Emil Petaja - Early Life and Work

Early Life and Work

Emil Petaja (pronounced pa-tie-ya) was born on April 12, 1915 in Milltown, Montana – a small lumber town in the western part of the state. He was the youngest of 10 children born to John and Hanna Petaja. The future author attended schools in Bonner and Missoula, Montana.

According to an autobiographical account, Petaja's introduction to fantastic literature came in 1931 when he came across a copy of Weird Tales. Reading the magazine changed his life, and he became a lifelong devotee of fantasy and science fiction. Petaja started out as a fan and immersed himself in the genres by befriending other interested individuals, by collecting pulp and science fiction magazines, and by forming clubs and associations. During this time, Petaja also struck-up correspondence with, and sometimes befriended, such early luminaries as H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, and August Derleth. Notably, Petaja is part of a unique group of individuals in the history of the genres who turned their fandom into literature. He was also a member of First Fandom – a group which honors fans from the time when science fiction was known as "scientification." Petaja corresponded with Lovecraft in late 1934, and the next year proposed teaming with Duane W. Rimel to form a fan magazine, The Fantaisiste's Mirror, that would resume serializing Lovecraft's Supernatural Horror in Literature from the point it had left off in the defunct Fantasy Fan. However, the magazine never materialized. Petaja and Lovecraft continued corresponding until the latter's death in 1937.

The author's first published writings date from 1935 with the short story, "Two Doors," for the semi-prozine Unusual Stories. Another early work, "Weird Music" (written with Duane W. Rimel), appeared in 1936 in The Phantagraph. Other short fiction and verse was published in The Californian (alongside the efforts of Lovecraft), Futuria Fantasia, The Acolyte, and other small press and regional publications.

Much of Petaja's early literary efforts were verse – and according to the author, he won a "couple of minor regional poetry contests." In 1936, Petaja self-published a chapbook of poems, Brief Candle, running-off copies on the mimeograph machine at Montana State University, where he was a student majoring in creative writing. Brief Candle contained cover art and illustrations by Petaja's friend, Hannes Bok, whom he had met that same year. The chapbook marked the first book publication for each author. According to Petaja, approximately 40 to 50 copies were printed with many "given to friends and well wishers." Some of these early pieces were later collected in As Dream and Shadow (SISU, 1972). Other poems from throughout his career remain unpublished.

In 1937, Petaja moved to Los Angeles, California. There, he settled into the Los Angeles sci-fi scene, befriending Ray Bradbury – then still a teenager – as well as Henry Kuttner, Henry Hasse, Forrest J. Ackerman and others. Throughout 1937 and 1938, Petaja and Bok shared an apartment, and together they attended fan meetings, haunted second-hand book shops, went to the movies, and helped each other with their poems and stories.

In an autobiographical account, Petaja stated: "Perhaps when all is washed down over the dam, my major claim to fame will rest in the fact that it was I who got Hannes down to Los Angeles and I who dragged him, reluctantly, to the meetings of the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society. Where we met Ray Bradbury." "It was at Clifton's Cafeteria on Broadway. We couldn't afford to eat there, usually, but we took advantage of the free lime sherbet. In that fabled back room where so many of the s-f elite have sat around the long table chewing the fat, fanwize, Hannes first met Forrie Ackerman, Henry Kuttner, et al."

During the 1940s, Petaja continued to write, turning out dozens of stories for many of the pulp fiction magazines. A prolific author, his science fiction, fantasy, and weird fiction stories appeared in Fantastic Adventures, Worlds of Tomorrow, Weird Tales, Fantasy and Science Fiction, Future Science Fiction Stories, and elsewhere. One story, "Dinosaur Goes Hollywood," published in Amazing Stories in 1944, features a dinosaur on the loose of a movie set. Some of these early works were brought together in the author's only short story collection, Stardrift and Other Fantastic Flotsam (Fantasy Press, 1971).

Petaja also published under the name of Theodore Pine (Theodore was the author's middle name, and Petaja is Finnish for "pine"). As Pine, Petaja sold stories to detective and western story magazines of the period such as Crack Detective, Ten Detective Aces, Ten Story Detective, Mammoth Western, Western Action, and Western Trails. Many of these stories have evocative titles like "The Corpse Wants Company," "Good Night, Dream Bandit," "The Perfumed Peril," "Satan Hogs the Camera," "Bullets on the Downbeat," "Sixgun Serenade," and "Trigger Surgery." During the 1940s, Petaja unsuccessfully attempted to publish a detective novel. One of his last detective stories, "Stirred Ashes," appeared in the Saint magazine in 1967. Petaja had also been a member of the Mystery Writers of America.