MELUCH, R(ebecca) M.

(1956-)

   US writer whose first novel, Sovereign (1979), shows a competent grasp of the conventions and venues of sf adventure while at the same time refracting traditional material through an unusually complex protagonist, who is the genetically precarious culmination of a breeding programme haunted by the continuing image of his first enemy: his own father. There are, perhaps, too many additional enemies for plausibility - as the protagonist defeats them all, whether on Earth, on his own planet or in space - but the relative inwardness of the tale is convincing throughout. The Wind series - Wind Dancers (1981) and Wind Child (1982) - comes closeto sentimentality in its depiction of a shapeshifting species oppressed by an evil corporation intent on exploiting their planet. Jerusalem Fire (1985) more bracingly depicts a space-born Arab culture, but War Birds(1989) again veers towards sentiment. Chicago Red (1990), which returns to RMM's somewhat high-blown but energetically conceived best, is a tale of a USA which has reverted to 18th-century models of kingship, with revolution inevitable, and the eponymous leader in rousing fettle; and The Queen's Squadron (1992) opposes - in the foregrounded manner which has become astylistic feature of her work - free mortals and their immortal oppressors.

   JC