The Best of British SF 2 - Mike Ashley, ebook, Temp
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//-->****The Best ofBritish SF 2Edited By Mike AshleyScanned & Proofed By MadMaxAU****CONTENTSPrologueTableaubyJames WhiteStarting CoursebyArthur SellingsAdvertise Your CyanidebyKenneth BulmerA Full Member of the ClubbyBob ShawThe Jackson KillerbyPhilip E HighThe Emptiness of Spaceby John WyndhamThe TeacherbyColin KappTransit of EarthbyArthur C ClarkeZoomenbyFred HoyleSomething StrangebyKingsley AmisManuscript Found in A Police StatebyNow: ZerobyJ G BallardPale RosesbyMichael MoorcockThe SignallerbyKeith RobertsEpilogue****Brian W AldissPROLOGUEVolume one traced the development of science fiction in Britain from itsbirth to its blossoming in the early 1950s. Volume two continues with amore select representation of the post-war era. This is because so great aprofusion of new science fiction writers appeared in Britain with the growthof the post-war market that it proved impossible for me to include all ofthem in this already large anthology. Therefore, in order to do some justiceto a few of the missing names, I shall briefly look at some of the otherimportant authors of the period.Probably the best known name in British sfnotincluded in thiscollection is Charles Eric Maine. Maine (born 1921) is the pen-name ofLiverpudlian David McIlwain, who was another of the small clan of pre-warsf fans. He was a great friend of Jonathan Burke (of whom more in amoment) with whom he co-edited the amateur magazineThe Satellitein1938. He got his start in 1951 with a BBC radio playSpacewayswhich wasbroadcast in 1952. It was then made into a film and Maine converted it intoa book. Ever since he has obtained as much mileage as possible from hiswork, another radio playThe Einstein Highway,forming the basis for hissecond novelTimeliner.Since then some dozen or so novels have comefrom his typewriter several of which have been filmed, most recentlyTheMind of Mr. Soames(1970) starring Terence Stamp. Alas what short fictionhe has written reads today rather dated, but his novels are all well worthtracking down.His companion Jonathan Burke, or J. F. Burke (b. 1922) as his by-lineusually reads, is best known today for the variousHammer Omnibusvolumes he produced, but back in the early 1950s his name would befound in all the leading magazines as well as on a score of paperbacknovels. Whilst he was educated in Liverpool he was born at Rye in Sussex.He has held a number of jobs including the Public Relations Officer forShell International. He won the Atlantic Award in Literature from theRockefeller Foundation for his satireSwift Summer(1949). His first sfnovel published wasDark Gateway(1954) although he had had a shortnovelOld Man of the Starsin the October 1953Authentic.Two collectionsof his stories have been printed, but there are still plenty that could berevived. If only there was room....An extremely prolific writer is the Scotsman J. T. Mcintosh, real nameJames Macgregor who was born at Paisley, Glasgow in 1925. Hesucceeded in selling some early stories toAstoundingin 1950 before theBritish market really opened up. He has remained to this day a writer whoappears mostly in American magazines, though his great output means thathe does not entirely neglect the British market. He suppliedNew Worldswith its first serialThe Esp Worlds(1952) and on the last count has madeover one hundred appearances in magazines on both sides of the Atlantic.Even then he found time to be a professional musician, a school teacherand a photographer at one time or another.Bryan Berry looked like being a bright new star in the 1950s when anearly death robbed the field of his talent. He sold several novels to Britishpaperback firms, and had the distinction of having three stories published inthe same issue of the popular American pulpPlanet Stories,all under hisown name. Other writers who made a name for themselves in the magazinefield in the early 1950s were Lan Wright, F. G. Rayer, Peter Hawkins andAlan Barclay. Alas these names are seen all too seldom these days.Outside of the magazine field a few other names are worthmentioning. Nigel Kneale is famous because of hisQuatermassseries ontelevision. Kneale (b. 1922) actually had a collection of his short storiespublished as far back as 1949,Tomato Cain,and it won the 1950Somerset Maugham Award for short stories. The first Quatermassepisode,The Quatermass Experimentwas broadcast in 1953 and filmedin 1955, finally appearing in bookform in 1959. Two other Quatermassserials followed. Since then Kneale has scripted two other major sftelevision playsThe Year of the Sex Olympicsand the ingeniousTheStone Tapes.The radio equivalent of Quatermass was probably Jet Morgan whostarred in the memorableJourney Into Spaceseries scripted by CharlesChilton (b. 1927). Three separate series were broadcast throughout the1950s and later issued in book form asJourney Into Space(1954),TheRed Planet(1956) andThe World in Peril(1960).A name much overlooked today is that of Paul Capon (b. 1912) fromSuffolk. Originally a writer of detective fiction he turned to sf in the 1950sand wrote several memorable novels starting withThe Other Side of theSun(1950) - the first of a trilogy about Antigeos, a planet that correspondswith the Earth on the far side of the Sun. A later novel wasInto the TenthMillenium(1956).Then there is the mystery man of sf, John Lymington. His name firstappeared in the sf field withThe Night of the Big Heat(1959) about analien invasion. It was subsequently made into a convincing film. Since thenLymington has written about a dozen novels includingThe Coming of theStrangers(1961),A Sword Above the Night(1962) andFroomb!(1964).Froomb!was in fact a rewrite of Lymington’s very first novelDavid and
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