Camille Cazedessus II (born December 8, 1938), also known as "Caz", is an American editor and publisher. Known for his works about
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he ...
and
pulp fiction, he has published over 250 periodicals on the topics since 1960 under the titles ''ERB-dom'', ''The Fantasy Collector'' and, since 1997, ''Pulpdom''. He has also written about
Kit Carson and taught Western history.
Biography
Early life
Cazedessus was born December 8, 1938, in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the only child of engineer Camille Cazedessus. He graduated from Baton Rouge High School in 1957 and Spring Hill College in 1961. He also attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and New Mexico Highlands College in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and Fort Lewis College, in each case studying American and South West history.
Career
Cazedessus organized and led the first teenage rock and roll band in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the autumn of 1956: The Dots. He was lead singer and rhythm guitar until the autumn of 1957, when he relinquished the band to Lenny Capella and enrolled in
Spring Hill College,
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...
.
Later, as fans of the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Cazedessus and Alfred Guillory Jr. launched the
fanzine
A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...
''ERB-dom'' in May, 1960.
Following Guillory's death the following year, Caz became the magazine's sole editor and publisher. ''ERB-dom'' was nominated for the
Hugo Award for Best Fanzine in 1964 and 1966, winning the award in 1966. ''ERB-dom'' went monthly in January 1970 with full color covers. In 1974 it returned to less frequent publication, and the "final" issue, no. 89, was published in November 1976.
In December 1988, Caz revived his old ad-zine, ''The Fantasy Collector'' in Dec 1988 with #201, now reprinting fiction. It retitled as ''The Fantastic Collector'' with #228 (March 1991). It would later incorporate ''ERB-dom'' in December 1993, with each issue being double named & numbered ("Fantastic Collector #248/''ERB-dom'' #90), and in January 1997 changed the name to ''Pulpdom'', which continued for 75 issues, the last in August 2013. All these issues of ''The Fantasy Collector'' and ''Pulpdom'' contain illustrated articles on pulp magazines, and reviews of and fiction by popular authors of the early 20th century. Ultimately, ''Pulpdom Online'' was inaugurated in December, 2013 with a new number one until it returned to the original number with the last two issues in 2020: #99 and #100.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Cazedessus published books as Opar Press. After living in
Taos, New Mexico, during the 1980s, he began publishing books as Rendezvous Books. He continues to publish and write while living part-time in
Chimney Rock, Colorado
Chimney Rock National Monument is a U.S. National Monument in San Juan National Forest in southwestern Colorado which includes an archaeological site. This area is located in Archuleta County, Colorado, between Durango and Pagosa Springs, ...
.
Cazedessus has written several books about Kit Carson and others are underway.
In May 2010, Caz's old band, The Dots, was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame by the State of Louisiana, authorized by the governor,
Bobby Jindal
Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 55th Governor of Louisiana from 2008 to 2016. The only living former Louisiana governor, Jindal also served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives a ...
.
Works
*(publisher) ''The Literature of Burroughsiana'' (1963), John Harwood
*(publisher) ''Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle'' (1968), Edgar Rice Burroughs, illus. Burne Hogarth
*(publisher)
Frank Frazetta Portfolio (1968)
*''A Review of Dell's Early Tarzan, 1948-1953'' (1971)
*(publisher) ''The Hero-Pulp Index'' (1971), Lohr McKinstry and
Robert Weinberg
*(publisher) ''The Weird Menace'' (1972), Robert K. Jones
*(publisher) ''Ghost Stories'' (1973), Sam Moskowitz & James R. Seiger
*(publisher)
Zdeněk Burian Portfolio (1976)
*(publisher)
Roy Krenkel Portfolio (1979)
*''Mountain Men : An Informal Bibliography'' (1981)
*''The Rough Riders and New Mexico'' (1994)
*''Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders : A Hundred Years of Glory, 1898-1998'' (1994)
*(editor) ''Abiquiu, Chama And Pagosa Springs - 1859'' (2000), John N. Macomb and J.S. Newberry
*''Meet Kit Carson'' (2006)
*''The UNreal Kit Carson'' (2006)
*''Old Pagosa, Views from the Past'' (2007)
*''Kit Carson, Hero of the Backwoods'' (2009)
Serial publications:
*''Voyage'' (1976-?)
*''Pulpdom, ERB-dom & The Fantasy Collector'' (1960–2020) ()
Awards
*1966:
Hugo Award for Best Fanzine (for ''ERB-dom'')
*Honorary Member of the
References
External links
Pulpdom
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cazedessus, Camille
1938 births
Living people
American magazine publishers (people)
Pulp fiction researchers
Hugo Award-winning editors
Writers from Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Spring Hill College alumni
Louisiana State University alumni