R.I.P. Canadian/British sci-fi writer Douglas Arthur Hill,..

A sad death, as you'll see.
Lenona.

Douglas Hill
Writer of punchy children's SF

The Independent
28 June 2007
Nicholas Tucker
Douglas Arthur Hill, writer and editor: born Brandon,
Manitoba 6 April 1935; married 1958 Gail Robinson (one son;
marriage dissolved 1978); died London 21 June 2007.

Mild-mannered and softly spoken, Douglas Hill possessed an
inner imagination thronged with spectacular out-of-this-world
scenarios. The author of around 70 science-fiction and fantasy stories
for young readers, he specialised in lone heroes forced to turn
violent in order to defeat a series of outsize villains intent on
controlling the universe. Other books took on topics as various as the
Peasants' Revolt, Georgian London and the history of the
supernatural, along with adult science fiction including two comic
space operas.

Born in western Canada in 1935, the son of a train driver, Hill was
raised in Saskatchewan. He became, in his own words, addicted to
science fiction from an early age, with Flash Gordon comics a
particularly potent influence. Reading English at the University of
Saskatchewan, he moved on to the University of Toronto before deciding
to get married and come to Britain in 1959 as a freelance writer.
Working as an editor for Aldus Books, he was also a published poet.

Always politically on the left, in 1971 he followed in the footsteps
of George Orwell by becoming Literary Editor of the socialist weekly
Tribune, a post he held for 13 years. Gently encouraging to all his
contributors, he regularly reviewed science fiction at a time when few
others in the literary world took it seriously. Once overheard
deploring the lack of good stories for young readers within this
genre, he was challenged by a publisher to fill the void
himself. The end result was Galactic Warlord (1979), the first of a
quartet of novels that turned him into a best-selling writer.

The story starts with Keill Randor, the finest strike-group leader of
the planet Moros, in search of fellow lost legionaries from his former
country, now wiped out by a mystery attack of poison gas. Slowly dying
of radiation, Keill is determined to take vengeance on his attackers
while he can. Exploring every mean street in search of clues, he is
the SF equivalent of the pulp- fiction private eye,
permanently depressed but still sticking to a moral code and equal to
every challenge.

But his fortunes change when he meets Talis, the elderly head of the
Overseers - a collection of leading scientists trying to protect the
universe from its most deadly enemies. Talis replaces Keill's diseased
skeleton with bones made of an unbreakable alloy, a sensible
precaution given the amount of savage fights to the death he still has
coming to him. He also introduces him to Glr, a small, winged,
telepathic, female alien from another planet. Together they finally
get the better of Thr'un, one of the Deathwing group of killers
working directly for the notorious Warlord, who is bent on destroying
the galaxy and then ruling over its ruins.

Violent, at times melodramatic and not disdaining some of the clichés
familiar from James Bond films when hero and villain have their final
meeting, this novel also presses home the importance of trying to
maintain peaceful world government when so many seem intent on war.
This theme is continued in Deathwing over Veynaa (1980), Day of the
Starwind (1980) and Planet of the Warlord (1981). In this last volume,
Keill is briefly turned into a murderous robot before he is rescued by
Glr as he is trying to kill her.

Known as the Last Legionary quartet, these novels were widely
translated and went into many editions. Thrilling younger readers with
their punchy style and gleeful episodes of violence, they also
inspired numbers of authors writing science fiction for children
today. Rhiannon Lassiter, for one, has openly acknowledged the
importance of Hill's encouragement for her own fine novel Hex (1998).

Other titles quickly followed. The Huntsman (1982) was the first novel
in a post-apocalyptic trilogy set in North America. Threatened by
alien slavers, Finn Ferral - a genetically altered woodsman - and half-
beast half-man Baer join up with some tribes of Native Americans to
take on and eventually beat their oppressors against enormous odds.

Another fine trilogy started with Exiles from Colsec (1984). The
acronym in the title refers to the sinister Colonisation Section that
now runs and rules the earth. But Cord, a Scottish teenager, Samella,
a female computer expert, and Heleth, a street-fighting girl, plus two
other minor offenders, have other ideas. Exiled by way of punishment
to the remote planet Klydor, the group finally routs visiting Colsec
inspectors and wins the right to self-government.

Hill also produced many non-fiction books, with The Young Green
Consumer Guide (1990), written with John Elkington, Joel Merkower and
Julia Hailes, winning the Earthworm award for its year. There was also
Bridging a Continent (1971), written under the pen-name Martin
Hillman, about the discovery and exploration of the American West,
Tribune 40 (1977), an edited history of the paper, plus more SF novels
aimed at older readers.

For very young children, Tales of Trellie the Troog (1991), The Dragon
Charmer (1997) and Melleron's Monsters (2000) were all written with
quiet wit and gentle charm, qualities that were familiar to those who
knew Hill as a friend or who had witnessed him winning over the
toughest of pupils on one of his frequent school visits.

But it was as a writer of junior fantasies that he will be best
remembered, with World of the Stiks (1994) and his Cade trilogy (1996)
continuing to combine violent action with strong condemnation of
exploitation and corruption in whatever setting. Hill had recently
been working, full of enthusiasm, on the last volume of Demon
Stalkers, a new trilogy for Macmillan yet to be published.

He was run over last Thursday by a London bus while attempting to
negotiate a zebra crossing.

Nicholas Tucker

>> "He was run over last Thursday by a London bus while attempting to
>> negotiate a zebra crossing."

