Herbert D. Kastle

Born in Brooklyn on July 11, 1924, Herbert D. Kastle was an American writer whose career ranged across novels, short fiction, comics, and screen work. Reference sources credit him with writing in several genres, but he is especially remembered for science fiction and suspense. He also edited the final two issues of Startling Stories in 1955, a small but notable link to the pulp-magazine era.

Kastle published science fiction stories in the 1950s and later wrote novels that reached beyond the genre, building a reputation as a dependable and adaptable professional author. He is also credited as a writer for film and television, including work connected with Bonanza and the 1983 film Cross Country.

He died in Los Angeles on October 19, 1987. Though he is not as widely known today as some of his contemporaries, his bibliography shows the range of a writer who was comfortable wherever a strong story could take him.