MAY, Julian

(1931-)

   US editor and writer; married to T.E. DIKTY from 1953 to his death in 1991, founding with him Publication Associates in 1957 (see his entry for this and later enterprises); he also served as editor and agent for all her mature work. She began publishing sf with "Dune Roller" for ASF in 1951 but, except for some fan interests, became inactive in thefield for many years, during which time, under a number of pseudonyms, she wrote something over 290 books, most of them nonfiction juveniles: many were efficient presentations of science and nature topics, others biographies. Pseudonyms of sf interest included Ian Thorne (see listing below) and Lee N. Falconer, under which name she wrote A Gazeteer of the Hyborian World of Conan (1977).In the 1980s JM turned her attention onceagain to sf, making an immediate and very substantial impact with her Saga of Pliocene Exile: The Many-Colored Land (1981) and The Golden Torc (1982), both assembled as The Many-Colored Land \& The Golden Torc (omni1982), plus The Nonborn King (1983) and The Adversary (1984), both assembled as The Nonborn King \& The Adversary (omni 1984), and supplemented by The Pliocene Companion (1984), a guide to the sequence. A second, closely linked, sequence, the Galactic Milieu books, began with Intervention (1987; vt in 2 vols The Surveillance 1988 and The Metaconcert1988),Jack the Bodiless (1992) and Diamond Mask (1994), with further volumes projected. Underlying the increasingly complicated storyline of the former sequence is what might be called a romance of vista: the protagonists have fled via TIME TRAVEL from a 22nd century where they have lived as internal exiles into deep prehistory, where at the bottom of time they discover not only a land rich in potential but two apparently ALIEN species in a state of deadly conflict over the young world. Much additional material, from Celtic myths to intimations of HARD SF, is fed into this vision, with an effect of romance and high purpose, leavened intermittently by a Trickster protagonist or two. With Intervention the overall sequence moves into contemporary times, the narrative being charged by this point with dramatic irons in the fire and ironies galore, as well as a sustaining concern with the attractive theme of psychic evolution, as concentrated in a family of special folk and expressed in a manner sometimes evocative of the work of Doris LESSING.

   JC

   Other works: Black Trillium (1990) with Marion Zimmer BRADLEY and Andre NORTON.Juveniles as Ian Thorne: Frankenstein * (1977 chap), film tie; Godzilla (1977 chap), nonfiction; Dracula * (1977 chap), film tie; King Kong (1977 chap), nonfiction; Mad Scientists (1977 chap), nonfiction; The Wolf Man * (1977 chap), film tie; The Mummy * (1981 chap), film tie; Frankenstein Meets Wolfman * (1981 chap), film tie; Creature from the Black Lagoon * (1981 chap), film tie; The Blob * (1982 chap), film tie; The Deadly Mantis * (1982 chap), film tie; It Came from Outer Space * (1982 chap), film tie.

   About the author: The Work of Julian May: An Annotated Bibliography \& Guide (1985 chap) by Thaddeus DIKTY and Robert REGINALD.