Julius Fast (April 17, 1919 – December 16, 2008) was an American
author
In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
of both fiction and non-fiction. In 1946 he was the first recipient of the
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...
given by the
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City.
The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday.
It presents the E ...
for the best first novel of 1945.
[Grimes, William (December 19, 2008)]
"Julius Fast, 89, Writer of Both Fact and Fiction, Is Dead"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. Accessed December 21, 2008.
Fast was born in
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
, the younger brother of novelist
Howard Fast
Howard Melvin Fast (November 11, 1914 – March 12, 2003) was an American novelist and television writer. Fast also wrote under the pen names E.V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson.
Biography Early life
Fast was born in New York City. His mother, ...
. Majoring in
pre-med, he earned a bachelor's degree at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
. He was in the
United States Army Medical Corps
The Medical Corps (MC) of the U.S. Army is a staff corps (non-combat specialty branch) of the U.S. Army Medical Department (AMEDD) consisting of commissioned medical officers – physicians with either an M.D. or a D.O. degree, at least o ...
for three years, serving in a blood lab in Boston and became a sergeant. He edited ''Out of This World'', a 1944 collection of science fiction stories while he was still in the Army.
[
He married author Barbara Sher in 1946. They co-wrote the 1979 book ''Talking Between the Lines: How We Mean More Than We Say''.][ Their three children are Jennie Gelfand, Dr. Melissa Morgan and Timothy Fast. In 1997, Fast and his son co-authored ''The Legal Atlas of the United States''.
His first novel, ''Watchful at Night'', written in 1945 while he was still serving in the Army, was given the first award presented at the inaugural ]Edgar Allan Poe Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor ...
in 1946 for Best First Novel by an American Author in 1945.[ Reviewer Isaac Anderson of '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' described his 1947 novel ''Walk in Shadow'' as a "profoundly moving novel of crime and punishment", telling the story of a once-honest man who becomes a murderer.[Anderson, Isaac]
"WALK IN SHADOW. By Julius Fast. 244 pp. New York: Rinehart & Co. $2.50."
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', October 5, 1947. Accessed December 21, 2008.
Fast wrote and edited for a number of medical magazines, where his time employed at a podiatry
Podiatry ( ), also know as podiatric medicine and surgery ( ), is a branch of medicine devoted to the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle and lower limb. The healthcare professional is known as a podiatrist. The US ...
journal provided the background he needed to write the 1970 book ''You and Your Feet''. Other non-fiction works reflected a broad range of subjects, including the 1968 book ''The Beatles: The Real Story'', ''The New Sexual Fulfillment'' published in 1972 and his 1979 book ''Weather Language''. His 1988 semiautobiographical novel ''What Should We Do About Davey?'' described a gawky teen at a Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province and subrange of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined a ...
summer camp for boys.[
He wrote a number of books on request for publishers on subjects of current interest, including writing ''What You Should Know About Human Sexual Response'' in months after the 1966 publication of ''Human Sexual Response'' by ]Masters and Johnson
The Masters and Johnson research team, composed of William H. Masters (1915–2001) and Virginia E. Johnson (1925–2013), pioneered research into the nature of human sexual response and the diagnosis and treatment of sexual disorders and dys ...
.[
He died at age 89 in ]Kingston, New York
Kingston is the only Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in, and the county seat of, Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany, New York, Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grou ...
on December 16, 2008, after suffering a stroke
Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...
in 2007.[
]
Works
*''Out of This World''. an anthology edited by Julius Fast, Penguin Books, 1944.
*''Watchful at Night''. Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., 1945.
*''The Bright Face of Danger''. Rinehart & Company, 1946.
*''Walk in Shadow''. Rinehart & Company, 1947.
*''The Iron Cradle'', Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1954.
*''A Model for Murder''. Rinehart & Company, 1956.
*''Street of Fear''. Rinehart & Company, 1958.
*''Doctor Harry''. (under the pseudonym Adam Barnett), Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1958.
*''Blueprint for Life''. St. Martin’s Press, 1964.
*''What You Should Know About Human Sexual Response''., G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1966.
*''The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
: The Real Story''. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1968.
*''Body Language''. Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, 1970. ()
*''The League of the Grey Eyed Women''. J.B. Lippencott Co., 1970.
*''The Incompatibility of Men and Women and how to Overcome it''. M. Evans & Company, 1971.
*''You and Your Feet''. Pelham Books, 1971.
*''The New Sexual Fulfillment''. Berkley Press, 1972.
*''Bisexual Living''. M. Evans & Company, 1975. ()
*''The Pleasure Book''. Stein & Day
Stein and Day, Inc. was an American publishing company founded by Sol Stein and his wife Patricia Day in 1962. Stein was both the publisher and the editor-in-chief. The firm was based in New York City, and was in business for 27 years, until cl ...
Publishing, 1975. ()
*''The Body Language of Sex Power and Aggression''. M. Evans and Co., 1977.
*''Creative Coping : A Guide to Positive Living''. (with Barbara Fast), Morrow, 1976. ()
*''Psyching Up: Over 50 Good Ideas for a Slimmer, Sexier, Healthier You''. Stein & Day
Stein and Day, Inc. was an American publishing company founded by Sol Stein and his wife Patricia Day in 1962. Stein was both the publisher and the editor-in-chief. The firm was based in New York City, and was in business for 27 years, until cl ...
, 1978. ()
*''Weather Language''. Wyden Books, 1979. ()
*''Talking Between the Lines: How We Mean More Than We Say''. (with Barbara Fast) Viking Press, 1979. ()
*''Body Politics Tower Books''. 1980,. ()
*''The Omega-3 breakthrough''. Body Press, c1987. ()
*''Sexual Chemistry: What it Is, how to Use it''. M. Evans & Company, 1983. ()
*''Ladies man: an autobiography''. by Paul Henreid with Julius Fast, St. Martin’s Press, c1984, ()
*''What Should we do about Davey?''. St. Martin’s Press, 1988.
*''Subtext: Making Body Language Work in the Workplace''. Viking Press
Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer and then acqu ...
, 1991. ()
*''The Legal Atlas of the United States''. Facts on File
Infobase is an American publishing company, publisher of databases, reference book titles and textbooks geared towards the North American library, secondary school, and university-level curriculum markets. Infobase operates a number of prominent ...
, 1997. ()
*''A Trunkful of Trouble''. Gryphon Books, 2003. ()
Sources
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fast, Julius
1919 births
2008 deaths
American male non-fiction writers
Jewish American non-fiction writers
Edgar Award winners
New York University alumni
Writers from Manhattan
United States Army non-commissioned officers
20th-century American male writers
United States Army personnel of World War II
20th-century American Jews
21st-century American Jews