DYE, Charles

(1927-1955)

   US writer who began publishing sf with "The Last Orbit" for AMZ in 1950. He was active for the next half-decade, soon publishing his only sf novel, Prisoner in the Skull (1952), in which ordinary Homo sapiens and a form of SUPERMAN engage in thriller-like confrontations. He was married briefly (1951-3) to Katherine MACLEAN, who wrote "The Man who Staked the Stars" (1952) and "Syndrome Johnny" (1951) under his name. The latter story contains an amazingly early account of a genetic-recombination technique (gene splicing), in which a "piggyback" virus transports genetic material (a silicon-using gene) into human cells.

   JC/PN