Stephen Robinett

Stephen Allen Robinett
Born	(1941-07-13)July 13, 1941 Long Beach, California
Died	February 16, 2004(2004-02-16) (aged 62) Corona del Mar, Newport Beach, California
Occupations	Novelist journalist lawyer
Writing career
Pen name	Steve Hahn, Tak Hallus
Genres	Science fiction mystery

Stephen Allen Robinett (13 July 1941 – 16 February 2004) was an American writer of science-fiction and mystery novels and short stories.

Life and career

Robinett's first publication appeared in the March 1969 edition of the magazine Analog Science Fiction and Fact, the novelette "Minitalent", which was published with his most-used pseudonym, Tak Hallus (derived from the Persian takhallus). By the mid-1970s, however, he had begun using his own name. He published two novels, Stargate and The Man Responsible during the mid-1970s, and continued to publish novels and short fiction until the early 1990s.

He also wrote extensively in the area of business journalism and was a lawyer licensed in California.

He died on 16 February 2004 from complications caused by Hodgkins disease.

In 2024, his short story Assignment No. 1 was published posthumously in the sci-fi anthology book The Last Dangerous Visions, itself a posthumous publication edited on-and-off by the late Harlan Ellison between 1972 and 2014, when two strokes prevented him from editing until his death in 2018.

Bibliography

Novels

• Mindwipe! (1976) (as Steve Hahn)
• Stargate (1976)
• The Man Responsible (1978)
• Final Option (Mystery, 1990)
• Unfinished Business (Mystery, 1990)

Collections

• Projections (1979)

Short Fiction

• "Minitalent" (1969) (as Tak Hallus)
• "Mindwipe" (1969) (as Tak Hallus)
• "Homage" (1971) (as Tak Hallus)
• "Mr. Winthrop Projects" (1971) (as Tak Hallus)
• "Jenson's Folly" (1973) (also appeared as "Force Over Distance" (as Tak Hallus))
• "Cynthia" (1973) (also as Tak Hallus)
• "Laws and Orders" (1974) (as Tak Hallus)
• "Pow Wow "(1975) (also as Tak Hallus)
• "The Linguist" (1975) (as Tak Hallus)
• "The Tax Man" (1975)
• "Helbent 4" (1975)
• "A Penny's Worth" (1976)
• "Projections" (1976)
• "The Man Responsible" (1977)
• "Tomus" (1977)
• "Guzman's Gardener" (1978)
• "The Satyr" (1978)
• "Hell Creatures of the Third Planet" (1979)
• "The President's Image" (1980)
• "Number 13" (1982)
• "Amor y Pesetas" (intended for The Last Dangerous Visions, published instead in Omni, Nov. 1983)
• "Aki magasra tör...?" (2023, in Hungarian)
• "Assignment No. 1" (published in The Last Dangerous Visions, 2024)
• "Iron Hill" (unpublished; possibly an alternate title for "Amor y Pesetas" - intended for The Last Dangerous Visions)