One of the world's greatest science fiction writers was a native of Central Pennsylvania! H. Beam Piper, the author of Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, spent his early years in Altoona and his old age in Williamsport. Another Pennsylvanian, John F. Carr, has sorted through the false stories Piper told of his own background to reveal the true man behind the stories of aggressively self-reliant heroes.