Ronald Joseph Goulart (photo ©Houari Boumedienne) was born on January 13, 1933, in Berkeley, California.

A sci-fi story by Ron Goulart titled “Letters to the Editor”, a parody of a pulp magazine letter column, was published in the “California Pelican”, a humor magazine of the University of California, Berkeley, and then re-published in 1952 in “The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction” starting the writer’s professional career.

Actually, Ron Goulart has done various work experiences and for years has worked in the advertising and marketing field. His main activity, however, has always been writing, which he carried on with his own style and with an extraordinary fecundity. He’s written more than 180 books and a lot of short fiction of various genres, from mystery to fantasy, from science fiction to non-fiction. His production includes many comic books, of which he’s a big fan and expert.

Ron Goulart has published many books under a number of pseudonyms, some house names such as Kenneth Robeson and with Steffanson, other personal such as Chad Calhoun, R.T. Edwards, Ian R. Jamieson, Josephine Kains, Jillian Kearny, Howard Lee, Zeke Masters, Frank S. Shawn, and Joseph Silva.

In several cases, Ron Goulart has worked as a “ghostwriter”, for example when he wrote the novel of the TekWar series credited to actor William Shatner. Some years later, he also wrote the scripts for Marvel’s comics related to the TekWar series.

Confirming his versatility, his 1970 science fiction novel “After Things Fell Apart” was a finalist for the Edgar Award given by the organization Mystery Writers of America in the category “Best Paperback Original” and his 1982 essay “The Dime Detectives” was a finalist in the category “Best Critical / Biographical Work”.

Science fiction fans know Ron Goulart for his bizarre humor expressed in stories where often the problems are caused by technology with the robot very different from those from Isaac Asimov’s stories and superheroes. Humor is an element found in other Goulart’s works and not surprisingly some include Groucho Marx among their characters.

Ron Goulart is married to writer Frances Sheridan Goulart and together they had two sons: Sean-Lucien and Steffan Eamon.

Ron Goulart has perhaps sacrificed the quality of many of his works to the quantity including elements that are often repetitive. Nevertheless, he’s an author that for his characteristics can’t leave the readers indifferent.

Edit. Ron Goulart passed away on January 14, 2022.