Frank M. Robinson

:"For the man who named Coca-Cola, see Frank Mason Robinson; for other people named Frank Robinson, see Frank Robinson (disambiguation)."Frank M. Robinson (born August 9, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois [cite book | last = Smith | first = Curtis C. | authorlink = Curtis C. Smith | coauthors = R. E. Briney | title = Twentieth Century Science Fiction Writers | publisher = St. Martin's | date = 1981 | location = New York, NY | pages = 452 | isbn = 0312824203] ), is a science fiction and techno-thriller writer. The son of a check forger [http://frankmrobinson.com/bio.html Frank M. Robinson's Official Website] ] , Frank started out working as a copy boy for International Service in his teens and then became an office boy for Ziff-Davis. He was drafted into the Navy for World War II, and when his tour was over went to college where he majored in physics. Then, according to his official website, he could find no work as a writer, and wound up back in the Navy to serve in Korea, where he managed to keep writing, read a lot, and was published in the magazine "Astounding" to the delight of its readers.

After the Navy he went to graduate school in journalism, then worked for a Chicago-based Sunday supplement. Soon after he switched to "Science Digest", where he worked from 1956-1959. From there, he moved into men's magazines: "Rogue" (1959-65) and "Cavalier" (1965-66). In 1969 "Playboy" asked him to take over the Playboy Advisor column. He asked if they knew if he was gay, and if that was a problem. They replied "Yes and no." He remained with Playboy until 1973, when he left to write full time. It is believed that Robinson and Lehrman, the CIA infiltrators of the police department mentioned in "Illuminatus!", are Frank M. Robinson and fellow Playboy editor Nat Lehrman.

As of 2008, he is the author of 16 books, the editor of two others, and has penned numerous articles. Three of his novels have been made into movies. "The Power" (1956) was a supernatural science fiction and government conspiracy novel about people with superhuman skills, filmed in 1968 as "The Power". The technothriller "The Glass Inferno" was combined with Richard Martin Stern's "The Tower" to produce the 1974 movie "The Towering Inferno". "The Gold Crew" co-written with Thomas N. Scortia, was a tense nuclear threat thriller and was filmed as an NBC miniseries re-titled "The Fifth Missile".

Besides "The Glass Inferno" and "The Gold Crew" he collaborated on several other works with fellow author Thomas N. Scortia, including "The Prometheus Crisis", "The Nightmare Factor" and "Blow-Out". His newest novel is a medical thriller about organ theft called "The Donor".

References

External links

* [http://frankmrobinson.com/ Frank M. Robinson's Official Web Site]
*isfdb name|id=Frank_M._Robinson|name=Frank M. Robinson
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* [http://freesfonline.de/authors/robinsonfm.html Frank M. Robinson's online fiction] at "Free Speculative Fiction Online"