[1] His writing is largely forgotten now, but he was called a "master" by the pioneer of space opera E. E. Smith.

There is an extensive interview with Thomas Starzl about his father in Eric Leif Davin's Pioneers of Wonder.

There, he purchased the German-language newspaper, Der Herold, which later became Le Mars Globe Post, and raised Starzl and two other surviving children.

[2] He reportedly started writing for pulp magazines as part of his efforts to raise enough money for a specific goal.

[3] His literary output in science-fiction consists of about twenty stories, a few of them in collaborations with Everett E. Smith and Festus Pragnell.

[3] He managed to somewhat stand out among the writers of this era, through a skill with words and a capacity for creative ideas.

[11] Book I of the science fiction trilogy The Nova Project 70 written by Gregory R. Miller and Fabion O. Reeves[12] mentions Starzyl in the acknowledgements.

The book, written in what Miller refers to as the starzylian mode, is destined to become a science fiction classic[citation needed].