Philip Wylie
(1902 - 1971)
Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, he was the son of Presbyterian minister Edmund Melville Wylie and the former Edna Edwards, a novelist, who died when Philip was five years old. His family moved to Montclair, New Jersey and he later attended Princeton University from 19201923. He married Sally Ondek, and had one child, Karen, an author who became the inventor of animal "clicker" training. After a divorcing his first wife, Philip Wylie married Frederica Ballard who was born and raised in Rushford, New York; they are both buried in Rushford.
A writer of fiction and nonfiction, his output included hundreds of short stories, articles, serials, syndicated newspaper columns, novels, and works of social criticism. He also wrote screenplays while in Hollywood, was an editor for Farrar & Rinehart, served on the Dade County, Florida Defense Council, was a director of the Lerner Marine Laboratory, and at one time was an adviser to the chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee for Atomic Energy which led to the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission. Most of his major writings contain critical, though often philosophical, views on man and society as a result of his studies and interest in psychology, biology, ethnology, and physics. Over nine movies were made from novels or stories by Wylie. He sold the rights for two others that were never produced.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Murderer Invisible
A vengeful scientist uses his brilliant discovery to unleash terror on the world in this timeless science fiction classic from an early-twentieth-century master
The scientific community has always shunned William Carpenter. A strange, hulking giant, a talented biochemical investigator, and the self-styled "greatest mind in the western world," he has locked himself inside a house with no windows, in the most desolate reaches of New Jersey, where he can conduct his experiments in peace and isolation. Here in his personal sanctuary, Carpenter has found something astonishing that could alter life on Earth as we know it: a chemical compound that can render all matter invisible, from rocks to plants to people. But the twisted genius has no intention of using this breakthrough to benefit the planet. Instead, he is about to declare war on all humankind by launching an unseen campaign of terror and destruction. For years the world has ignored William Carpenter, labeling him insane, sociopathic, or worst of all, insignificant. And now the world will have to pay.
The early works of novelist, editor, short story writer, essayist, and screenwriter Philip
Wylie were primary influences on the creation of characters like Flash Gordon, Superman, and Travis McGee. First published in 1931, The Murderer Invisible takes H. G. Wells's classic Invisible Man several giant leaps further, resulting in a chilling tale of madness and science run amok that is at once a gripping adventure and a prescient commentary on man and society