WODHAMS, Jack

(1931-)

   UK-born writer, in Australia from 1955, who began publishing sf with "There is a Crooked Man" for ASF in 1967, and who has since contributed actively (though less prolifically since the 1970s) to magazine markets, both in Australia and in the USA, specializing in clear-cut tales about problem-solving; he primarily writes short fiction, with over 70 stories published. His cold style is sometimes marred by facetiousness, in the Sunday-writer manner typical of many HARD-SF figures. Although the 4 novelettes assembled in Future War (coll 1982) were original to that volume, the thrust of his ASF style can still be felt in tales whose overwhelming message is one of bleak disdain for sf's own visions of the wars of the future. His novels are The Authentic Touch (1971 US), Looking for Blucher (1980) and Ryn (1982). The first, perhapsrather hopefully, suggests that things might get out of control in a planet made over into theme parks; Looking for Blucher investigates similar material in a loose-structured narrative about shared dreams; Ryn, probably his best novel, tells of a 62-year-old Black Zimbabwean reincarnated, to his bafflement, as a white baby in the Brisbane of a reticently depicted NEAR FUTURE Australia. JW's hard-bitten humour can be tiresome at novel length, and he structures longer works badly. His short fiction is proficient, often witty, and good on military matters. Notable and typical is "Mostly Meantime" (ASF Feb 1981), about the difficulties of ordering replacement computer parts over galactic distances.

   PN/JC