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King, Vincent

Pseudonym of UK author, artist and teacher Rex Thomas Vinson (1935-2000) ("King" being a play on "Rex"), who worked in Cornwall and began publishing sf with "Defence Mechanism" for New Writings in SF No 9 (anth 1966) edited by E J Carnell. His first novel, Light a Last Candle (1969), perhaps overcomplicatedly portrays a world almost entirely conquered by a Hive Mind composed of intelligent molluscs from Underground, leaving only the poles inhabitable by humans. His later novels similarly tend to combine elements of epic and grotesque sf adventure with a characteristically English darkness of emotional colouring – the Computer-resurrected humans who inhabit Another End (1971) are stoical but sullen – and a tendency towards downbeat conclusions. [JC]

Rex Thomas Vinson

born Falmouth, Cornwall: 22 October 1935

died Camborne-Redruth, Cornwall: May 2000

works

• Light a Last Candle (New York: Ballantine Books, 1969) [pb/Bob Foster]
• Another End (New York: Ballantine Books, 1971) [pb/Dean Ellis]
• Candy Man (London: Victor Gollancz, 1971) [hb/nonpictorial]
• Time Snake and Superclown (London: Futura/Orbit, 1976) [pb/Peter Jones]

links

• Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Picture Gallery

Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 15:25 pm on 25 April 2024.
<https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/king_vincent>