GOTLIEB, Phyllis (Fay)

(1926-)

   Canadian writer probably best known for her POETRY. She took an MA with the University of Toronto in English language and literature, and married a professor of computer science, whom she credits for assistance on her second sf novel. She began publishing sf with "A Grain of Manhood" for Fantastic in 1959 and gained considerable praise for her first novel, Sunburst (1964 US), which treats feelingly of the growth of a connectedgroup of MUTANT children, of their harrowing difficulties, of the gestalt concord they arrive at, and of their coming to (a somewhat overplotted) accord with the surrounding world. Complexities of kinship and identity also pervade her Sven Dahlgren books - O Master Caliban! (1976 US) and Heart of Red Iron (1989 US) - which take place on a planet set aside forenvironmental experiments. In the first the young four-armed Dhalgren must confront and defeat the sentient ROBOTS which have seized power from his scientist father; in the second he must calibrate the needs of various ALIEN races and come to terms with his own humanity. PG's stories - someof the best are assembled in Son of the Morning and Other Stories (coll 1983 US) - also tend to investigate questions of human nature through sftropes, like PSI POWERS, that are congenial to that sort of exploration. A second series, the Starcats books - A Judgement of Dragons (1980 US), Emperor, Swords, Pentacles (1982 US) and The Kingdom of the Cats (1985 US)- features interstellar travel and other sf trappings attuned to SCIENCE FANTASY needs. With Douglas BARBOUR she edited Tesseracts(2) (anth 1987), a series - \#1 ed Judith MERRIL - designed to showcase Canadian sf.

   JC

   See also: CANADA.