Shasta Publishers

Shasta Publishers was a science fiction and fantasy small press specialty publishing house founded in in 1947. It was founded by Erle Melvin Korshak, T. E. Dikty, and Mark Reinsberg who were all science fiction fans from the Chicago area. The name of the press was suggested by Reinsberg in remembrance of a summer job that he and Korshak had held at Mount Shasta [cite book | last=Chalker | first=Jack L. | authorlink=Jack L. Chalker | coauthors=Mark Owings | title=The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998 | location=Westminster, MD and Baltimore | publisher=Mirage Press, Ltd.| pages=588| date=1998] .

History

As science fiction fans and book collectors, Mel Korshak, Mark Reinsberg, Ted Dikty and Fred Shroyer recognized the need for a comprehensive list of science fiction and fantasy books. In 1940 they made plans to compile such a list and writing letters to readers' columns asking for help with the project. A card file was started, as was a manuscript. Unfortunately, these materials were put into storage when Dikty was drafted for World War II. After the war, the file and manuscript were unable to be found and work had to begin again from scratch. Meanwhile Korshak and Dikty began a book selling business in 1946. They were still eager to publish the earlier attempted list. Soon after, Korshak met Everett F. Bleiler through a newspaper ad offering books for sale. Bleiler also expressed interest in the project eventually taking it over. The result was "The Checklist of Fantastic Literature", which was published in 1948. While originally planning to primarily publish reference works, Shasta instead went on to publish fiction by John W. Campbell, Jr., L. Ron Hubbard, Robert A. Heinlein, A. E. van Vogt and others. Ultimately, however, they were not successful and ceased publishing in 1957.

Works published by Shasta

* "The Checklist of Fantastic Literature", by Everett F. Bleiler (1948)
* "Who Goes There?", by John W. Campbell, Jr. (1948)
* "Slaves of Sleep", by L. Ron Hubbard (1948)
* "The Wheels of If", by L. Sprague de Camp (1949)
* "The World Below", by S. Fowler Wright (1949)
* "The Man Who Sold the Moon", by Robert A. Heinlein (1950)
* "Sidewise in Time", by Murray Leinster (1950)
* "Kinsmen of the Dragon", by Stanley Mullen (1951)
* "Space on My Hands", by Fredric Brown (1951)
* "The Green Hills of Earth", by Robert A. Heinlein (1951)
* "Cloak of Aesir", by John W. Campbell, Jr. (1952)
* "This Island Earth", by Raymond F. Jones (1952)
* "Murder in Millennium VI", by Curme Gray (1952)
* "The Demolished Man", by Alfred Bester (1953)
* "Space Platform", by Murray Leinster (1953)
* "Revolt in 2100", by Robert A. Heinlein (1953)
* "Science Fiction Carnival", edited by Fredric Brown and Mack Reynolds (1953)
* "Space Tug", by Murray Leinster (1953)
* "Empire of the Atom", by A. E. van Vogt (1956)

Notes

References

*cite book | last=Chalker | first=Jack L. | authorlink=Jack L. Chalker | coauthors=Mark Owings | title=The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998 | location=Westminster, MD and Baltimore | publisher=Mirage Press, Ltd.| pages=588-597| date=1998
*cite book | last=Clute | first=John | authorlink=John Clute |coauthors=Peter Nicholls| title=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction | location=New York| publisher=St. Martin's Griffin | pages=1093 | date=1995|id=ISBN 0-312-13486-X
*cite book | last=Eshbach | first=Lloyd Arthur | authorlink=Lloyd Arthur Eshbach | title=Over My Shoulder: Reflections on a Science Fiction Era | location=Philadelphia| publisher=Oswald Train | pages=225-249 | date=1983|oclc=10489084