, and jurist from Massachusetts. He served as U.S. Attorney General from 1869 to 1870, and was the first head of the newly created Department of Ju ...
, great-grandson of
Samuel Hoar
Samuel Hoar (May 18, 1778 – November 2, 1856) was a United States lawyer and politician. A member of a prominent political family in Massachusetts, he was a leading 19th century lawyer of that state. He was associated with the Federalist Party ...
, and great-great grandson of American founding father
Roger Sherman
Roger Sherman (April 19, 1721 – July 23, 1793) was an American statesman, lawyer, and a Founding Father of the United States. He is the only person to sign four of the great state papers of the United States related to the founding: the Con ...
, a signer of the
Declaration of Independence
A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...
.
Education and career
Born in
Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, ...
, Hoar attended
Phillips Exeter Academy. He then received his bachelor's degree from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in 1909 and his law degree from
Harvard Law School in 1911. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he served in the
United States Army Coast Artillery Corps
The U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) was an administrative corps responsible for coastal, harbor, and anti-aircraft defense of the United States and its possessions between 1901 and 1950. The CAC also operated heavy and railway artillery ...
. Hoar was a former Massachusetts assistant attorney general. He was a member of the
Marquette University
Marquette University () is a private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Martin Henni, the first Bishop of the diocese of M ...
faculty in the graduate school of engineering, and also "taught scientific subjects at Harvard, the
Coast Artillery School,
ndthe Ordnance School of Application". He also served as attorney of Bucyrus Erie Company of
South Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Politician
Hoar served in the
Massachusetts State Senate
The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the st ...
in 1911 and was involved with the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
and campaigned for
women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
. Hoar was also an organizer and major force behind the enactment of the Employee Unemployment Benefits Act, served on the Commission to Compile Information & Data, 1917, taught mathematics and engineering, patented a system for aiming large guns by the stars, and authored landmark works on constitutional and patent law.
Writer
![An Earth Man on Venus comic book](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/An_Earth_Man_on_Venus_comic_book.jpg)
Under the pseudonym Ralph Milne Farley, Hoar wrote a considerable amount of pulp-magazine science fiction during the period between the world wars, appearing in such publications as ''
Argosy All-Story Weekly
''Argosy'', later titled ''The Argosy'', ''Argosy All-Story Weekly'' and ''The New Golden Argosy'', was an American pulp magazine from 1882 through 1978, published by Frank Munsey until its sale to Popular Publications in 1942. It is the fi ...
'' and ''
Amazing Stories
''Amazing Stories'' is 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. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances ...
,'' as well as occasional essays for ''
The American Mercury
''The American Mercury'' was an American magazine published from 1924Staff (Dec. 31, 1923)"Bichloride of Mercury."''Time''. to 1981. It was founded as the brainchild of H. L. Mencken and drama critic George Jean Nathan. The magazine featured wri ...
,'' ''
Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it ...
,'' and
science fiction fanzine
A science-fiction fanzine is an amateur or semi-professional magazine published by members of science-fiction fandom, from the 1930s to the present day. They were one of the earliest forms of fanzine, within one of which the term "''fanzine''" wa ...
s. His works include ''
The Radio Man'' and its numerous sequels, chiefly interplanetary and inner-world adventure yarns in the tradition of
Edgar Rice Burroughs, with whom he was friends; Hoar also wrote a number of archetypal time-travel-paradox tales, collected in book form as ''The Omnibus of Time'', and "The House of Ecstasy", which has been frequently reprinted since its initial appearance in ''Weird Tales'' (April 1938).
According to one of his editors, from 1932 on the "Farley" byline was actually used exclusively for collaboration between Hoar and his daughter Caroline, who had been writing under the pen name of Jacqueline Farley and by 1933 was an
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...
student at
Radcliffe.
[Palmer, Raymond A. "Ralph Milne Farley author biography". '' Science Fiction Digest'', July 1933. "Ralph Milne Farley is TWO people! Here's the dope; Ralph Milne Farley, up to January 1, 1932, was Roger Sherman Hoar, A.B., M.A. LL. B. After that he began writing in collaboration with his daughter, Caroline Prescott Hoar, who had been writing under the pen name of ‘Jacqueline Farley.' Their combined efforts have been published under the name Ralph Milne Farley exclusively since the combine was effected. Miss Hoar is a student at Radcliffe, majoring in mechanical and electrical engineering. She is responsible for the improvement in Farley's “The Golden City” over previous works...."]
