Paul Dennis O'Connor

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Paul Dennis O'Connor, a New York small press publisher active in the 1940s and ’50s, was founder (with Hannes Bok) of the New Collector's Group. He was a member of ESFA.

Joe Kennedy remembered him in “After the Atom”:

Paul Dennis O'Connor's appearances at the ESFA, though infrequent, were memorable. Drooping eyelids and an affected Boston accent are the characteristics of the man that stand out in my recollections of him. He is, of course, best known for publishing two fragmentary Merritt novels with endings by Bok.

I would say without hesitation that O'Connor is by far the most enjoyable impromptu speaker I have ever listened to. His rare addresses to the ESFA were a dazzling bunch of bawdy quips, bellylaugh-provoking anecdotes about well known writers and editors -- at least half inaccurate, but all uproarious.

O'Connor once bowled over an ESFA audience by remarking in a perfectly deadpan fashion: "Contrary to many reports, I am not in the habit of sprawling in the nude on a yellow chaise lounge." He was fond of flashing a huge green ring coyly about. "The stone in this ring," he explained, "is genuine emerald taken from the eyesocket of an Egyptian mummy"....

He has a subtle sense of humor. I always got the impression that his mannerisms were put on often as a gag, as a clever and carefully studied pose, designed to amuse other people....

In bull-sessions after an ESFA meeting, O'Connor was a very interesting man to listen to. One night in a cafeteria he delivered a long and wonderful discourse about the time Hannes Bok was employed to paint some sexy murals for Dunninger, the mind reader; about how Derleth used to pay off his dust-jacket artists in copies of Arkham House books; how the New Collectors Group was not going to publish Merritt's sequel to The Moon Pool because Mrs. Merritt wanted a dime a word for it. He then went into a diatribe against all science-fiction fans, whom he considered viler than maggots; proceeded to read the palms of several people at the table including Ron Clyne; and spoke very seriously of the forgotten mysteries which only the ancient sages knew.

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