Douglas R. Mason

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Douglas Rankine Mason (born September 26, 1918 in Hawarden , Flintshire , Wales ; died August 8, 2013 in Bristol , England ) was a British science fiction writer, also known by his pseudonym John Rankine .

Life

His parents were engineer Russell Mason and Bertha Mason, née Greenwood. Mason attended the Grammar School in Heywood from 1929 to 1934 and then the King's School in Chester until 1937 . From 1937 to 1939 and then from 1946 to 1948 he studied at the University of Manchester , where he graduated with a bachelor's degree. During the Second World War he served as a teacher in the Royal Corps of Signals . In 1945 he married Mary Norma Eucline Cooper, with whom he had two sons (born in 1947 and 1957) and two daughters (born in 1950 and 1961). From 1954 to 1966 he was headmaster at Somerville Junior School , since 1966 he was principal of St. Georges Primary School , both in Wallasey in North West England .

In 1964, Mason published a first SF short story, Two's Company , which appeared in SF 1 in the anthology New Writings edited by John Carnell under the pseudonym John Rankine, which was used frequently in the following . In the following decade he showed himself to be a prolific author of mostly conventional space operas , including the cycle with the protagonist Dag Fletcher, which also includes the first narrative. A number of his novels have been translated into German. The translations mostly appeared under the author's name Douglas R. Mason. After 1975 Mason hardly wrote any more SF, although in 2003 one last Dag Fletcher story and two collections of short stories with some first publications of older texts appeared.

In 1985 he moved to Grasmere in the Laked District, where he became assistant director of the primary school there and director of Grasmere Hall . In 2009 his wife Norma fell ill, which is why the couple moved to live with their daughter in Bristol. His wife died that same year. Mason died in Bristol in 2013 at the age of 94.

bibliography

The series are arranged according to the year of publication of the first part.

Dag Fletcher (series, as John Rankine)
  • 1 The Blockade of Sinitron: Four Adventures of Dag Fletcher (1966, collection). Contains:
    • Gone to Earth
    • Blockade of Sinitron
    • Limited gain
    • Fail unsafe
  • 2 Interstellar Two-Five (1966)
  • 3 One Is One (1968)
  • 4 The Plantos Affair (1971)
  • 5 The Ring of Garamas (1971)
  • 6 The Bromius Phenomenon (1973)
  • Two's Company (1964, short story)
  • Maiden Voyage (1964, short story)
  • Image of Destruction (1967, short story)
  • Worm in the Bud (1968, short story)
  • The Fletcher Chronicles (2003, collection)
  • The Heart of the Flame (2003, short story)
Space Corporation (series, as John Rankine)
  • 1 Never the Same Door (1967)
  • 2 Moons of Triopus (1968)
    • German: The Telepath Colony. Translated by Leni Sobez. Bastei Lübbe # 21079, 1976, ISBN 3-404-00471-X .
  • 3 Binary Z (1969)
Space 1999 (series, as John Rankine)
  • 2 Moon Odyssey (1975)
    • English: Unidentified Invaders. Breitschopf, Vienna, Munich, Zurich 1975, ISBN 3-7004-1093-X .
  • 5 Lunar Attack (1975)
  • 6 Astral Quest (1975)
  • 8 Android Planet (1976)
  • 10 Phoenix of Megaron (1976)
Novels
  • From Carthage Then I Came (1966, also as Eight Against Utopia , 1967)
    • German: City under glass. Translated by Hans-Ulrich Nichau. Goldmann's space paperbacks # 0107, 1969.
  • Landfall Is a State of Mind (1968)
  • Ring of Violence (1968)
  • The Tower of Rizwan (1968)
    • English: The Tower of Rizwan. Translated by Rosemarie Ott. Ullstein 2000 # 145 (3502), 1978, 3-548-03502-7.
  • The Janus Syndrome (1969)
    • English: The Janus Syndrome. Translated by Tony Westermayr. Goldmann Science Fiction # 0166, 1973, ISBN 3-442-23166-3 .
  • The Weisman Experiment (1969, as John Rankine)
    • German: The Weisman Idea. Translated by Tony Westermayr. Goldmann's space paperbacks # 0119, 1970.
  • Matrix (1970)
    • German: Matrix. Translated by Tony Westermayr. Goldmann's space paperbacks # 0120, 1970.
  • Satellite 54-Zero (1971)
    • German: Satellit 54-zero. Translated by Leni Sobez. Bastei Lübbe # 21077, 1976, ISBN 3-404-00412-4 .
  • Dilation Effect (1971)
    • German: The time effect. Translated by Leni Sobez. Bastei Lübbe # 21069, 1975, ISBN 3-404-00300-4 .
  • Horizon Alpha (1971)
    • English: The rebel of Metropolis. Translated by Hannelore Eilsen. Bastei Lübbe Science Fiction Paperback # 13, 1972.
  • The Resurrection of Roger Diment (1972)
    • English: dictatorship of the androids. Translated by Bodo Baumann. Bastei Lübbe Science Fiction Paperback # 30, 1973, ISBN 3-404-00147-8 .
  • The Phaeton Condition (1973)
  • Operation Umanaq (1973, as John Rankine)
    • German: Operation Ice Age. Translated by Leni Sobez. Bastei Lübbe # 21083, 1976, ISBN 3-404-05199-8 .
  • The End Bringers (1973)
    • English: The Paradise of the Robots. Translated by Leni Sobez. Bastei Lübbe # 21058, 1974, ISBN 3-404-04945-4 .
  • The Fingalnan Conspiracy (1973, as John Rankine)
  • Pitman's Progress (1976)
  • The Omega Worm (1976)
  • Euphor Unfree (1977)
  • The Thorburn Enterprise (1977, as John Rankine)
  • Mission to Pactolus R (1978)
  • The Vort Program (1979, as John Rankine)
  • Last Shuttle to Planet Earth (1980, as John Rankine)
  • The Star of Hesiock (1980, as John Rankine)
  • The Typhon Intervention (1981)
  • Forgotten Rocket (2002, as John Rankine)
  • The Darkling Plain (2003)
Collections
  • Tuo Yaw: The Collection (2003)
  • BAZOZZ ZZZ DZZ: And Other Short Stories (2003)
Short stories
  • Folly to Be Wise (1966)
  • Pattern As Set (1966, as John Rankine)
  • Six Cubed Plus One (1966, as John Rankine)
  • The Man Who Missed the Ferry (1966)
  • Seventh Moon (1966, as John Rankine)
  • Flight of a Plastic Bee (1967, as John Rankine)
  • There Was This Fella ... (1967)
  • Squared Out with Poplars (1967)
  • The Peacemakers (1968, as John Rankine)
  • Locust Years (1968)
  • All Done by Mirrors (1969)
  • Moonchip (1969, as John Rankine)
  • Dinner of Herbs (1970)
  • Rejection Syndrome (1970)
  • Second Run at the Data (1971, as John Rankine)
  • Algora One Six (1972)
  • The Castoffs (1972)
  • Link (1973, as John Rankine)
  • "Right Bloody Lucky, Harry," Said the Straight Man. (2003)
  • 4096 (2003)
  • Get a Shift on Taffy (2003)
  • Special Delivery (2003)
  • Sunday Painter (2003)
  • The Day the Zombies Kicked it Out of the Ground (2003)
  • Tuo Yaw (2003)
  • What was Barbara Like Then? (2003)

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Mason, Douglas R.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mason, Douglas Rankine (full name); Rankine, John (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British science fiction writer
DATE OF BIRTH September 26, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Hawarden , Flintshire , Wales
DATE OF DEATH August 8, 2013
Place of death Bristol , England