Aiken, John
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1913-1990) US-born UK author, son of Conrad Aiken (1889-1973) [see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below] and brother of Joan Aiken and Jane Aiken Hodge (1917-2009). John Aiken published his first sf story, "Camouflage", with Astounding in April 1943, in the Probability Zero sequence of short-shorts (see Flash Fiction); though his first sizeable effort was "Dragon's Teeth", with New Worlds #3, October 1947; but he did not remain active in the field. He published two sf novels with Robert Hale Limited, The Lid Off (1969) and World Well Lost (fixup 1970 as John Paget; as Aiken 1971). The latter, based on his 1940s New Worlds stories, describes with some energy a conflict between a totalitarian Earth and free-minded colonists in the system of Alpha Centauri. Conrad Aiken, Our Father (1989) with Joan Aiken and Jane Aiken Hodge, is a revealing memoir. [JC/MA]
John Kempton Aiken
born Cambridge, Massachusetts: 10 October 1913
died Rye, Sussex: 12 August 1990
works
- The Lid Off (London: Robert Hale, 1969) [hb/]
- World Well Lost (London: Robert Hale, 1970) as by John Paget [fixup: hb/]
- World Well Lost (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1971) as by John Aiken [fixup: text does not differ: hb/]
- Nightly Deadshade (London: Macmillan, 1971) [thriller: hb/]
nonfiction
- Conrad Aiken Remembered (Rye, East Sussex: Anthony Neville, 1989) with Joan Aiken and Jane Aiken Hodge [nonfiction: memoir: pb/]
links
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