Charles Platt (author)

For other people named Charles Platt, see Charles Platt (disambiguation).

Charles Platt
Born	Charles Michael Platt London, England
Pen name	Aston Cantwell, Robert Clarke, Charlotte Prentiss and Blakely St. James (house name)
Language	English
Citizenship	United States
Relative(s)	Robert Platt

Charles Platt (born in London, England, 1945) is an author, journalist and computer programmer. He relocated from England to the United States in 1970, is a naturalized U.S. citizen and has one daughter, Rose Fox. Platt is the nephew of Robert, Baron Platt, of Grindleford.

Fiction

The Silicon Man has been endorsed by William Gibson as "A plausible, well-crafted narrative exploring cyberspace in a wholly new and very refreshing way". Platt was nominated for Hugo awards and received a Locus Award for his two books of profiles of science-fiction writers, Dream Makers (1980) and Dream Makers II (1983).^[1][2][3]

As a fiction writer, Charles Platt has also used pen-names: Aston Cantwell (1983), Robert Clarke (Less Than Human, a science-fiction comedy, in 1986) and Charlotte Prentiss (historical and prehistory novels, between 1981 and 1999). He contributed to the series of Playboy Press erotic novels under the house pseudonym Blakely St. James that was shared by many other writers during the 1970s.

Although Platt ceased much of his activity as a fiction writer after 2001, in 2005 he was offered a contract for a new picaresque black comedy about a teenage female serial killer.

Platt is also known for writing The Gas (novel) in 1970 for the Ophelia Press (OPH-216), an imprint of notorious publisher Maurice Girodias's Olympia Press. (Girodias also published several of Barry N. Malzberg's early novels.) When Platt's novel was published in the United Kingdom by Savoy Books in 1980, copies were seized by the UK's Director of Public Prosecutions.

Nonfiction

From 1980 to 1987, Platt interviewed about forty major science-fiction writers such as Philip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, Ray Bradbury, John Brunner.^[4]

In a review of a book (Hammer's Slammers) by David Drake, Platt asserted that Drake wouldn't write such "queasy voyeurism" if he had really seen war. Drake, a Vietnam veteran, has since taken to including despicable characters named "Platt" in his writings.^[5]

Platt began writing for Wired in its third issue, and ultimately became one of its senior writers, contributing more than thirty full-length features. He was an early and prominent user of MindVox and wrote five books on computers and computer programming during that period. His nonfiction has appeared in publications such as Omni, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times.

While covering the 1994 Hackers on Planet Earth Conference for his article "Hackers: Threat or Menace?" in Issue 2.11 of Wired Magazine^[6], Mr. Platt drew the ire of attendees for his interjections during the panel discussion entitled "What is this Cryptography Stuff and Why Should I Care?" Mr. Platt repeatedly loudly inquired "Where's the crime?"^[7][8], an exclamation later adopted as a nickname for him by some members of the hacker community.^[9] The conference organizer, Eric Corley (aka Emmanuel Goldstein) penned a rebuttal^[7] to Platt's article and commentary on his methods that was partially published ^[10] in the "Rants and Raves" section of Wired Magazine Issue 3.02.

Computer programming

Platt acquired an early desktop computer, an Ohio Scientific C4P, and learned to write game programs for it which were distributed as shareware. Subsequently he wrote educational software published by Trillium Press, and participated in the first conference on cellular automata at MIT, where he demonstrated MS-DOS software that he wrote himself and sold subsequently by mail order. His program to generate the Mandelbrot Set was also self-published and sold primary to university mathematical departments. He is the author of six computer books, from the satirical Micro-Mania to the instructional Graphics Guide to the Commodore 64. For many years he taught computer graphics classes in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop at The New School for Social Research in New York City.

Editing and publishing

In the 1960s, Platt joined Michael Moorcock's team at New Worlds as de facto art director and graphic designer from 1967 to 1971. Although completely untrained in the field, he was largely responsible for the collage-oriented look of the magazine at the time, matching the style of much of the fiction published therein.^[11]

In 1970 Charles Platt became a consulting editor for Avon Books, acquiring work for their science-fiction list. Subsequently he performed a similar role for the short-lived paperback imprint Condor Publishing, and was science-fiction editor for Franklin Watts, Inc.^{[citation needed]}

During the 1980s Platt self-published The Patchin Review, a little magazine of literary criticism and commentary centered on the science-fiction field.^[12] Although each issue sold only 1,000 copies, the venture acquired notoriety for its edgy attitude and attracted contributions from many then-well-known editors and authors in the field, including Philip K. Dick, Gregory Benford, Brian W. Aldiss, David Hartwell, and others.

