LOGSDON, Syd

(?1950-)

   US writer whose first sf novel, Jandrax (1979), is a PLANETARY ROMANCE about a sexually active scout who is also tough on planets. SL's second, A Fond Farewell to Dying (1978 Gal as "To Not Go Gently"; exp 1981), is a far more interesting post- HOLOCAUST tale set in 23rd-centuryIndia. A longstanding conflict with a Muslim nation to the north frames the humanly complex story of a Westerner's research into cloning (CLONES) to compensate for the post-nuclear sterilization suffered by most of the world. The sense that cloning barbarously parodies Hindu beliefs in REINCARNATION permeates the text, whose very considerable competence makesSL's subsequent silence all the more regrettable.

   JC