Author:Tak Hallus

Tak Hallus was a popular author of mostly short stories in the mid-70s. His most popular was the three part serial entitled "Star Gate" which was published in the June, July and August, 1974 issues of Analog Magazine.

This work was later (1976) printed as a book under his given name, Stephen Robinett under the title "Star Gate: A Novel of the Future" in 1976 -- the hardback version of which, as I write this, is selling for $50 on Amazon.com (paperback considerably less).

Originally there were a few stories printed in earlier issues of Analog Magazine that were connected to the events in Star Gate that didn't appear in the book; perhaps one day.

There was a collection of short stories published in 1990 called "Projections: Nine Stories."

A search for Stephen Robinett on Amazon.com reveals a few questionable books: "Final Option" (January 1990), "The Man Responsible" (1978), "Unfinished Business" (1990) and a book on WordPerfect. Alas, there are no reviews of any of these questionable works, so one cannot be sure they are written by the same man.

Stephen Robinett served as the editor of the SFWA Bulletin in the mid-70s, and wrote an excellent article on the difference between defamation and libel entitled "Defamation, Hitler, and Artemus Jones." Alas, this work is not available from the SFWA.

The Tak Hallus pseudonym (which, by the way, is Arabic for "pseudonym") was killed off when SF Grandmaster Theodore Sturgeon said to him, and I quote, "That pen name is ugly, ugly, ugly."

Thus ended the "life" of Tak Hallus ... and thus was (re)born Stephen Robinett.