WHO IS

To the world at large, Rob Smalley is a strange, mysterious figure who has been a Doc Savage fan for over 35 years. He is a private pilot, amateur astronomer and pulp enthusiast. To his family, the seven greatest people ever assembled in one group - he is a man of superhuman strength and protean genius (I told you they were great!), dedicated to the destruction of people who mess with his serenity. To his amazing co-workers, he is the greatest mechanical engineer of all time, whose commute to work is unequaled for hair-raising thrills, breathtaking escapes and bloodcurdling excitement!

 

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Actually, I'm a 47 year old guy who grew up in West Hills, California in the San Fernando Valley outside of L.A. I went to college at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo where I got a degree in engineering, concentrating in air conditioning & refrigeration. I took a job in Arizona in 1981 after graduation. I've been here ever since. I live in Chandler, which is a suburb of Phoenix.

Since coming to Arizona in '81 I've worked for a company called University Mechanical & Engineering Contractors. We build the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing, piping and duct systems that support process functions and make modern buildings habitable. Our core focus is on new hospitals, biotech labs, data centers, large hotels and office buildings and water & wastewater treatment plants. I am the Vice President of Preconstruction.  Precon encompases everything from sales & marketing to estimating & bidding to supporting and directing our project teams to successfully mobilize and pre-plan our work. Our company has an annual volume of $60-80 million. My involvement extends to when the projects are 20% complete. 

I'm married. My wife’s name is Debbie. We have one daughter (my step-daughter) who has just had her first born. The grandparent thing is very new and exciting. 

I first met Doc Savage and his five remarkable aids in early 1971. I was 12 years old and in the 7th grade.  Until that point, I was reading the Berkley paperback series of Sherlock Holmes adventures. Although I did not know it, I was priming myself for reading series-type adventures. Doc came into my life through a fellow named Gary Stevenson. This kid was absolutely high on Doc Savage. His enthusiasm was contagious and I just had to have some. After seeing his collection, I began to prowl the bookstores.

The first newly released book I can remember seeing in the stores was The Munitions Master (March 1971). I immediately bought it as well as The Golden Peril, The Giggling Ghosts and Poison Island, The Midas Man and Hex. When I finally decided, it was The Midas Man that was my first. With it I walked straight into an exciting world of adventure and brotherhood. I was to travel the globe with Doc and his men, and with them become life-long friends. Poison Island was my second and Hex followed that.

I read every new Doc Savage book as they came out, until the end of 1976. Then college reading took over. I continued collecting the books, although I read only a few in the years to 1984. By that time my career was taking off and my enthusiasm for Doc had waned. No doubt aided by the slow publication rate. Sometime in 1984 I stopped actively searching the bookstores for new books. My collection was boxed-up and remained that way. But this was not the end.

In January 1996 I discovered the Internet Fans Of Bronze (IFOB) and like a man who had been resuscitated, my enthusiasm for Doc was given new life. Thanks to the IFOB and the alt.fan.doc-savage newsgroup, I have become a part of a world-wide fellowship of those who, like myself, "belong" to Doc. My Doc Savage book collection is now complete, and I have been fortunate to complete a pulp set as well.

I also enjoy reading G-8 & His Battle Aces and Captain Future (basically, Doc Savage in a space helmet), but have little desire to read any of the other pulp heroes. The only other authors I’ve found that hold my attention for continued reading are Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald, and I have read most of their works. Incidentally, I think Ross MacDonald would have written some great Doc Savage stories.

I cannot speak for others but, in all honesty, I believe that the reasons why the character of Doc Savage is so attractive to me are as follows;

1.)  Doc is everything I wish I was.

That pretty much sums it up. Doc has herculean strength, a genius mind, ruggedly handsome looks, wealth, courage, a charitable heart, an honorable soul, and an adventurer’s spirit. Doc shows us what is the best in all of us, and what we need to make better in ourselves.

Being as close to Doc Savage as I have been, one cannot help become aware of the whole pulp genre and period. Over the years I have accumulated several books about the pulps. These books inspired my interest and curiosity regarding those treasures of American popular culture. Through the medium of the Internet, I learned of the annual convention, PulpCon. I have since attend three times and have enjoyed meeting, face to face, so many of my new friends of the "Brotherhood Of Bronze". I have not yet attended the Windy City Pulp show, but intend on doing so sometime in the next few years.

Doc Savage websites vary greatly in their essence and character. As far as I’m concerned, any Doc Savage website is cool. Some take a magazine format, others an information directory format and others merely express fan appreciation. I wanted my site to offer to the visitor the experience of having fallen into Doc’s world. To me Doc Savage is as much a place as it is a character. Therefore, I have tried to offer content that will cause the visitor to be awed by Doc’s world. It is my hope that having experienced something that exciting, they will want a greater and more personal experience with Doc and his remarkable men. 

Although Internet is currently the best medium available to present the true flavor of Doc’s world, in my opinion, there is no substitute for Lester Dent’s written words and style for conveying the essence of Doc Savage. For this reason, I have used the material from the stories throughout my website.

Enjoy!