author
Leslie Perri
1920–1970
A science fiction writer, illustrator, editor, and influential fan, Leslie Perri helped shape early science fiction fandom from behind the scenes. Her sharp, unconventional stories—including “Space Episode” and Under the Skin—challenged the genre’s familiar clichés.
1 Audiobook
Under the Skin
by Leslie Perri
About the author
Leslie Perri was the pen name of Doris Marie Claire “Doë” Baumgardt, born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 27, 1920. She joined the Futurians as a teenager and became one of the first women admitted to the influential science fiction group. She also helped found the Fantasy Amateur Press Association and attended the first World Science Fiction Convention in 1939.
Perri contributed stories, illustrations, and editorial work to science fiction magazines and fanzines. Her published fiction included “Space Episode,” first printed in 1941, and the later novel Under the Skin. She also edited Movie Love Stories, a romance pulp magazine that she reportedly wrote largely herself.
Her personal and professional life was closely connected to science fiction fandom: she was married to fellow Futurians Frederik Pohl and Richard Wilson, and she had two children. Leslie Perri died of cancer on January 31, 1970, at the age of 49.