Alfred Coppel
Alfred Coppel, born Alfredo José de Arana-Marini Coppel on November 9, 1921, in Oakland, California, was a prolific American author known for his contributions to science fiction and political thrillers. He served as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II before transitioning to a writing career influenced by notable American authors such as John O'Hara and Ernest Hemingway. Coppel began publishing science fiction in 1947, with his first notable novel, "Dark December," released in 1960, depicting a post-apocalyptic world following a nuclear holocaust. His works often combined action-oriented storytelling with themes of technology and machines, reflecting his childhood love for science fiction. Coppel also explored alternative history in his novel "The Burning Mountain," which imagined an invasion of Japan. In addition to thrillers, he authored romance novels and space operas under the pseudonym Robert Cham Gilman. Coppel's literary career spanned several decades until his passing on May 30, 2004, in Menlo Park, California. His works remain significant in the science fiction genre, although some became less relevant after the Cold War.
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Alfred Coppel
Writer
- Born: November 9, 1921
- Birthplace: Oakland, California
- Died: May 30, 2004
- Place of death: Menlo Park, California
Biography
Alfredo José de Arana-Marini Coppel, who would later write as Alfred Coppel, was born in Oakland, California, on November 9, 1921, the son of Alfredo and Ana Coppel. He attended Menlo College and Stanford University, both in California, but left the university in 1942 to join the U.S. Army Air Corps. Coppel served as a fighter pilot from 1942 to 1945, rising to the rank of first lieutenant. He married Elisabeth Ann Schorr on March 10, 1943, and the couple had one son and one daughter.
Coppel felt that he had been influenced by American writers John O’Hara, William Faulkner, and Ernest Hemingway. Unlike them, he wrote action-oriented novels, many of them reflecting his knowledge of science and technology and his interest in machines. He had enjoyed reading science fiction as a child, and began writing it in part because of the imaginative freedom it allowed him. He published his first science fiction story in 1947.
A substantial inheritance from his father had allowed Coppel to race sports cars as a young man, and he based his first novel (Hero Driver, written in only thirty days) on his racing experiences. Subsequently, Coppel spent the remainder of his inheritance traveling in Europe. When travel failed to spur his writing career, however, he was forced to find a job. Coppel was employed as a technical writer for Philco Western Development Laboratories in Palo Alto, California, from 1957 to 1958, and went on to work in public relations for two San Francisco firms, the Cerwin Group and Reynolds Advertising. In the meantime, he had continued publishing stories, and resigned from Reynolds in 1962 to write full time. Coppel became a critic for the San Francisco Chronicle in 1969.
Coppel published his first science fiction novel in 1960. Titled Dark December, it was set in a United States devastated by nuclear holocaust and is regarded as one of the best works of its kind ever written. Subsequently, Coppel produced a number of political thrillers, some of which involved elements of science fiction. One of his best-known works was The Burning Mountain. Subtitled “A Novel of the Invasion of Japan,” it was set in an “alternate history” in which the United States was forced to invade Japan before finally dropping an atomic bomb on the country in 1946. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the end of the Cold War, many of Coppel’s thrillers lost their currency.
Coppel also wrote romance novels such as The Landlocked Man, and (under the pseudonym Robert Cham Gilman) a series of space operas, the first of which was The Rebel of Rhada. Coppel himself died May 30, 2004, in Menlo Park, California.