Peirce, Hayford
Entry updated 28 July 2025. Tagged: Author.
(1942-2020) US author, in Tahiti for the most active decades of his career, who also wrote crime thrillers; he began publishing sf with "Unlimited Warfare" in Analog for November 1974 and established a name for lightly written tales whose backgrounds were unusually well conceived. "Mail Supremacy" (March 1975 Analog) begins a series of tales – much later assembled as Chap Foey Rider: Capitalist to the Stars (coll 2001) about an Anglo-Chinese businessman who brings Earth into the Galactic Postal Union. (Chap Foey Rider is an anagram of the author's name.) Further appearances in the same magazine, where he published over two dozen stories, include three 1990s collaborations with David M Alexander, the first being "Best of Breed" (mid-December 1994 Analog).
The MacNair of MacNair sequence – comprising Napoleon Disentimed (1987; exp 1989) and Ein Paradies mit Tücken (trans Norbert Stöbe from English MS 1998; original English version as The Burr in the Garden of Eden 2001) – attractively expands upon what might be called the Alternate-History hijinks tale: cast into a 1992 ruled by the French Empire, a confidence trickster named Sir Kevin Dean de Courtney MacNair of MacNair, after Time Travel takes him back to the time of Napoleon, attempts to upset the applecart along with coming up with a Yankee Invention or two. The sequel multiplies the conundrums implied in the first, with Time Machines creating havoc in two jostling Alternate Worlds.
The Thirteenth Majestral (1989; vt Dinosaur Park 1994) is a Time-Travel tale set in the Far Future and disregardful of the pretensions of established Religion; this novel pays homage to the ornate style of Jack Vance. Phylum Monsters (1989) deals amusedly with Genetic Engineering. Sam Ferron: Time Scanner (coll of linked stories 2001) describes a Near Future government's morally ambivalent use of a Time Viewer, ostensibly to solve old crimes (see Crime and Punishment); Jonathan White: Stockbroker in Orbit (coll of linked stories 2001) engagingly locates the eponymous money manipulator in the Asteroid belt.
This author should not be confused with his father, Hayford Peirce Sr (1883-1946), who published nonfiction about Byzantine art. [JC]
Hayford Peirce
born Bangor, Maine: 7 January 1942
died Tucson, Arizona: 19 November 2020
works
series
The MacNair of MacNair
- Napoleon Disentimed (New York: Tor, 1987) [in the publisher's Ben Bova's Discoveries series: MacNair of MacNair: pb/Vicente Segrelles]
- Napoleon Disentimed (London: Bantam UK, 1989) [vt of the above: MacNair of MacNair: pb/Mark Harrison]
- Ein Paradies mit Tücken (Munich, Germany: Heyne Verlag, 1998) [trans by Norbert Stöbe from the English manuscript: MacNair of MacNair: pb/Krzystof Wlodowski]
- The Burr in the Garden of Eden (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2001) [first publication of English version: MacNair of MacNair: pb/]
individual titles
- Flickerman (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2001) [pb/]
- In the Flames of the Flickerman (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press, 2011) [vt of the above: pb/]
- The Thirteenth Majestral (New York: Tor, 1989) [in the publisher's Ben Bova Presents series: pb/Carol Russo]
- Dinosaur Park (New York: Tor, 1994) [vt of the above: pb/Oscar Chichoni]
- Phylum Monsters (New York: Tor, 1989) [in the publisher's Ben Bova Presents series: pb/Bruce Jensen]
- The Spark of Life (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2001) [pb/]
- Black Hole Planet (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press/Betancourt and Company, 2003) [hb/]
- The 13th Death of Yuri Gellaski (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2004) [pb/]
collections
- Chap Foey Rider: Capitalist to the Stars (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2001) [coll of linked stories: pb/]
- Sam Ferron: Time Scanner (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2001) [coll of linked stories: pb/]
- Jonathan White: Stockbroker in Orbit (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2001) [coll of linked stories: pb/]
- Aliens (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press/Betancourt and Company, 2003) [coll: hb/]
- With a Bang and Other Forbidden Delights (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2001) [coll: pb/]
links
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