- His early death was a particularly shocking and distressing one--he suffered from a degenerative aging disease which gave him, at age 38, the appearance of a centenarian. It has been speculated that he was suffering simultaneously from Pick's Disease and early-onset Alzheimer's Disease. A busy and prolific writer for most of his adult life, he found it virtually impossible to work in his last three years, although friends sometimes completed work for him without credit.
- His September 1954 short story "Black Country" was the first original work of fiction published by "Playboy" magazine (it was the magazine's ninth issue).
- For a time in the 1950s he wrote movie reviews for "The Magazine of Fantasy of Science Fiction". In one of his columns he panned both Not of This Earth (1957) and Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957), both directed by his future employer, Roger Corman.
- He is buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, California. Mission Hills Mortuary supplied his casket.
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