Williams-Ellis, Amabel
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author, Editor.
Nickname and working name of Mary Annabel Nassau Williams-Ellis (1894-1984), UK editor and author born Mary Annabel Strachey and under that surname an early member of the Bloomsbury Group to which her cousin Lytton Strachey (1880-1932) also belonged. After her marriage in 1915 to Clough Williams-Ellis (1883-1978) she used his surname, collaborating with him on some nonfiction works, most interestingly on Ecological threats to the environment; and participating with him in the creation and elaboration from 1925 of the fantasticated Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales, which served as the location for the Television series The Prisoner (1967-1968) and was close to their friend Bertrand Russell's last home.
Williams-Ellis's own fiction, beginning with Noah's Ark: The Love Story of a Respectable Young Couple (1925), tended not to enter into the fantastic. She is of sf interest primarily for two Anthology series, the Out of This World sequence beginning with Out of this World 1 (anth 1960) with Mably Owen (1912-1969), this first volume having an introduction by Bertrand Russell; and the Strange sequence beginning with Strange Universe: An Anthology of Science Fiction (anth 1974) with Michael Pearson (1941- ). The first sequence in particular introduced a large number of American short stories to younger British readers, though the first volume of the second sequence also ranged widely, its stories running from Isaac Asimov to Italo Calvino; her anthologies all contained work of interest, taken from intriguingly various sources. [JC]
Mary Annabel Nassau Williams-Ellis, née Strachey
born Newlands Corner, near Guildford, Surrey: 10 May 1894
died Penrhyndeudraeth, Gwynedd, Wales: 27 August 1984
works as editor
series
Out of This World
- Out of This World 1 (Glasgow, Scotland: Blackie, 1960) with Mably Owen [anth: introduction by Bertrand Russell: Out of This World: hb/uncredited]
- Out of This World 2 (Glasgow, Scotland: Blackie, 1961) with Mably Owen [anth: Out of This World: hb/uncredited]
- Out of This World 3 (Glasgow, Scotland: Blackie, 1962) with Mably Owen [anth: Out of This World: hb/Harry Green]
- Out of This World 4 (Glasgow, Scotland: Blackie, 1964) with Mably Owen [anth: Out of This World: hb/Gaynor Chapman]
- Out of This World (Glasgow, Scotland: Blackie, 1971) with Mably Owen [anth: omni of the above two: Out of This World: hb/Geoffrey Barfery]
- Out of This World 5 (Glasgow, Scotland: Blackie, 1965) with Mably Owen [anth: Out of This World: hb/Harry Green]
- Out of This World Choice (Glasgow, Scotland: Blackie, 1971) with Mably Owen [anth: omni of the above plus Out of This World 2 above: Out of This World: hb/Harry Green]
- Out of This World 6 (Glasgow, Scotland: Blackie, 1967) with Mably Owen [anth: Out of This World: hb/George Thompson]
- Out of This World 7 (Glasgow, Scotland: Blackie, 1968) with Mably Owen [anth: Out of This World: hb/David Brown]
- Out of This World 8 (Glasgow, Scotland: Blackie, 1970) with Mably Owen [anth: Out of This World: hb/Geoffrey La Gerche]
- Out of This World 9 (Glasgow, Scotland: Blackie, 1972) with Michael Pearson [anth: Out of This World: hb/David Brown]
- Out of This World 10 (Glasgow, Scotland: Blackie, 1973) with Michael Pearson [anth: Out of This World: hb/Jim Russell]
Strange
- Strange Universe: An Anthology of Science Fiction (Glasgow, Scotland: Blackie, 1974) with Michael Pearson [anth: Strange: hb/Anthony Pilley]
- Strange Orbits: An Anthology of Science Fiction (Glasgow, Scotland: Blackie, 1976) with Michael Pearson [anth: Strange: hb/]
- Strange Planets: An Anthology of Science Fiction (Glasgow, Scotland: Blackie, 1977) with Michael Pearson [anth: Strange: hb/Michael Jackson]
individual titles
- Worlds Apart: An Anthology of Science Fiction (Glasgow, Scotland: Blackie, 1966) with Mably Owen [anth: hb/Lawrence Cutting]
- Tales from the Galaxies (London: Piccolo, 1973) with Michael Pearson [anth: pb/Alan Lee]
links
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