Charles Eric Maine

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Charles Eric Maine (actually David McIlwain ; born January 21, 1921 in Liverpool ; died November 30, 1981 in London ) was a British writer of science fiction and crime novels .

Life

McIlwain's parents were engineer David Mcllwain and Caroline Mcllwain, née Jones. After attending Holt High School in Liverpool, he served in the Royal Air Force from 1940 to 1946 . After the war he worked as an editor for various magazines and newspapers, and since 1951 he has been the editor of a television magazine. As a journalist, he has contributed to The Times , Financial Times , The Guardian and Les Échos .

Even before the war, Mcllwain had published the fanzine The Satellite together with Jonathan Burke in Liverpool , of which 15 issues were published between 1938 and 1940. His first SF story, The Mirror, and six other short stories appeared here - already under the pseudonym Charles Eric Maine . His first professional SF job after the war was the radio play Spaceways , which he sold to the BBC in 1952. The following year he published a novel version. In the same year 1953, based on the radio play script at Hammer Films , a SF film was also made under the direction of Terence Fisher .

Maine showed his talent for multiple exploitation again in Time Slip , a screenplay for a television film on the BBC from 1953. In 1955 it was filmed as Timeslip for the cinema (in the USA as The Atomic Man , in Germany as The Atomic Man - Seven Seconds Too Late ) and in 1957 Maine turned it into the novel The Isotope Man . This novel, in turn, he expanded into the series around the protagonist Mike Delaney.

His novel The Mind of Mr. Soames (1961), which is considered to be his best, was made into a film in 1970 with Terence Stamp and Robert Vaughn in the leading roles.

His works have been translated into several languages, including German. His success in Italian is noticeable, where almost all novels were translated.

McIlwain died in 1981 at the age of 60. From two divorced marriages, McIlwain had four daughters and two sons.

bibliography

Mike Delaney
  • The Isotope Man (1957)
  • Subterfuge (1960)
  • Counter-Psych (1961, short story)
  • Never Let Up (1964)
Novels
  • Spaceways (1953, also as: Spaceways Satellite , 1958)
    • German: The devil is going on in Nevada. Pabel (Utopia Grossband # 200), 1963.
  • Crisis 2000 (1955, also as The Wall of Fire , 1958)
    • German: Crisis in 2000. Weiss, 1959. Also as Pabel (Terra Taschenbuch # 198), 1972.
  • Timeliner (1955)
  • Escapement (1956, also as The Man Who Couldn't Sleep , 1958)
  • High Vacuum (1956)
  • The Tide Went Out (1958, also as The Waters Under the Earth , also as Thirst! 1977)
  • World Without Men (1958, also as: Alph , 1972)
  • Count-Down (1959, also as: Fire Past the Future , 1960)
    • English: The lost on Kaluiki. Pabel (Utopia Zukunftsroman # 250), 1960. Also as: Zwei… one… zero. Goldmann's Science Fiction # 17, 1961.
  • Calculated Risk (1960)
  • He Owned the World (1960, also as: The Man Who Owned the World , 1961)
    • German: homesickness for the earth. Goldmann's Science Fiction # 22, 1961.
  • The Mind of Mr. Soames (1961)
  • The Darkest of Nights (1962, also as: Survival Margin and as: The Big Death , 1978)
  • BEAST (1966)
    • German: Dr. Gilley's wonder being. Goldmann's Space Paperback # 074, 1966.
  • The Random Factor (1971)
    • English: The bridge over Saturn. Goldmann's Space Paperback # 0141, 1972.

as Richard Rayner:

  • The Trouble with Ruth (1960)
  • Darling Daughter (1961)
  • Dig Deep for Julie (1963)
  • Stand-In for Danger (1963)

as Robert Wade:

  • The Wonderful One (1960)
  • The Stroke of Seven (1965)
  • Knave of Eagles (1969)
Scripts
  • Escapement (1958, also as The Electric Monster , with J. McLaren Ross)
  • Spaceways (1952, radio play)
  • The Einstein Way (1954, radio play)
  • Timeslip (1953, made-for-TV)
Short stories
  • The Mirror (1938)
  • Citadel of Dreams (1939, Part 1)
  • The Parson and the Fairy (1939, as D. McIlwaine)
  • The Introvert (1939)
  • A Michelist on Mars (1939, as Dave McIlwain)
  • One Hour with a Psychiatrist (1939, as David McIlwain)
  • The Last and Worst Men (1939, as D. McIlwain)
  • Repulsion Factor (1953)
  • Highway i (1953, also as: Highway J )
  • Spaceways to Venus (1953)
  • The Boogie Matrix (1954)
  • Troubleshooter (1954)
  • The Festival of Earth (1954)
  • The Yupe (1954)
  • The Trouble with Mars (1955)
  • Mission From Space (1955)
  • Reverse Procedure (1957)
  • The Big Count-Down (1958)
  • Short Circuit (1966)
  • Scholarly Correspondence (1974)
  • Jow Three Eyes (1976)
Non-fiction
  • The World's Strangest Crimes (1967, also as The Bizarre and Bloody , 1972)
  • World-Famous Mistresses (1970)

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Maine, Charles Eric
ALTERNATIVE NAMES McIlwain, David (real name); Rayner, Richard (pseudonym); Wade, Robert (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British writer of science fiction and crime novels
DATE OF BIRTH January 21, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Liverpool
DATE OF DEATH November 30, 1981
Place of death London