A revised and (slightly) updated version of an older post. About a Fortean science-fiction author who came to find the Society too dogmatic--or, at least, not dogmatic in the right ways.
E. Hoffman Price was born in 1898 near Fresno California. His father was farmer. The family sold its orchard in 1905 and moved to San Jose. Later, his parents would separate, and he would stay with his mother, only meeting his father later in life. It may be—not to dabble too much in psychohistory (psychobabble)--that the absence of a father figure made Price obsessed with his own manliness. At any rate, his later memoirs--The Book of the Dead, Trooper of the 15th Horse, the introduction to his collection Far Lands, Other Days, and short columns for fan publications in the 1970s—certainly perseverate on what it takes to be a man.
As he remembers his boyhood, he had his life plans established by a young age. By the age of 7 he had decided to become a writer, was practicing a primitive form of yoga, and was enthralled with astrology. This last may have been the gift of an Armenian neighbor in San Jose. But there were other influences—Sunday school in part:
E. Hoffman Price was born in 1898 near Fresno California. His father was farmer. The family sold its orchard in 1905 and moved to San Jose. Later, his parents would separate, and he would stay with his mother, only meeting his father later in life. It may be—not to dabble too much in psychohistory (psychobabble)--that the absence of a father figure made Price obsessed with his own manliness. At any rate, his later memoirs--The Book of the Dead, Trooper of the 15th Horse, the introduction to his collection Far Lands, Other Days, and short columns for fan publications in the 1970s—certainly perseverate on what it takes to be a man.
As he remembers his boyhood, he had his life plans established by a young age. By the age of 7 he had decided to become a writer, was practicing a primitive form of yoga, and was enthralled with astrology. This last may have been the gift of an Armenian neighbor in San Jose. But there were other influences—Sunday school in part: