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(1962- ) Australian author who began publishing sf with the first volume of her Commander Halley sequence, Time Future (1999), which won the 1999 George Turner Award. It is an effective contribution to the growing array of sf novels in which the ambivalent history of colonialism on Earth is not transferred into narratives of Colonization of Other Worlds – a swerve typical of sf written from a First World perspective – but into narratives where Earth is a junior partner in some larger confederation (see Exogamy; Galactic Empires). The novel itself spends considerable energy on Space Opera manoeuvres, and dissipates some of its initial impact through a habit of conceiving Alien races as niche species. The sequel, Time Past (2002), involves a Faster Than Light drive stolen by humans who find it also works as a Time Machine. Less Than Human (2004) is a Cyberpunk tale set in Near Future Japan where developments in Robotics seem to be leading toward uploaded Immortality for humans. Encounters: An Anthology of Australian Speculative Fiction (anth 2004) with Donna Maree Hanson is competent and knowledgeable. [JC]
born Brisbane: 1962
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Commander Halley
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works as editor
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Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 06:14 am on 3 March 2026.
<https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/mcarthur_maxine>