cordwainer

Lavie: No science fiction writer was ever as weird, as brilliant and as unjustly neglected, perhaps, as Cordwainer Smith.

After the war, Wheaton and his family moved to New York, where he worked as a shoemaker, then known as a cordwainer, and farmer.

Others focus on the horror and mystery of islands, such as the world described in Cordwainer Smith’s classic “A Planet Named Shayol,” in which convicts are exposed to a virus that makes them grow extra organs, which are then harvested.

Mr. Ellison moved to Los Angeles in 1962, aiming to break into the lucrative screenwriting trade, but continued to publish stories and novels, many under assumed names, most notably “Cordwainer Bird.”

The two men get carried away in one of their semi-regular conversations about obscure science fiction — Cordwainer Smith, anyone? — until a publicist politely breaks up the geek-out session.