Martin Caidin
Martin Caidin | |
---|---|
Born | New York City, U.S. | September 14, 1927
Died | March 24, 1997 Tallahassee, Florida, U.S. | (aged 69)
Occupation | Author, screenwriter |
Genre | Military history, science fiction |
Spouse | Dee Dee Caidin[1] |
Martin Caidin (September 14, 1927 – March 24, 1997) was an American author, screenwriter, and an authority on aeronautics and aviation.
Caidin began writing fiction in 1957. In his career he authored more than 50 fiction and nonfiction books[2] as well as more than 1,000 magazine articles. His best-known novel is Cyborg, which was the basis for The Six Million Dollar Man franchise. He also wrote numerous works of military history, especially concerning aviation.
Caidin was also an airplane pilot. He bought and restored a 1936 Junkers Ju 52 airplane.
Fiction
Caidin's fiction incorporated future technological advances that were projected to occur, and examined the political and social repercussions of these innovations. In this respect, his work is similar to that of
Caidin was credited in episodes of the original Bionic Woman series, a Six Million Dollar Man spinoff, but not in the 2007 remake of The Bionic Woman.
Years later, Caidin would reference bionics in a satirical manner in his novel Buck Rogers: A Life in the Future, an adaptation of the pulp fiction and comic strip character Buck Rogers in which Rogers is given bionic parts after being revived from his centuries-long coma.
Caidin's 1964 novel,
World War Two books written by Caidin include Samurai!; Black Thursday; Thunderbolt!; Fork-Tailed Devil: The P-38; Flying Forts; Zero!; The Ragged, Rugged Warriors; A Torch to the Enemy; and The Last Dogfight. Caidin's books about space travel include No Man's World, in which the Soviets beat the Americans to the moon, and Four Came Back, about an ill-fated space station for eight crew members. Caidin's other books with movie tie-ins include The Final Countdown and novels featuring adventurer-archaeologist Indiana Jones. He also wrote the book Exit Earth, which was a Noah's Ark in space story; he said it was one of his favorite books and he always felt it would be an amazing motion picture.
Aeronautics
Caidin bought and restored to full airworthiness the oldest surviving
During 1961, Caidin was one of the pilots of a formation flight of B-17s across the Atlantic Ocean, likely the last such flight, from the United States to England via Canada, the Azores, and Portugal. During the voyage, the pilots had a near-miss with a submarine. Caidin recounted this journey in his book Everything But The Flak.
Caidin also worked as a pilot for the movie The War Lover, flew with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration squadron for several months, and was made an honorary member of the U.S. Army's Golden Knights parachute demonstration team.
Additionally, Caidin wrote an aircraft manual for the
Caidin also established a company with the purpose of promoting aeronautics to young people.
Talk show host
During the mid-1980s, Caidin hosted Face to Face, a confrontational television talk show in which he challenged representatives of many prominent American far-right organizations and hate groups. The one-hour broadcasts were co-written and produced by Bob Judson, and taped at the Nautilus Television Studios outside of Orlando, Florida. Among those whom Caidin confronted on Face to Face were Rabbi
Caidin also taught a progressive journalism course at the University of Florida in Gainesville, titled Caidin's Law.
Claims of psychic ability
Caidin, known as a stickler for technical detail, incorporated supernatural elements in his Bermuda Triangle novel Three Corners To Nowhere (1975). During the mid-1980s, Caidin began claiming to have the power of telekinesis, specifically, to be able to move one or more small devices called energy wheels or psi wheels.[6][7][8] Parapsychologist Loyd Auerbach, a friend of Caidin's who sometimes appeared with him in demonstrations and workshops, reiterated a strong endorsement of him in his June 2004 Fate magazine column.[9]
The magician James Randi offered to test Caidin's claimed abilities during 1994.[10] During September 2004, Randi wrote: "He frantically avoided accepting my challenge by refusing even the simplest of proposed control protocols, but he never tired of running on about how I would not test him."[10]
References
- ^ Sherri M. Owens (March 25, 1997), "Writer Whose Stories Took Flight On Screen, TV Dies", Orlando Sentinel, p. C1, retrieved October 15, 2013
- ^ It has been claimed that Caidin authored a total of eighty books. Martin Caidin, The Tigers Are Burning, Pinnacle Books, Los Angeles, 1975, 1980, p. i.
- ^ "1967 M2-F2 Crash at Edwards". Check-Six.com. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
- ^ Caidin, Martin. Ragwings and Heavy Iron (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company), 1984, page 261.
- ISBN 0385133502
- ^ Caidin, Martin (January 1994). "Telekinesis". Fate. Lakeville, USA: Llewellyn Publications/Galde Press, Inc. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011.
- ^
Auerbach, Loyd (1996). Mind Over Matter. Kensington Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978-1-57566-047-9.
- ^
Heath, Pamela Rae (October 2010). Mind-Matter Interaction: A Review of Historical Reports, Theory and Research. Jefferson, North Carolina USA: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-4971-2.
- ^
Auerbach, Loyd (June 2004). "The Psychokinetic Zone". Fate, Monthly Column "Psychic Frontiers". Lakeville, USA: Galde Press, Inc.
Martin Caidin was capable of moving things with his mind.
- ^ a b "Swift, September 24, 2004". Retrieved February 1, 2011. Online newsletter of the James Randi Educational Foundation.
External links
- Martin Caidin at Library of Congress, with 115 library catalog records
- Martin Caidin at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Martin Caidin at IMDb
- Martin Caiden papers are archived at the American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.