EHRLICH, Max (Simon)

(1909-1983)

   US writer initially active as an author of RADIO plays for various series, including The Shadow. His first novel, The Big Eye (1949), which was the first release in DOUBLEDAY's sf line, concerns an attempt by astronomers to terrify humanity into world peace by announcing that a visiting planet is due to hit Earth; the planet misses narrowly. The Edict (1971) is based on ME's own screenplay for the film Z.P.G. and deals with an embargo on births. The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1974), filmed in 1974 to his own screenplay, is a quest novel whose protagonist attempts to track down information about his former self, the murder of whom recurs in his dreams; his adventures continue in Reincarnation in Venice (1979; vt The Bond 1980 UK). ME was a proficient writer who tended to use sf protocols as much to alarm as to illuminate.

   JC

   Other works: Dead is the Blue (1964), a borderline-sf nuclear-submarine story; The Savage is Loose * (1974), for which film (1974; dir George C. Scott) he also wrote the screenplay; Shaitan (1981), fantasy.