MARTIN, Graham Dunstan

(1932-)

   Scottish writer who began publishing work of genre interest with the Giftwish children's fantasy sequence: Giftwish (1978) and Catchfire (1981), both as Graham Martin. With The Soul Master (1984), as GDM, hemoved sf-wards, though the godling-dominated land of Tethesta is described in terms of fantasy. Time-Slip (1986), a bleak post- HOLOCAUST tale set in nether Scotland, is fully sf, as is The Dream Wall (1987), a dreadful-warning story of the UK under the Soviets in the early 21st century. GDM's strengths - a dogged insistence on what he clearly feels to be home truths - are fully on view in this narrative, as are certain weaknesses, mainly a grim humourlessness which greys out any attempts at SATIRE or novelistic ambiguity. Half a Glass of Moonshine (1988), a studyin PERCEPTION, suggests that the human sensorium blocks off certain features of our environment for good Darwinian reasons.

   JC

   See also: PARALLEL WORLDS.