author
Manly Banister
1914–1986
A pulp-era storyteller with a wonderfully wide range, he wrote science fiction, fantasy, and horror while also building a reputation as a skilled craftsman and how-to author. His work moved easily between imaginative magazine fiction and practical books for makers.
2 Audiobooks
A Gift from Earth
by Manly Banister
The great illusion
by Manly Banister
About the author
Born in Washington state in 1914 and later associated with the science-fiction fan and publishing world in Kansas City, Manly Banister wrote across several corners of popular fiction. Reliable bibliographic and reference sources link him to early stories in Weird Tales and note that he also published under the names Gregg Powers and Val Seanne.
He is especially remembered in genre history for editing the fanzine The Nekromantikon in the early 1950s, a magazine admired for its professional feel. Alongside his fiction, he also produced books on crafts and handwork, which gives his career an appealing double identity: imaginative pulp writer on one side, practical maker and teacher on the other.
Banister died in 1986 in Portland, Oregon. For readers coming to him now, his appeal is in that mix of eerie magazine storytelling, classic mid-century science fiction, and the hands-on curiosity of someone who clearly loved both ideas and making things.