Wilkins, Vaughan

Entry updated 1 December 2024. Tagged: Author.

(1890-1959) UK journalist and author, in active service during World War One, best known for historical romances like And So – Victoria (1937; rev 1956), but who wrote some tales of sf interest. Being Met Together (1944; vt Napoleon's Submarine 1972), though marginal, interestingly describes an attempt to rescue Napoleon from St Helena using a submarine (see Under the Sea) designed by the American engineer and inventor Robert Fulton (1765-1815). After Bath; Or (If you Prefer) The Remarkable Case of the Flying Hat (1945) is an ornately fantastic juvenile whose variegated cast attempts to return Magic to the Crosshatched city of Minchester. The City of Frozen Fire (1950) is an energetic Lost-Race tale for older children set in the Monster-haunted land of Quivera in South America, where a Welsh civilization has survived since the twelfth century. Fanfare for a Witch (1954) is historical fantasy. Valley Beyond Time (1955), which shares place-names and Celtic darkness with The City of Frozen Fire, describes trips through the Dimensions and Time to the Island of Cibola in the midst of a myth-ridden Atlantic Ocean, and back again to a time-ridden, grief-enfolded Earth [for Crosshatch above and Et in Arcadia Ego and Sehnsucht here see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below]. [JC]

William Vaughan Wilkins

born London: 8 March 1890

died Ross, Herefordshire: 8 February 1959

works

Being Met Together (London: Jonathan Cape, 1944) [hb/]
- Napoleon's Submarine (London: New English Library, 1972) [vt of the above: pb/]
After Bath; Or (If you Prefer) The Remarkable Case of the Flying Hat (London: Jonathan Cape, 1945) [illus/hb/Audrey Pilkington]
The City of Frozen Fire (London: Jonathan Cape, 1950) [hb/David Cobb]
Fanfare for a Witch (London: Jonathan Cape, 1954) [hb/uncredited]
Valley Beyond Time (London: Jonathan Cape, 1955) [hb/uncredited]

links

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