RANSOM, Bill

(1945-)

   US writer who has worked as a medic and as a firefighter. His early writing was poetry, with several volumes released from Finding True North \& Critter (coll 1974 chap) onward. He began publishing sf with"Songs of a Sentient Flute" for ASF in 1979 as by Frank Herbert, a story which eventually became part of Medea: Harlan's World * (anth 1985) ed Harlan ELLISON. BR is best known for the Pandora Trilogy with FrankHERBERT (whom see for details): The Jesus Incident (1979), The Lazarus Effect (1983) and The Ascension Factor (1988). His first solo novel, Jaguar (fixup 1990), is also of interest for its depiction of the physically, psychologically and morally complex dream-driven pattern of connections between Earth and another planet, each planet containing two maturing adolescents whose sleep disorders allow them to make journeys between the worlds. The Jaguar - a disturbed WWII vet who likewise roams the dreamways-must be halted before he disrupts the fragile tissues of reality. Slightly overweighted for the adventure-sf idiom in which it is told, Jaguar is all the same an intriguing attempt to say more than could easily be said. ViraVax (1993), on the other hand, almost deliberately deploys an impressive presentation of the complex perils that inevitably accompany in-depth virological research with a storyline, set early next century, which focuses primarily upon a suspenseful thriller-like action plot.

   JC

   See also: MESSIAHS.