MacLEAN, Katherine (Anne)

(1925-)

   US writer who took a BA from Barnard College, New York, did postgraduate study in psychology, became a quality-control lab technician in a food factory, and subsequently served as a college lecturer in creative writing and literature. Much of KM's work has been short stories, most of which, including her first, "Defense Mechanism" in 1949, appeared in ASF. She has generally written under her own name, although some stories were as by Charles Dye (Charles DYE was her husband 1951-3; see his entry for details) and one as by A.G. Morris; she was also married 1956-62 to David MASON. KM was in the vanguard of those sf writers tryingto apply to the SOFT SCIENCES the machinery of the hard sciences in a generally optimistic reading of the potentials of that application; her range and competence in dealing with technological matters may in part reflect the wide range of occupations in her extra-literary life. Despite this subject matter her tone was generally that of HARD SF, and her work was unconnected with the later NEW-WAVE uses of the same basic material. KM was one of the earlier WOMEN SF WRITERS, but it would be neitherdesirable nor possible to read her stories as "women's" sf: in a field which was, in 1950, notoriously male-chauvinist she competed on equal terms, not restricting herself to "feminine" themes or protagonists, and not generally using a male pseudonym. A number of her stories were assembled in The Diploids (coll 1962) and The Trouble with You Earth People (coll 1980).Many of KM's early stories have been anthologized.Perhaps the best-known are "Pictures Don't Lie" (1951), which tells of the arrival of an alien SPACESHIP which seems normal according to advance radio signals but turns out to be little more than microscopic, "The Snowball Effect" (1952), an amusing SATIRE on social engineering in whicha ladies' knitting circle expands to become the strongest political pressure group in the USA, and "Unhuman Sacrifice" (1958), an important piece of anthropological sf (ANTHROPOLOGY) in which a visiting exploration/contact team on another planet misreads a painful initiation ceremony as needless when its purpose is to prevent a damaging biological change. Also notable is the Hills of Space series, dealing with the settling of the ASTEROIDS by refugees, fugitives and the poor; it includes "Incommunicado" (1950), "The Man who Staked the Stars" (1952 as by CharlesDye), "Collision Orbit" (1954), "The Gambling Hell and the Sinful Girl" (1975) and a long-projected novel, provisionally titled The Hills of Space. KM's first novel, Cosmic Checkmate (1958 ASF as "Second Game"; exp 1962 dos; exp vt Second Game 1981), with Charles DE VET, combines SPACE OPERA with interesting speculations on a society whose hierarchy is built around skill at games (GAMES AND SPORTS). Missing Man (fixup 1975), which contains the 1971 NEBULA-winning story "The Missing Man" (1971), deals with the exploits of an ESPER whose telepathy is a kind of sonar device enabling him to trace people emitting emotional distress signals; he cooperates with New York's Rescue Squad to go to their aid. Unusually for sf, the novel depicts New York with affection. Dark Wing (1979), with Carl West, less convincingly presents a world in which MEDICINE is forbidden: ateenager learns to become an outlaw surgeon by studying a medical kit.

   JC/PN

   Other work: Trouble with Treaties (1959 Star Science Fiction \#5 ed Frederick POHL; 1975 chap).

   See also: ALIENS; PHYSICS; RELIGION; SOCIOLOGY.