McQuay, Mike
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
Working name of US author Michael Dennis McQuay (1949-1995), who began to publish sf with his first novel, Life-Keeper (1980), which very competently presents the kind of scenario he unrelentingly promulgated in book after book: a noir world governed by corrupt forces; a tough, anarchic, street-wise male protagonist whose powers – and virtue – are very exceptional indeed; and a plot which gives plenty of opportunities for arena-like conflicts between that protagonist and the corrupt forces he will ultimately defeat. The Mathew Swain sequence – Hot Time in Old Town (1981), When Trouble Beckons (1981), The Deadliest Show in Town (1982) and The Odds Are Murder (1983) – makes explicit the generic origins of this hero, who derives from the works of Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) and Chandler's direct successors. As the series develops, Swain fights corruption first on Earth, then on the Moon and then on Earth again, always finding fit targets in the organizations which dominate society. Escape from New York (1981), a film tie (see Escape from New York), if anything intensifies the seamy clangour of the movie version. Jitterbug (1984) interestingly posits an Arab hegemony over a corruptly Dystopian twenty-second-century world. The Ramon and Morgan series – Pure Blood (1985) and Mother Earth (1985) – exploits similar venues without much innovation. McQuay's best novel was perhaps Memories (1987), in which the Weltschmerz inherent in the Chandler tradition is cleverly re-articulated in the story of a woman who arrives by a form of subjective Time Travel from a devastated future, and who embroils the psychiatrist hero in further travels backwards into a somewhat sentimentalized understanding on both their parts of the depth of their deracination from the real world. The Nexus (1989) likewise handles material of considerable complexity, in this case a Near-Future tale of innocence exploited. Richter 10 (1996) with Arthur C Clarke is a stiffish sf novel written from an outline by Clarke. It is secure that McQuay's copious energy would eventually control his equally apparent sentimentality; his early death cut off further speculation about this potentially interesting author. [JC]
see also: Alternate History; Philip K Dick Award.
Michael Dennis McQuay
born Baltimore, Maryland: 3 June 1949
died 27 May 1995
works
series
Mathew Swain
- Hot Time in Old Town (New York: Bantam Books, 1981) [Mathew Swain: pb/Bob Larkin]
- When Trouble Beckons (New York: Bantam Books, 1981) [Mathew Swain: pb/Bob Larkin]
- The Deadliest Show in Town (New York: Bantam Books, 1982) [Mathew Swain: pb/Bob Larkin]
- The Odds Are Murder (New York: Bantam Books, 1983) [Mathew Swain: pb/Bob Larkin]
Ramon and Morgan
- Pure Blood (New York: Bantam Books, 1985) [Ramon and Morgan: pb/Luis Royo]
- Mother Earth (New York: Bantam Spectra, 1985) [Ramon and Morgan: pb/Sequilles]
Book of Justice
McQuay initiated this series; for further titles see Jack Arnett, which became a related House Name.
- The Book of Justice #1: Genocide Express (New York: Bantam Books, 1989) as by Jack Arnett [Book of Justice: pb/]
individual titles
- Life-Keeper (New York: Avon Books, 1980) [pb/]
- Escape from New York (New York: Bantam Books, 1981) [tie novelizing the film Escape from New York: pb/]
- Jitterbug (New York: Bantam Books, 1984) [pb/Enric]
- My Science Project (New York: Bantam Books, 1985) [tie novelizing the film My Science Project: pb/]
- The M.I.A. Ransom (New York: Bantam Books, 1986) [pb/]
- Memories (New York: Bantam Spectra, 1987) [pb/Frank Riley]
- Isaac Asimov's Robot City #2: Suspicion (New York: Ace Books, 1987) [tie to the Shared World: Isaac Asimov's Robot City: pb/Paul Rivoche]
- The Nexus (New York: Bantam Spectra, 1989) [pb/Bob Hickson]
- Puppetmaster (London: Headline, 1991) [hb/]
- Puppetmaster (New York: Bantam Books, 1991) [rev of the above: pb/]
- State of Siege (New York: Bantam Books, 1994) [pb/Bill Schmidt]
- Richter 10 (London: Victor Gollancz, 1996) with Arthur C Clarke [hb/Splash]
ties under house names
See House Names.
- Tom Swift: Crater of Mystery (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1983) as by Victor Appleton [tie to the Tom Swift series: Tom Swift: hb/Alex Machin]
- Tom Swift: Planet of Nightmares (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1984) as by Victor Appleton [tie to the Tom Swift series: Tom Swift: hb/Alex Machin]
- Bobbsey Twins: Haunted House Mystery (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1985) as by Laura Lee Hope [tie to the series: Bobbsey Twins: hb/]
- Nancy Drew: Ghost Stories (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1985) as by Carolyn Keene [coll: tie to the series: Nancy Drew: hb/]
links
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