HIGH, Philip E(mpson)

(1914-)

   UK writer, variously employed for a number of years before beginning to publish sf in 1955 with "The Statics" for Authentic Science Fiction; he contributed to UK magazines, especially NEBULA SCIENCEFICTION, for several years before publishing his first sf novel The Prodigal Sun (1964 US), which set the model for most of those to follow. His sense of the world is pessimistic, but he overlays that sense with plots of an epic cast. In this first novel, characteristically, an Earthman possessing powers enhanced through his upbringing by an ALIENrace returns to his grim home planet, rousing it. Other novels combining social comment and adventure include No Truce with Terra (1964 dos US), The Mad Metropolis (1966 dos US; vt Double Illusion 1970 UK) and TheseSavage Futurians (1967 dos US). The Time Mercenaries (1968 dos US) interestingly places a 20th-century submarine into a time when mankind has lost its genetic capacity to fight; the resurrected crew (having been artificially preserved) dutifully saves mankind from aliens. Though constrained by his dystopian sense of the possibilities of Man's future, PEH has been capable of writing enjoyable adventures, though without fullystretching his dark imagination. His later work, written largely for ROBERT HALE LIMITED, was less engaging.

   JC

   Other works: Reality Forbidden (1967 dos US); Twin Planets (1967 US); Invader on my Back (1968); Butterfly Planet (1971); Come, Hunt an Earthman (1973); Sold-For a Spaceship (1973); Speaking of Dinosaurs (1974); Fugitive from Time (1978); Blindfold from the Stars (1979).

   See also: SUN.