BALL, Brian Neville

(1932-)

   UK writer, until 1965 a teacher and lecturer, subsequently freelance. He began publishing sf with "The Pioneer" for NW in 1962, edited a juvenile anthology, Tales of Science Fiction (anth 1964), soon after, and the next year published his first novel, Sundog (1965), one of his better books, in which - though restricted by ALIENS to the Solar System - mankind, in the person of space-pilot Dod, transcends its limitations. There followed a trilogy involving an ancient Galactic Federation, its relics, TIME TRAVEL, and rebirth: Timepiece (1968), Timepivot (1970 US) and Timepit (1971). A second series, The Probability Man (1972 US) and Planet Probability (1973 US), follows the exploits of Frame-Director Spingarn in his heterodox construction of reality-spaces (frames) for the delectation (and voluntary destruction) of billions of bored citizens. Though he sometimes aspires to the more metaphysical side of the sf tropes he utilizes, BNB's style tends to reduce these implications to routine action-adventure plots, competently executed. Other works: Lesson for the Damned (1971); Devil's Peak (1972); Night of the Robots (1972; vt The Regiments of Night (1972 US); Singularity Station (1973 US); The Space Guardians (1975), a SPACE 1999 tie; The Venomous Serpent (1974; vt The Night Creature 1974 US); the two Keegan books: The No-Option Contract (1975) and The One-Way Deal (1976); the Witchfinder series, comprising The Mark of the Beast (1976) and The Evil at Montaine (1977). For children: Princess Priscilla (1975); the Jackson books, comprising Jackson's House (1975), Jackson's Friend (1975), Jackson's Holiday (1977) and Jackson and the Magpies (1978); The Witch in our Attic (1979); Young Person's Guide to UFOs (1979), nonfiction; Dennis and the Flying Saucer (1980); The Starbuggy (1983); The Doomship of Drax (1985); Truant from Space (1985 chap); Stone Age Magic (1988); The Quest for Queenie (1988 chap).