Evelyn E. Smith (1922–2000)
Author of Miss Melville Regrets
About the Author
Series
Works by Evelyn E. Smith
Everyday witchcraft: Love magic, charms and spells, fortune telling : everything you need to know to enjoy occult… (1972) 12 copies
The Last of the Spode [short story] 3 copies
50 Games of Solitaire 2 copies
Fortune Telling 2 copies
Dictionary of Health Foods 2 copies
PHANTOM AT LOST LAKE 2 copies
Miss Melville Rides a Tiger 1 copy
The Nile; Somebody to Play 1 copy
Associated Works
New Eves: Science Fiction About the Extraordinary Women of Today and Tomorrow (1994) — Contributor — 62 copies
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction October 1961, Vol. 21, No. 4 (1961) — Contributor — 20 copies
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction November 1952, Vol. 3, No. 7 (1952) — Contributor — 8 copies
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction June 1953, Vol. 4, No. 6 (1953) — Contributor — 8 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Other names
- Lyons, Delphine C.
- Birthdate
- 1922-07-25
- Date of death
- 2000-07-04
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- New York, New York, USA
- Place of death
- New York, New York, USA
- Places of residence
- New York, New York, USA
- Occupations
- science fiction writer
mystery novelist
crossword puzzle constructor
short story writer - Short biography
- Evelyn E. Smith was born in New York City. During the 1950s, an era when women rarely appeared in science fiction magazines, she regularly published short stories and novelettes in Galaxy Science Fiction, Fantastic Universe, and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, among others. She also wrote science fiction novels, beginning with The Perfect Planet (1962), often focused on gender identity. However, she is probably best known today for her series of mystery novels about Miss Melville, a middle-aged socialite-turned-assassin, who made her debut in Miss Melville Regrets (1986). Under the pseudonym Delphine C. Lyons, she also published at least five gothic romance novels such as Flower of Evil (1965) and the nonfiction work Everyday Witchcraft (1972). Her short story "At Last I've Found You" was adapted into an opera by Seymour Barab in 1984. Two volumes of her collected stories were published posthumously as Evelyn E. Smith Resurrected: Selected Stories of Evelyn E Smith (2010) and The Best of Evelyn E. Smith: The Two Suns of Morcali and Other Stories (2012). Her work appears in numerous anthologies.
Members
Reviews
Phantom At Lost Lake by Delphine C. Lyons
This story had too many non essential people who added nothing to the story in addition to a timeline of nothing going on for a good part of the book. The storyline itself and history was very good, but the writing left me lacking for substance. At the end she made hasty decisions that were unbelievable to me. Will definitely be passing this one on.
This is another new-to-me author in my tour of Golden Age science fiction. It's a collection of short stories first published in the 1950s with maybe a few from the early 1960s. The prose was readable, without the stiltedness I'd been half-expecting from work of that age. There were a few typos, but nothing terribly distracting.
For many of the stories, the author brings a sense of gentle humour into an unusual situation: most commonly some kind of culture clash with misunderstandings and misinterpretations between various parties (whether deliberate or inadvertent). The speculative elements are kept light, with the emphasis on how people (whether human or not) deal with issues rather than the nitty-gritty of how they got there. I enjoyed this approach, although by the halfway point it was starting to feel a bit repetitive. I guess that's a hazard of reading a compilation since they wouldn't all have been published at the same time.… (more)
For many of the stories, the author brings a sense of gentle humour into an unusual situation: most commonly some kind of culture clash with misunderstandings and misinterpretations between various parties (whether deliberate or inadvertent). The speculative elements are kept light, with the emphasis on how people (whether human or not) deal with issues rather than the nitty-gritty of how they got there. I enjoyed this approach, although by the halfway point it was starting to feel a bit repetitive. I guess that's a hazard of reading a compilation since they wouldn't all have been published at the same time.… (more)
I remember enjoying some Miss Melville books years ago. This one was disappointing.
Susan Melville, who is now rich and still an assassin, is asked to be on the board of directors of a home for wayward girls supported by the family of an old school friend. The home now seems to be a place for prostitutes to stay while pregnant and the organization seems to be involved in illicit activities. The head of a crime family wants Susan to be on the board and to date her; his manner of speaking is picturesque. The sister of Susan's school friend has an easily guessed secret. There is a new young ruler of an imaginary Moslem nation who wants to do good but there is a problem, which Miss Melville fixes by the end of the book.
Susan's travels around New York are interesting; I must admit that I've never been in Bloomingdale's in the city.… (more)
Susan Melville, who is now rich and still an assassin, is asked to be on the board of directors of a home for wayward girls supported by the family of an old school friend. The home now seems to be a place for prostitutes to stay while pregnant and the organization seems to be involved in illicit activities. The head of a crime family wants Susan to be on the board and to date her; his manner of speaking is picturesque. The sister of Susan's school friend has an easily guessed secret. There is a new young ruler of an imaginary Moslem nation who wants to do good but there is a problem, which Miss Melville fixes by the end of the book.
Susan's travels around New York are interesting; I must admit that I've never been in Bloomingdale's in the city.… (more)
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 48
- Also by
- 28
- Members
- 625
- Popularity
- #40,302
- Rating
- 3.5
- Reviews
- 9
- ISBNs
- 129
- Languages
- 1