author
Don Wilcox
1905–2000
A prolific pulp-era storyteller, this Kansas-born writer helped shape early science fiction with brisk, imaginative adventures. He is especially remembered for a story often credited as the first fictional treatment of a generational starship.
1 Audiobook
The Serpent River
by Don Wilcox
About the author
Born in Lucas, Kansas, in 1905, Don Wilcox was the best-known pen name of Cleo Eldon Wilcox. He began working around newspapers while still young, later taught school, and went on to study and teach writing, including creative writing at Northwestern University.
From the late 1930s through the 1940s, he became a regular presence in pulp magazines such as Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures. He wrote not only science fiction and fantasy, but also westerns, mysteries, and books for younger readers, sometimes using other pen names as well.
Wilcox is often singled out for "The Voyage That Lasted 600 Years," first published in 1940 and widely noted for its early use of the generation-starship idea. He died in 2000, leaving behind a large body of popular fiction that still interests readers of classic magazine-era science fiction.