In 2007 Platt became a section editor for Make magazine, for which he had already been a frequent contributor.^[13]

Cryonics

Platt became interested in cryonics in 1990 after visiting the Alcor Life Extension Foundation. He wrote a book on the subject, Life Unlimited, for which a contract was issued by Wired Books; the publisher ceased doing business, and the text remains unpublished.^{[citation needed]} Platt became President of CryoCare Foundation, which he co-founded in 1993. He worked for Alcor, a company which may be best known for cryopreserving Ted Williams' head and body after he died. In 2004 Platt became a director of Suspended Animation, Inc., based in Boynton Beach, Florida.^[14] Suspended Animation pursues R&D to develop equipment and procedures for use in mitigating ischemic injury immediately after cardiac arrest in terminal patients who have made arrangements for cryopreservation. Platt resigned his positions at the company at the end of 2006^[15] but continues to design equipment for it as an independent contractor.^{[citation needed]}

Selected bibliography

Fiction

Novels and novellas

• Garbage World (1967)
• The Gas (1970)
• The City Dwellers (1970)
• Planets of the Voles (1971)
• Twilight of the City (1978)
• Less Than Human (1986)
• Aton/Worlds of Chthon series (continuation of the series originally by Piers Anthony)
  • 3 Plasm (1987)
  • 4 Soma (1988)
• Free Zone (1988)
• The Silicon Man (1991)
• Protektor (1996)

Short stories

• One of Those Days (1964)
• Lone Zone (1965)
• The Disaster Story (1966)
• The Failures (1966)
• The Rodent Laboratory (1966)
• Direction (1969)
• A Cleansing of the System (1972)
• The Coldness (1973)
• New York Times (1973)

Anthologies edited

• New Worlds Quarterly an anthology series related to New Worlds magazine
  • New Worlds 6 (UK, 1973) with Michael Moorcock
    • This also appeared as New Worlds #5 (US, 1974) with Michael Moorcock
  • New Worlds 7 (UK, 1974) with Hilary Bailey
    • This also appeared as New Worlds #6 (US, 1975) with Hilary Bailey

Nonfiction

• Dream Makers series
  • 1 Dream Makers: The Uncommon People Who Write Science Fiction (1980)
  • 2 Dream Makers, Volume II: The Uncommon Men & Women Who Write Science Fiction (1983)
  • Dream Makers: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers at Work (1987)
• Micromania: The Whole-Truth Home Computer Handbook (1984)
• How to be a Happy Cat (1986) with Gray Joliffe
• Loose Canon (2001)
• MAKE: Electronics: Learning by Discovery (2009)

Notes

1. ^ "1981 Hugo Awards". www.thehugoawards.org. World Science Fiction Society. http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/1981-hugo-awards/. Retrieved 8 September 2010. 
2. ^ "1984 Hugo Awards". www.thehugoawards.org. World Science Fiction Society. http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/1984-hugo-awards/. Retrieved 8 September 2010. 
3. ^ "1984 Locus Awards". www.locusmag.com. Locus Publications. http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/Locus1984.html. Retrieved 8 September 2010. 
4. ^ "The Website of Charles Platt". www.davidpascal.com. David Pascal. http://www.davidpascal.com/charlesplatt/interviews.html. Retrieved 6 January 2007. 
5. ^ Drake, David (26 May 2010). "David Drake, Science Fiction & Fantasy Writer - FAQ". david-drake.com. David Drake. http://david-drake.com/faq.html. Retrieved 6 January 2007. 
6. ^ Platt, Charles (November 1994). "Hackers: Threat or Menace?". www.wired.com. Wired Magazine. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.11/hack.cong.html. Retrieved 22 January 2011. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Goldstein, Emmanuel (February 1995). "Hack the HOPE". www.wired.com. Wired Magazine. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.02/rants.html. Retrieved 22 January 2011. 
8. ^ Ashton, Elaine (14 July 2002). "HOPE". www.axis-of-aevil.net. "Axis of Ævil blog". http://www.axis-of-aevil.net/archives/2002/07/hope.html. Retrieved 22 January 2011. 
9. ^ Sissman, Dan. "Kevin Mitnick Links: Platt Excerpt". www.albany.net. http://www.albany.net/~dsissman/mitnick.html. Retrieved 22 January 2011. 
10. ^ Goldstein, Emmanuel (22 January 1995). "WIRED letter in re "HOPE" Conference". cu-digest.org. Computer underground Digest. http://cu-digest.org/CUDS7/cud705. Retrieved 22 January 2011. 
11. ^ http://pedromarquesdg.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/the-new-worlds-of-charles-platt/
12. ^ Clute and Nicholls 1995, "Charles Platt", p. 938.
13. ^ "Charles Platt". makezine.com. Make magazine. 2010. http://makezine.com/pub/au/Charles_Platt. Retrieved 11 April 2011. 
14. ^ "Charles Platt's profile". www.suspendedinc.com. Suspended Animation, Inc.. Archived from the original on 19 April 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080419052531/http://www.suspendedinc.com/consultants.html. Retrieved 11 April 2011. 
15. ^ "Charles Platt Relinquishes Responsibilities as Director". www.suspendedinc.com. Suspended Animation, Inc.. 8 January 2007. http://www.suspendedinc.com/newsbulletins9.html. Retrieved 11 April 2011. 

References

• Clute, John and Peter Nicholls (eds). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: St Martin's Griffin, 1993 (2nd edition 1995). ISBN 0-312-13486-X.

External links

• The Web Site of Charles Platt
• Charles Platt bibliography (fiction) - Fantastic Fiction (UK)
• Suspended Animation Official corporate site
• Charles Platt at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Persondata
Name	Platt, Charles
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1945
Place of birth	London, England
Date of death
Place of death