WUL, Stefan

   Pseudonym of French dental surgeon and writer Pierre Pairault (1922-), who swept onto the sf scene with 11 consistent and imaginative novels, all published 1956-9. Niourk (1957) is a J.G. BALLARD-like account of a drowned world. Oms en serie ("Oms by the Dozen") (1957) inspired the animated film La PLANETE SAUVAGE (1973). The apparently human protagonist of Le temple du passe (1958; trans Ellen Cox as The Temple of the Past 1973 US), having crashed on an ALIEN planet, attempts to save hiscolleagues after they have all been swallowed by an indigenous whale, enters SUSPENDED ANIMATION, and is discovered eons later by genuine human folk and identified as a survivor of ATLANTIS. After 1959, SW fell silent until the appearance of Noo (1977), a lengthy and flamboyant saga which, like his earlier novels, shows a deep understanding of the traditions of US pulp sf.

MJ/JC

   Other works: Retour a O ("Back to O") (1956); Rayons pour Sidar ("Rays for Sidar") (1957); La peur geante ("The Immense Fear") (1957); L'orphelin de Perdide ("The Orphan from Perdide") (1958); La mortvivante ("Living Death") (1958); Piege sur Zarkass ("Trap on Zarkass") (1958); Terminus 1 (1959); Odyssee sous controle ("Controlled Odyssey")(1959).

   See also: FRANCE; UNDER THE SEA.