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Reaves, J Michael

Entry updated 22 March 2023. Tagged: Author.

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(1950-2023) US author, father of Mallory Reaves, who wrote at least 100 teleplays, most with fantastic elements, for the children's Saturday-morning market. He began publishing sf stories with "The Breath of Dragons" for Clarion 3 (anth 1973) edited by Robin Scott Wilson, after attending the previous year's Clarion Science Fiction Writers' Workshop. His first three books were published as by J Michael Reaves, his later books as by Michael Reaves. Much of his work is fantasy, though his first novel, I, Alien (1978), is adventure sf, and Darkworld Detective (coll of linked stories 1982) characteristically mixes sf, fantasy and detective genres in a noirish Planetary Romance quest by a colony planet's only detective for the Dark Lord (a familiar fantasy icon), who is his father. Hellstar (1984) with Steve Perry is sf; and Dome (1987), also with Perry, a Post-Holocaust tale set in the eponymous undersea Keep, engagingly tracks its large cast through various crises while, in the background, an AI begins to collaborate with humanity in preparing for the aquatic future. Later novels include InterWorld (2007) with Neil Gaiman, a Young Adult tale whose protagonist has the power to visit various Alternate World versions of Earth; subsequent volumes in the Interworld sequence were written with Gaiman's input but essentially by Mallory Reaves [see Checklist below].

It was never easy to find technical fault with Reaves, though it can be said he seemed averse to stretching himself to the edge of his clear competence; it was sometimes hard to discover much individuality beneath the professional surface, though his warming geniality as a writer shone through. [JC]

see also: Batman Films; Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

James Michael Reaves

born San Francisco, California: 14 September 1950

died Los Angeles, California: 20 March 2023

works

series

Shattered World

Time Machine

The Trine

Star Wars

Star Wars: Clone Wars

Star Wars: Coruscant Nights

Interworld

  • InterWorld (New York: Eos, 2007) with Neil Gaiman [Interworld: hb/James Jean]
  • The Silver Dream (New York: HarperTeen, 2013) with Neil Gaiman and Mallory Reaves [Gaiman's credit is for concept: Interworld: hb/Colin Anderson]
  • Eternity's Wheel (New York: HarperTeen, 2015) with Neil Gaiman and Mallory Reaves [Gaiman's credit is for concept: Interworld: hb/Colin Anderson]

individual titles

collections

works as editor

links

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