Williams, Jay
Entry updated 18 November 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1914-1978) US actor and author of at least 100 novels, mostly for children, though he wrote mysteries as by Michael Delving and some adult fiction. His first novel, The Stolen Oracle (1943), was an historical tale containing an element of fantasy; many of his singletons were similarly constructed. He is best known for the Danny Dunn sequence of Children's SF tales, beginning with Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint (1956) with Raymond Abrashkin and ending with Danny Dunn and the Universal Glue (1977) also with Abrashkin, who collaborated on all fifteen titles. The individual tales usually focus on Inventions, sometimes only moderately in advance of the real world, and running a gamut from the Antigravity of the first volume, Weather Control in Danny Dunn and the Weather Machine (1959) – loosely adapted for film as Son of Flubber (1963) – Under the Sea explorations in Danny Dunn on the Ocean Floor (1960), Time Travel in Danny Dunn, Time Traveler (1963), and on: most titles in the series specify the marvel about to be examined. The series is notable for its early inclusion of a female co-protagonist who is as competent as Danny himself.
Of Williams's singletons, some are of sf interest, including UNIAD (1968), a Near Future tale involving the threat of Computer control, and The People of the Ax (1974), set in a Ruined Earth America where two apparently diverging species both turn out to be human. Williams was a competent author of books which, regardless of subject matter, emanated good will. [JC]
Jay Williams
born Buffalo, New York: 31 May 1914
died London: 12 July 1978
works (selected)
series
Danny Dunn
- Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint (New York: McGraw-Hill/Whittlesey House, 1956) with Raymond Abrashkin [Danny Dunn: illus/hb/Ezra Jack Keats]
- Danny Dunn on a Desert Island (New York: McGraw-Hill/Whittlesey House, 1957) with Raymond Abrashkin [Danny Dunn: illus/hb/Ezra Jack Keats]
- Danny Dunn and the Homesick Machine (New York: McGraw-Hill/Whittlesey House, 1958) with Raymond Abrashkin [Danny Dunn: illus/hb/Ezra Jack Keats]
- Danny Dunn and the Weather Machine (New York: McGraw-Hill/Whittlesey House, 1959) with Raymond Abrashkin [Danny Dunn: illus/hb/Ezra Jack Keats]
- Danny Dunn on the Ocean Floor (New York: McGraw-Hill/Whittlesey House, 1960) with Raymond Abrashkin [Danny Dunn: illus/hb/Brinton Turkle]
- Danny Dunn and the Fossil Cave (New York: McGraw-Hill/Whittlesey House, 1961) with Raymond Abrashkin [Danny Dunn: illus/hb/Brinton Turkle]
- Danny Dunn and the Heat Ray (New York: McGraw-Hill/Whittlesey House, 1962) with Raymond Abrashkin [Danny Dunn: illus/hb/Owen Kampen]
- Danny Dunn, Time Traveler (New York: McGraw-Hill/Whittlesey House, 1963) with Raymond Abrashkin [Danny Dunn: illus/hb/Owen Kampen]
- Danny Dunn and the Automatic House (New York: McGraw-Hill/Whittlesey House, 1965) with Raymond Abrashkin [Danny Dunn: illus/hb/Owen Kampen]
- Danny Dunn and the Voice from Space (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967) with Raymond Abrashkin [Danny Dunn: illus/hb/Leo Summers]
- Danny Dunn and the Smallifying Machine (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969) with Raymond Abrashkin [Danny Dunn: illus/hb/Paul Sagsoorian]
- Danny Dunn and the Swamp Monster (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971) with Raymond Abrashkin [Danny Dunn: illus/hb/Paul Sagsoorian]
- Danny Dunn, Invisible Boy (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974) with Raymond Abrashkin [Danny Dunn: illus/hb/Paul Sagsoorian]
- Danny Dunn, Scientific Detective (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975) with Raymond Abrashkin [Danny Dunn: illus/hb/Paul Sagsoorian]
- Danny Dunn and the Universal Glue (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1977) with Raymond Abrashkin [Danny Dunn: illus/hb/Paul Sagsoorian]
individual titles
- The Witches (New York: Random House, 1958) [hb/]
- UNIAD (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1968) [hb/]
- The Practical Princess (New York: Parents Magazine Press, 1969) [chap: illus/hb/Friso Henstra]
- The Practical Princess and Other Liberating Fairy Tales (New York: Parents Magazine Press, 1978) [chap: exp of the above as coll: illus/hb/Friso Henstra]
- The Hawkstone (New York: Henry Z Walck, 1971) [hb/]
- The Hero from Otherwhere (New York: Henry Z Walck, 1972) [hb/]
- The People of the Ax (New York: Henry Z Walck, 1974) [hb/James Spanfeller]
- The Time of the Kraken (New York: Four Winds Press, 1977) [hb/Charles Mikolaycak]
- The Magic Grandfather (New York: Four Winds Press, 1979) [hb/]
- The Water of Life (New York: Four Winds Press, 1980) [hb/Lucinda McQueen]
- Unearthly Beasts and Other Strange People (London: Macmillan, 1979) [coll: hb/Terry Oakes]
links
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