NOURSE, Alan E(dward)

(1928-1992)

   US writer and physician; much of his nonfiction has been in the field of popular MEDICINE - Intern (1965) as by "Doctor X" being a great success. He began publishing sf with "High Threshold" for ASF in 1951, and gained a reputation as a reliable creator of CHILDREN'S SFnovels. His first, Trouble on Titan (1954), features rebellion and conflict within a SPACE-OPERA Solar System, as do others of his juveniles, like Raiders from the Rings (1962), where conflict between an oppressive Earth regime and libertarian Spacers is finally halted by the interventionof superior, peaceful ALIENS. In Rocket to Limbo (1957), mankind's destiny is explained to us by alien observers. Star Surgeon (1960) interestingly posits an Earth which, while being the main medical centre of all the inhabited worlds, is still in the position of having to apply to join the Galactic Confederation. The vision of these juveniles is appropriatelyoptimistic, and technologies - especially medical ones - are there for humanity's benefit. AEN's adult novels are also straightforward, frequently making somewhat simple points about bureaucracies and tyrannies, as in The Invaders are Coming! (1959) with J(oseph) A. Meyer and in several stories - some genuinely funny - assembled in Tiger by the Tail (coll 1961; vt Beyond Infinity 1964 UK). Several others make use ofhis medical knowledge: brain surgery figures in A Man Obsessed (1955 dos; rev vt The Mercy Men 1968), part of a series also including "Nightmare Brother" (1953) and "The Expert Touch" (1955); Rx for Tomorrow (coll 1971)collects stories about medicine in general; The Bladerunner (1974)-which was adapted by William S. BURROUGHS as Blade Runner (A Movie) (1979 chap), neither book having anything to do with Ridley SCOTT's BLADE RUNNER (1982) (although Scott obtained permission from AN for use of the title) - dealswith the medical implications of OVERPOPULATION in a framework of coercive sterilization; and The Fourth Horseman (1983) deals with a NEAR FUTURE plague. A sense of fundamental decency permeates AEN's fiction; and, though sometimes too easily achieved, the victories of decency over bigotry cannot, for the market upon which AEN concentrated, be seriously faulted.

   JC

   Other works: Junior Intern (1955), not sf; Scavengers in Space (1959); Nine Planets (1960), science fact; The Counterfeit Man and Others (coll 1963); The Universe Between (1951; fixup 1965), which incorporates his first story; PSI High and Others (coll 1967).

   See also: MERCURY; OUTER PLANETS; PARALLEL WORLDS; SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS OF AMERICA.