JOSEPH, M(ichael) K(ennedy)

(1914-1981)

   UK-born and Oxford-educated New Zealand writer and professor of English; his first novels were not sf. The Hole in the Zero (1967 UK) begins as an apparently typical SPACE-OPERA adventure into further dimensions at the edge of the Universe, but quickly reveals itself as a linguistically brilliant, complex exploration of the nature of the four personalities involved as they begin out of their own resources to shape the low-probability regions into which they have tumbled. Ultimately the novel takes on allegorical overtones. As an examination of the metaphorical potentials of sf language and subject matter, it is a significant contribution to the field. In 1969 MKJ also produced a scholarly edition of Mary SHELLEY's Frankenstein(1818).

   JC

   Other works: The Time of Achamoth (1977).

   See also: FANTASTIC VOYAGES; NEW ZEALAND.