Author Arthur Herzog III (who dropped the number for his byline) died 26 May 2010 of complications from a stroke. Born 6 April 1927 in Manhattan, New York, he wrote nonfiction about nuclear disarmament and fugitive financier Robert Vesco, but will be best remembered for his sf thriller The Swarm, about African killer bees invading the United States, which was made into a movie starring Michael Caine, and frequently parodied in early Saturday Night Live episodes.
Herzog earned a BA from Stanford in 1949, and an MA from Columbia in 1951, both in English literature. He then started his career as a freelance magazine writer, appearing in Esquire, Harper’s, The Nation, The New York Times Magazine, and others.
His first book, The War Peace Establishment, resulted from interviews with dozens of leading scientists, diplomats, and theoreticians on all sides of the nuclear disarmament issue, and appeared in 1965.
His more genre-esque novels include:
The Swarm (1974)
Orca (1977), about a killer whale seeking revenge on a fisherman who killed his offspring
IQ 83 (1978), in which “a cure is found for a children’s disease, but it proved to lower intelligence, starting with the scientists who devised the cure
Earthsound (1975), in which a geologist predicted a major earthquake in an unlikely place (Rhode Island) and it happens
Imortalon (2004), in which a prize-winning scientist has a formula to conquer aging but it’s stolen and becomes a blockbuster drug, Imortalon, which produces negative effects
The Town that Moved to Mexico (2004), in which a shallow earthquake slides a California town full of bigots into Mexico. The Mexican mayor of the town across the border declares the Americans “drybacks” and won’t let them leave. The two countries verge on war.
Icetopia (2004), in which an Army Corps of Engineers officer discovers a lost, under ice, community in Greenland, intended to be a utopia. He almost surrenders to its secrets.
Herzog also published two collections of short stories, including some science fictional tales: Body Parts (2005) and Beyond Sci-Fi (2007).
Herzog is survived by his sixth wife, Leslie Mandel-Herzog, his brother, Gregory, a son, and three grandchildren. Herzog’s father, Arthur Herzog Jr., was a songwriter who often worked with Billie Holiday; among other songs, they wrote “God Bless the Child.”