SHEA, Michael

1. Michael (Sinclair MacAuslan) Shea (1938-) UK writer, press secretary to the Queen for a decade from 1978. AsMichael Sinclair he wrote a NEAR FUTURE thriller, The Dollar Covenant (1973); and as MS Tomorrow's Men(1982), a DYSTOPIAN tale of the near-future UK in the grip of private armies - the USA soon takes a hand in straightening things out. 2. (1946-) US writer, mostly of FANTASY; most of his few sf stories border on horror.His books, which are both witty and disquieting, include A Quest for Simbilis (1974) - derived, with permission, from Jack VANCE's The Eyes of the Overworld (1966) - plus Nifft the Lean (coll of linked stories 1982) and In Yana, the Touch of Undying (1985), both showing Vance's influence less explicitly. Other books include The Color out of Time (1984), a sequel to H.P. LOVECRAFT's The Colour out of Space (1927), Fat Face (1987 chap),Polyphemus (coll 1987) - which contains several deft sf tales, including the title story and the horrific "The Autopsy" (1980) about possession by an alien parasite.

   JC