LEIGH, Stephen (Walter)

(1951-)

   US writer and musician who began publishing sf with "A Rain of Pebbles" for ASF in 1977, and who sometimes releases short stories as Lee Stevens. The first novel of his Neweden sequence - Slow Fall to Dawn (1981), Dance of the Hag (1983) and A Quiet of Stone (1984)-brought him into some prominence through its depiction of the attractive feudal culture obtaining upon the eponymous planet, whose name seemed, initially, only moderately ironic. Later episodes, however, demonstrate the fragility of Neweden mores in a SPACE-OPERA context that dissipates the network of mutual obligations that makes the thieves' guild at the sequence's heart so attractive a vehicle for sf adventures. Further sf novels of interest include: The Bones of God (1986), an interplanetary tale pitting a solitary prophet against the oppressive Judeo-Christian RELIGION that dominates Old Earth; Crystal Memory (1987), a complex novel in which problems typical of sf adventures - a female space-freighter pilot attempts to recover her erased memories and to avenge the death of her young son - are placed in a context featuring interestingly depicted MARS colonies, ALIEN incursions, zombies, intrigue and loss; and The Abraxis Marvel Circus (1990), a humorous fantasy, choked with variously comiccharacters and rock musicians, about reviving the dead. SL has written several ties in recent years, and his career has consequently lost some focus.

   JC

   Other works: Dr Bones \#1: The Secret of the Lona * (1988); Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens \#1: The Changeling * (1989); The Next Wave \#2: Alien Tongue (1991), including an essay by Rudy RUCKER; volumes in the Byron PREISS package in which Ray BRADBURY"presents" a series of time-travel tales: Dinosaur World * (1992), Dinosaur Planet * (1993), Dinosaur Samurai * (1993) with John J.Miller, and DinosaurWarriors *(1994).