Aiken, John
Entry updated 23 June 2025. 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", in Astounding for April 1943, in the Probability Zero sequence of short-shorts (see Flash Fiction); though his first sizeable effort was "Dragon's Teeth" in New Worlds #3 for October 1947; 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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