Forgive me for being culturally ignorant. What is a zebra crossing? It's
been nearly 30 years since I was last in London. I vaguely remember the
term pelican crossing -- although I can't be sure about that, either.

andycat


--------------------------
<lenona321 DeleteThis @yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1183145592.879465.195670@g4g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
A sad death, as you'll see.
Lenona.

Douglas Hill
Writer of punchy children's SF

The Independent
28 June 2007
Nicholas Tucker
Douglas Arthur Hill, writer and editor: born Brandon,
Manitoba 6 April 1935; married 1958 Gail Robinson (one son;
marriage dissolved 1978); died London 21 June 2007.

Mild-mannered and softly spoken, Douglas Hill possessed an
inner imagination thronged with spectacular out-of-this-world
scenarios. The author of around 70 science-fiction and fantasy stories
for young readers, he specialised in lone heroes forced to turn
violent in order to defeat a series of outsize villains intent on
controlling the universe. Other books took on topics as various as the
Peasants' Revolt, Georgian London and the history of the
supernatural, along with adult science fiction including two comic
space operas.

Born in western Canada in 1935, the son of a train driver, Hill was
raised in Saskatchewan. He became, in his own words, addicted to
science fiction from an early age, with Flash Gordon comics a
particularly potent influence. Reading English at the University of
Saskatchewan, he moved on to the University of Toronto before deciding
to get married and come to Britain in 1959 as a freelance writer.
Working as an editor for Aldus Books, he was also a published poet.

Always politically on the left, in 1971 he followed in the footsteps
of George Orwell by becoming Literary Editor of the socialist weekly
Tribune, a post he held for 13 years. Gently encouraging to all his
contributors, he regularly reviewed science fiction at a time when few
others in the literary world took it seriously. Once overheard
deploring the lack of good stories for young readers within this
genre, he was challenged by a publisher to fill the void
himself. The end result was Galactic Warlord (1979), the first of a
quartet of novels that turned him into a best-selling writer.

The story starts with Keill Randor, the finest strike-group leader of
the planet Moros, in search of fellow lost legionaries from his former
country, now wiped out by a mystery attack of poison gas. Slowly dying
of radiation, Keill is determined to take vengeance on his attackers
while he can. Exploring every mean street in search of clues, he is
the SF equivalent of the pulp- fiction private eye,
permanently depressed but still sticking to a moral code and equal to
every challenge.

But his fortunes change when he meets Talis, the elderly head of the
Overseers - a collection of leading scientists trying to protect the
universe from its most deadly enemies. Talis replaces Keill's diseased
skeleton with bones made of an unbreakable alloy, a sensible
precaution given the amount of savage fights to the death he still has
coming to him. He also introduces him to Glr, a small, winged,
telepathic, female alien from another planet. Together they finally
get the better of Thr'un, one of the Deathwing group of killers
working directly for the notorious Warlord, who is bent on destroying
the galaxy and then ruling over its ruins.

Violent, at times melodramatic and not disdaining some of the clichés
familiar from James Bond films when hero and villain have their final
meeting, this novel also presses home the importance of trying to
maintain peaceful world government when so many seem intent on war.
This theme is continued in Deathwing over Veynaa (1980), Day of the
Starwind (1980) and Planet of the Warlord (1981). In this last volume,
Keill is briefly turned into a murderous robot before he is rescued by
Glr as he is trying to kill her.

Known as the Last Legionary quartet, these novels were widely
translated and went into many editions. Thrilling younger readers with
their punchy style and gleeful episodes of violence, they also
inspired numbers of authors writing science fiction for children
today. Rhiannon Lassiter, for one, has openly acknowledged the
importance of Hill's encouragement for her own fine novel Hex (1998).

Other titles quickly followed. The Huntsman (1982) was the first novel
in a post-apocalyptic trilogy set in North America. Threatened by
alien slavers, Finn Ferral - a genetically altered woodsman - and half-
beast half-man Baer join up with some tribes of Native Americans to
take on and eventually beat their oppressors against enormous odds.

Another fine trilogy started with Exiles from Colsec (1984). The
acronym in the title refers to the sinister Colonisation Section that
now runs and rules the earth. But Cord, a Scottish teenager, Samella,
a female computer expert, and Heleth, a street-fighting girl, plus two
other minor offenders, have other ideas. Exiled by way of punishment
to the remote planet Klydor, the group finally routs visiting Colsec
inspectors and wins the right to self-government.

Hill also produced many non-fiction books, with The Young Green
Consumer Guide (1990), written with John Elkington, Joel Merkower and
Julia Hailes, winning the Earthworm award for its year. There was also
Bridging a Continent (1971), written under the pen-name Martin
Hillman, about the discovery and exploration of the American West,
Tribune 40 (1977), an edited history of the paper, plus more SF novels
aimed at older readers.

For very young children, Tales of Trellie the Troog (1991), The Dragon
Charmer (1997) and Melleron's Monsters (2000) were all written with
quiet wit and gentle charm, qualities that were familiar to those who
knew Hill as a friend or who had witnessed him winning over the
toughest of pupils on one of his frequent school visits.

But it was as a writer of junior fantasies that he will be best
remembered, with World of the Stiks (1994) and his Cade trilogy (1996)
continuing to combine violent action with strong condemnation of
exploitation and corruption in whatever setting. Hill had recently
been working, full of enthusiasm, on the last volume of Demon
Stalkers, a new trilogy for Macmillan yet to be published.

He was run over last Thursday by a London bus while attempting to
negotiate a zebra crossing.

Nicholas Tucker