Williams, Ian
Entry updated 30 March 2025. Tagged: Author, Fan.
(1948-2025) UK librarian, fan and author, active in Fandom from the early 1970s when he was a founder of the Newcastle fan group known as Gannetfandom (from the "Gannet" pub where they met) and edited the first two issues of the Fanzine Maya (1970 and 1971); his other fanzines included Chimera (1974-1980), Goblin's Grotto (1975-1976) and Siddhartha (1972-2010). An early work of sf interest is the poem "The Dreams of Ahasuerus" (May 1974-January 1975 Zimri), whose Immortal narrator is not (he makes clear) the titular Wandering Jew. Williams was a regular book reviewer for the British Science Fiction Association's Paperback Inferno 1980-1982.
His projected sf novel «Rider on a Stone Horse», frequently mentioned in 1970s UK fanzines, never achieved professional publication. His debut in that arena was The Lies That Bind (1989), a sharp Young Adult tale whose teenage lead characters are blessed or cursed with Psi Powers and taken into an at first benevolent-seeming institution, the Britannia School for the Gifted (see Education in SF), where talents are shaped for future service to the Thatcherite UK state; rebellion ensues and some measure of integrity may just be preserved despite the overall unbeatability of the system.
This author should not be confused with the UK Ian Williams who began publishing sf through Amazon Kindle with Transitory (2014 ebook). [DRL]
Ian Williams
born Sunderland, Durham [now Tyne and Wear]: 1 August 1948
died 28 March 2025
works
- The Lies That Bind (London: Macdonald Children's Books/Purnell, 1989) [pb/Lee Stannard]
links
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