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(? -? ) Irish-born author, in New Zealand for part of his adult life, in active service during World War One after – it seems – having stopped writing; he is recorded as surviving the war. Of sf interest among his several books is The Outer Darkness (1906), an awkward but effective early exercise in Equipoise. The protagonist, having died, is transported to another planet, whose monarch determines where he should dwell, according to his merits. Earth itself is Hell. The monarch's kingdom is akin to Heaven. The protagonist is sent to a Planetary Romance version of Purgatory called Kellecheura, where he becomes the queen's consort but misses his wife. He then passes through ordeals to gain Heaven (we do not learn if he gets there). Whether or not this tale was read by such authors as R A Kennedy, C S Lewis or David Lindsay, it can certainly be seen as anticipating the Cosmologies inspiring their various fantastical Solar Systems. [JC]
born Belfast, Northern Ireland: 15 July 1874
died ?New Zealand: after 1920
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Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 02:36 am on 19 April 2024.
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