MASSON, David I(rvine)

(1915-)

   Scottish writer, long resident in England, with an MA in English language and literature. He began publishing sf with "Traveller's Rest" for NEW WORLDS in 1965; his fiction, including this extraordinarily intense study in the distortion of PERCEPTION, was assembled in The Caltraps of Time (coll 1968), which single volume established his strongreputation as a writer of vigorously experimental, vivid, often scientifically sound stories. Notable among them, and reflecting his close and informed interest in LINGUISTICS, were "Not so Certain" (1967) and the brilliant TIME-TRAVEL story "A Two-Timer" (1966), told entirely in language appropriate to 1683, the year from which the inadvertent time traveller is whisked into the future. Each of DIM's stories seems to be a solution to some cognitive or creative problem or challenge, and he appeared little inclined to repeat any of his effects. He has published almost no fiction since 1968, though "Doctor Fausta" in George HAY's Stopwatch (anth 1974) is an interesting SATIRE. DIM also reviewed sffairly frequently during the 1970s in FOUNDATION.

   JC

   See also: DIMENSIONS; MATHEMATICS.