Wright, Lan
Entry updated 29 March 2023. Tagged: Author.
Working name of UK author Lionel Percy Wright (1923-2010) for all his fiction; increased responsibilities in manufacturing industry curtailed his writing career. He began publishing sf with "Operation Exodus" for New Worlds in January 1952, and was active for over a decade in UK magazines, chiefly New Worlds and Nebula Science Fiction. His Johnny Dawson series in New Worlds, about intrigues between Earth and the planet Luther – beginning with "Fair Exchange" (January 1955 New Worlds) – were partly assembled in Assignment Luther (January 1955-October 1957 New Worlds; fixup 1963); the further series episodes "Joker's Trick" (July 1959 New Worlds) and "The Jarnos Affair" (April 1960 New Worlds) remain uncollected. His final magazine appearance was the novella "A Task for Calvi" (May 1963 Science Fiction Adventures UK). Wright had earlier begun publishing uncomplicated novels beginning with Who Speaks of Conquest? (April-July 1956 New Worlds; 1957 dos); he fell silent after The Pictures of Pavanne (1968 dos; vt A Planet Called Pavanne 1968), about a dysfunctional human who is obsessed by a mysterious work of art (see Arts) on a distant planet that revolves around a double sun. [JC/DRL]
see also: Matter Transmission.
Lionel Percy Wright
born Watford, Hertfordshire: 8 July 1923
died Colney Heath, near St Albans, Hertfordshire: 1 October 2010
works
- Who Speaks of Conquest? (New York: Ace Books, 1957) [dos: first appeared April-July 1956 New Worlds: pb/Stanley Meltzoff]
- A Man Called Destiny (New York: Ace Books, 1958) [dos: pb/Ed Emshwiller]
- Assignment Luther (London: Brown Watson/Digit Book, 1963) [fixup: first appeared January 1955-October 1957 New Worlds: Johnny Dawson: pb/Robert A Osborne]
- Exile from Xanadu (New York: Ace Books, 1964) [dos: first appeared January-March 1963 New Worlds as "Dawn's Last Hand": pb/Jack Gaughan]
- Space Born (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1964) [vt of the above: hb/Brian Lewis]
- The Last Hope of Earth (New York: Ace Books, 1965) [pb/uncredited]
- The Creeping Shroud (London: Compact Books, 1966) [vt of the above: pb/uncredited]
- The Pictures of Pavanne (New York: Ace Books, 1968) [dos: pb/Jack Gaughan]
- A Planet Called Pavanne (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1968) [vt of the above: hb/K Farnhill]
about the author
- Brian W Aldiss, "British Science Fiction Now: Studies of Three Writers" (Winter 1965 SF Horizons) [pp14-22: mag/]
links
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