Rick Raphael

Background

Rick Raphael was born on February 20, 1919, in New York City, New York, United States. Rick was the son of Louis Nevin Raphael and Viola Louise Raphael.

Education

Raphael attended Boise Junior College (now Boise State University) and Colorado State University and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1948 from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

Career

Rick Raphael served with the United States Army in 1936-1945 and with the Army Reserve in 1945-1965, retiring with the rank of captain. Rick was a longtime newspaperman in Boise and elsewhere, serving as a political reporter, science writer, managing editor, and news editor of various daily newspapers in 1945-1959. He was an assistant news director and political editor for KBOI-TV and Radio, Boise, in 1959-1964, press and legislative aide to United States Senator Frank Church, Washington, D.C., in 1964-1969, and political lobbyist for a multinational corporation in 1969-1979.

His first book was The Thirst Quenchers (1965), a collection of his science fiction stories, followed by the science fiction novel Code Three (1966), and two suspense thrillers, The Defector (1980) and The President Must Die (1981). The posthumously published work The Thirst Quenchers and Three Other Science Fiction Tales (2010), comprising four stories, has only its title story in common with the 1965 collection.

Achievements

• Rick Raphael was best known as a science fiction writer. He contributed novelettes and short stories to science fiction periodicals, mostly in the 1960s, including Astounding, Analog, Fantastic, and Asimov's.
  
  He received the Bronze Star Medal with the oak leaf and valor clusters, the Purple Heart with the oak leaf cluster, and battle stars for his military service in Europe. He was the recipient of the New Mexico Press Association Award (1957), the Idaho Press Association Award (1963, 1964), and the Radio-Television News Directors Award (1963) for his production of the nation's leading film documentary on water pollution.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Thirst Quenchers

    (With the age of nuclear power, the need for hydroelectric...)

    1965
  • Code Three

    (Code Three is a fix-up novel comprised of the Hugo-nomina...)

    1966
  • A Filbert Is a Nut

    (That the gentleman in question was a nut was beyond quest...)

    1959
  • Make Mine Homogenized 1969
  • Sonny 2009
  • The President Must Die 1981
  • The Defector 1980

Views

Raphael was at his best when describing, in positive terms, the life of those who must deal professionally with a technological world.

Membership

Rick Raphael was a member of the Nuclear Energy Writers Association, the Science Fiction Writers Association, the United States Naval Institute, the Smithsonian Society and Sigma Delta Chi (now known as the Society of Professional Journalists).

Connections

In 1958, Rick married Elizabeth L. Van Schaick. The couple gave birth to six children.

Father:

Louis Nevin Raphael

Mother:

Viola Louise Raphael

Wife:

Elizabeth L. Van Schaick

References

• Contemporary Authors New Revision Series In response to the escalating need for up-to-date information on writers, Contemporary Authors New Revision Series (Volume 198) brings researchers the most recent data on the world's most popular authors.
  2010