author
V. R. Francis
A nearly forgotten pulp-era science fiction writer, this author is remembered for one lively, offbeat tale that mixes romance, music, and extraterrestrial trouble. The surviving record is slim, which only adds to the curiosity around this brief appearance in 1950s magazine SF.
1 Audiobook
The Flying Cuspidors
by V. R. Francis
About the author
V. R. Francis is an obscure American science fiction author known for The Flying Cuspidors, a humorous story first published in Fantastic Universe in August 1958. The piece later entered the public domain and has remained available through Project Gutenberg, which is one reason the name still surfaces among readers of vintage pulp SF.
Very little biographical information seems to survive. In the original magazine text reproduced by Project Gutenberg, Francis is described as living in California and having "previously appeared in men's magazines," and the note says the author had just turned 21 when the story was sold. Later genre-reference sites also treat The Flying Cuspidors as the only known story by V. R. Francis.
That makes Francis one of those intriguing one-work authors who flicker briefly into print and then disappear. Even with so little documented history, the story's playful tone and unusual premise have helped keep this small corner of mid-century science fiction alive for modern readers and listeners.