Donald Allen Wollheim (October 1, 1914 – November 2, 1990) was an American science fiction editor, publisher, writer, and fan.

As an author, he published under his own name as well as under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell,[2] Martin Pearson, and Darrell G. Raynor.

Their names are Donald A. Wollheim, John B. Michel, and William S. Sykora—three active fans who just got themselves onto the wrong road.In 1937 Wollheim founded the Fantasy Amateur Press Association, whose first mailing (July 1937) included this statement from him: "There are many fans desiring to put out a voice who dare not, for fear of being obliged to keep it up, and for the worry and time taken by subscriptions and advertising.

At one time or another, the membership included Isaac Asimov, Frederik Pohl, Cyril Kornbluth, James Blish, John Michel, Judith Merril, Robert A. W. Lowndes, Richard Wilson, Damon Knight, Virginia Kidd, and Larry T.

However, when Wollheim submitted another story ("The Space Lens") under the pseudonym Millard Verne Gordon,[1] he was once again cheated by Gernsback who published it in the September 1935 issue.

One of Wollheim's short stories, "Mimic", was made into the film of the same name by director and co-writer Guillermo del Toro, released in 1997.

He wrote to the publishers, Albing Publications, to see if they were interested in adding a science fiction title to their list, and he was invited to meet them.

After the magazines were cancelled later in 1941, Wollheim was able to find another publisher, Manhattan Fiction Publications, and a fourth issue of Stirring appeared, dated March 1942.

[12] It included works by Robert A. Heinlein, Theodore Sturgeon, T. S. Stribling, Stephen Vincent Benét, Ambrose Bierce, and H. G. Wells.

[7] Between 1947 and 1951 he was editor at the pioneering paperback publisher Avon Books, where he made available highly affordable editions of the works of A. Merritt, H. P. Lovecraft, and C. S. Lewis' Silent Planet space trilogy, bringing these previously little known authors a wide readership.

[4] Wollheim invented the Ace Doubles series which consisted of pairs of books, usually by different authors, bound back-to-back with two "front" covers.

Among the authors who made their paperback debuts in Ace Doubles were Philip K. Dick, Samuel R. Delany, Leigh Brackett, Ursula K. Le Guin, and John Brunner.

[18] Wollheim also helped develop Marion Zimmer Bradley, Robert Silverberg, Avram Davidson, Fritz Leiber, Andre Norton, Thomas Burnett Swann, Jack Vance, and Roger Zelazny, among others.

This brash action (which ultimately benefited his primary competitors) was really the Big Bang that founded the modern fantasy field, and only someone like my father could have done that.

But if he hadn't done it, who knows when — or if — those books would have been published in paperback?This account was disputed by Tolkien, who claimed that he never received any communication from Ace prior to publication of their version.

In the Locus obituary for Donald Wollheim, however, more details emerge: Houghton-Mifflin had imported sheets instead of printing their own edition, but they didn't want to sell paperback rights.

Most of the writers whom he had developed at Ace went with him to DAW: Marion Zimmer Bradley, Andre Norton, Philip K. Dick, John Brunner, A. Bertram Chandler, Kenneth Bulmer, Gordon R. Dickson, A. E. van Vogt, and Jack Vance.

In later years, when his distributor, New American Library, threatened to withhold Thomas Burnett Swann's Biblical historical fantasy How Are the Mighty Fallen (1974), owing to its homosexual content, Wollheim fought vigorously against their decision, and they relented.

His later author discoveries included Tanith Lee, Jennifer Roberson, Michael Shea, Tad Williams, Celia S. Friedman, and C. J. Cherryh, whose Downbelow Station (1982) was the first DAW book to win the Hugo Award for best novel.

He was also able to give a number of British writers, including E. C. Tubb, Brian Stableford, Barrington Bayley, and Michael Coney, a new American audience.

With the help of Arthur W. Saha, Wollheim also edited and published the popular "Annual World's Best Science Fiction" anthology from 1971 until his death.

[26] Upon Wollheim's death in 1990, the prolific editor Robert Silverberg argued (above) that he may have been "the most significant figure" in American SF publishing.

Marion Zimmer Bradley referred to him as "a second father", Frederick Pohl called him "a founder",[7] and Robert Silverberg says he was "seriously underrated" and "one of the great shapers of science-fiction publishing in the United States".

[31] He is the third person inducted primarily for his work as editor or publisher, after the inaugural 1996 pair Hugo Gernsback and John W. Campbell.

Source:[32] Wollheim also actively practiced cross-dressing as a woman throughout his life, and he regularly attended events at Casa Susanna in the Catskills of upstate New York.