Ron Goulart, a "remarkably prolific science fiction, fantasy, mystery and romance novelist who cast Groucho Marx as a detective and collaborated with William Shatner on a series of books set in the 22nd century," died January 14 at age 89, the New York Times reported. Goulart wrote at least 180 books, "and that number may underestimate his output. His goal was to write as many books as Isaac Asimov, who at his death was credited with having written about 500." Goulart was also a comic book historian; the writer of a syndicated comic strip in the 1970s (Star Hawks, drawn by Gil Kane); and a cultural critic. His book The Assault on Childhood (1969) "scorned parents for not protecting their children from being exploited by toy makers, television and the Walt Disney Company," the Times noted.
One of his best-known SF novels, After Things Fell Apart (1970), was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America. It was the first of five books in his Fragmented America series, which he wrote in the 1970s and '80s. Goulart started working with William Shatner in the late 1980s; TekWar was the first of their nine novels in a series published through 1997. His love of mysteries and Groucho Marx led him in the late 1990s to turn the comedian into a wisecracking private eye in six novels, including Groucho Marx, Secret Agent (2002).