LAING, Alexander (Kinnan)

(1903-1976)

   US writer, editor and academic, noted for his books on the sea, for editing The Haunted Omnibus (anth 1937; vt Great Ghost Stories of the World 1939), and for his murder novel, The Cadaver of Gideon Wyck, by a Medical Student (1934), which hinges on horrific changes to the human body. Two further books with fantastic elements are Dr Scarlett: A Narrative of his Mysterious Behavior in the East (1936) and its sequel,The Methods of Dr Scarlett (1937). In collaboration with Thomas PAINTER, AL wrote an sf thriller, The Motives of Nicholas Holtz, Being the Weird Tale of the Ironville Virus (1936; vt The Glass Centipede, Retold from the Original Sources 1936 UK). Persuasively authentic in its use of biological data, it is a well told story of the creation of artificial life in the form of a deadly virus, and of the dangers that beset the man who investigates the ensuing deaths.

   PN

   See also: MONSTERS.