Upon relocating to the Midwest, where he worked as a corporate attorney for the firm of Bucyrus-Erie, Hoar joined the Milwaukee Fictioneers, whose members included
Stanley G. Weinbaum,
Robert Bloch, and
Raymond A. Palmer. When Chicago-based Ziff-Davis Publishing Company bought the ailing ''
Amazing Stories
''Amazing Stories'' is 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. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances ...
'' in 1938, Hoar was offered, but declined, the magazine's editorship and recommended Palmer, who held the position through the 1940s.
Books
As Roger Sherman Hoar
*''The Tariff Manual.'' Privately printed, 1912.
*''Constitutional Conventions: Their Nature, Powers, and Limitations.'' Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1917.
*''Patents: What a Business Executive Should Know About Patents.'' New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1926. Revised edition: Patent Tactics and Law. 1935, 1950.
*''Conditional Sales: Law and Local Practices for Executive and Lawyer.'' New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1929. Revised edition: 1937.
*''Unemployment Insurance in Wisconsin.'' South Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Stuart Press, 1932. Revised edition: Wisconsin Unemployment Insurance, 1934.
As Ralph Milne Farley
*''Smothered Seas'' (story, with Stanley G. Weinbaum). Published in ''Astounding Stories'', January 1936.
*''Dangerous Love'' (stories). London: Utopian Publications, 1946.
*''The Immortals'' (novel). Published in ''The Argosy'' in 1934, later reprinted in Canada by Popular Publications Inc., 1947.
*''
The Radio Man'' (novel), 1924. Los Angeles:
Fantasy Publishing Co., 1948. Paperback edition retitled ''An Earthman on Venus'' (
Avon Books
Avon Publications is one of the leading publishers of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles rea ...
).
st of "Radio Man" series*''
The Hidden Universe'' (two novellas). Los Angeles:
Fantasy Publishing Co., 1950.
*''
The Omnibus of Time'' (stories). Los Angeles:
Fantasy Publishing Co., 1950.
*''
Strange Worlds'' (contains ''The Radio Man'' and ''The Hidden Universe''). Los Angeles:
Fantasy Publishing Co., 1953.
*''The Radio Beasts'' (novel), 1925. New York:
Ace Books, 1964.
nd of "Radio Man" series*''The Radio Planet'' (novel), 1926. New York:
Ace Books, 1964.
rd of "Radio Man" series*''The Radio Flyers'' (novel), 1929. Rialto, California: Pulpville Press, 2006.
*''The Radio Gun-Runners'' (novel), 1930.
equel to "The Radio Flyers"*''Tong War'' (novel, written in collaboration with E. Hoffman Price). Chertsey, England: Blue Mushroom, 2002.
*''Pe-Ra, Daughter of the Sun'' (novella). Rialto, California: Pulpville Press, 2005.
*''The Radio Minds of Mars'' (novel), 1955. Rialto, California: Pulpville Press, 2005.
th of "Radio Man" series*''The Ralph Milne Farley Collection Book 1'' (stories). Rialto, California: Pulpville Press, 2005.
*''The Ralph Milne Farley Collection Book 2'' (stories). Rialto, California: Pulpville Press, 2005.
*''The Golden City'' (novel), 1933. Rialto, California: Pulpville Press, 2006.
*''The Radio War'' (novel), 1932. Rialto, California: Pulpville Press, 2006.
*''The Radio Menace'' (novel), 1930. Rialto, California: Pulpville Press, 2008.
th of "Radio Man" series
Notes
External links
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS:''Their Nature, Powers, and Limitations''Hoar Family Papers, 1774-1940at Concord Free Public Library
*
*
*
*
The Radio Beast Reviewat
Political Graveyard
The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 American political figures and political families, along with other information. The name comes from the website's inclusion of burial locations of ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoar, Roger Sherman
1887 births
1963 deaths
Politicians from Waltham, Massachusetts
People from Concord, Massachusetts
Military personnel from Massachusetts
Politicians from Milwaukee
Harvard Law School alumni
Phillips Exeter Academy alumni
Marquette University faculty
Massachusetts lawyers
Wisconsin lawyers
Novelists from Massachusetts
Novelists from Wisconsin
Democratic Party Massachusetts state senators
20th-century American novelists
American male novelists
American science fiction writers
The Harvard Lampoon alumni
American male short story writers
20th-century American politicians
20th-century American short story writers
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