Jane Rice (April 30, 1913 – March 2, 2003) was an American science fiction and horror writer. Her fiction debut was with "The Dream" in the July 1940 issue of '' Unknown'', edited by the legendary sf editor John W. Campbell. During the war she published 10 stories in ''Unknown''. Campbell purchased her first and only novel, ''Lucy'', in 1943, and was holding it in inventory for a future issue when ''Unknown'' suddenly ceased publication late in 1943. Street & Smith held the manuscript for several years but after the war it vanished from their files, and Rice had failed to preserve a carbon copy. Despite efforts to trace it on the part of scholars and editors it has not been located. Her stories in ''Unknown'' were well received. Her slyly sensual werewolf story "The Refugee" from the October 1943 issue was selected by Campbell for his best of anthology ''From Unknown Worlds'' (1946) and it was also anthologized in ''Rivals of Weird Tales'' (1990) and the Library of America's ''American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from the 1940s to Now'' (2009), edited by Peter Straub. "The Idol of the Flies" from the June 1942 issue has also been frequently anthologized; it concerns an evil boy named Pruitt who has been called "one of the most monstrous children in literature". After the war she wrote for the slicks and women's magazines, including ''Colliers'', ''Ladies' Home Journal'', ''Cosmopolitan'', and ''Charm''. After a hiatus lasting several years she wrote stories for ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'' in the late 1950s, and in 1966 published the story "The Loolies Are Here", written in collaboration with Ruth Allison under the name Allison Rice in the anthology ''

Orbit 1 ''Orbit'' was a series of anthologies of new science fiction edited by Damon Knight, often featuring work by such writers as Gene Wolfe, Joanna Russ, R. A. Lafferty, and Kate Wilhelm. The anthologies tended toward the avant-garde edge of science fic ...

'' (1966), edited by Damon Knight. In the 1980s she resumed writing with a number of atmospheric mystery short stories for ''Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine''. In 1995 Necronomicon Press published her horror

novelette Novelette may also refer to: * ''Novelette'' (ballet), a solo modern dance work choreographed by Martha Graham * Novelette (music), a short piece of lyrical music * Novelette (literature), a work of narrative prose fiction that is longer than a ...

''The Sixth Dog'' as a

chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...

. She did not live to see the publication of her second book, a collection of her short fiction called ''The Idol of the Flies and Other Stories'', published by

Midnight House Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours. ...

in 2003 as a limited edition of 500 copies.

Personal life

Jane Rice was born Jane Theresa Dixon on April 30, 1913, in

Owensboro, Kentucky Owensboro is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Daviess County, Kentucky, United States. It is the fourth-largest city in the state by population. Owensboro is located on U.S. Route 60 and Interstate 165 about southwest of Lou ...

, the daughter of Dr. James Thomas Dixon and Julia C. Lynch. Her father, a physician, died when she was 14, and the following year she was sent to Notre Dame, Indiana to be educated at Saint Mary's College. At St. Mary's she was president of the senior class and editor of the school paper, ''The Marionette.'' After graduating in 1930 she attended

Webster College Webster University is a private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, Missouri. It has multiple branch locations across the United States and countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs ...

in Webster Groves, Missouri, a Catholic women's institution operated by the Sisters of Loretto. In June 1936 she was married in Owensboro to John Thomas Rice of Philadelphia, a businessman in the textile and leather industries. A gushing newspaper account described the bride as "an unusually charming and attractive young woman."''The Owensboro Messenger and Inquirer'', June 16, 1936, p. 7. They moved to Toledo, Ohio where in 1937 they had a son, and Jane took up writing while living there. After living in Chicago, Cleveland, and Darien, Connecticut, in 1960 the Rices settled in Greensboro, North Carolina, where John was a manager at a textile firm. They lived there for the remainder of their lives. A devout Roman Catholic, she strongly opposed abortion."Obituaries: Jane Dixon Rice." ''Greensboro News-Record.'' March 9, 2003. Her husband preceded her in death. They were survived by their son. Rice died at her home in Greensboro, North Carolina in 2003, one month before her 90th birthday.

References

External links

"The Refugee"
– Story of the Week from the Library of America * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Jane 1913 births 2003 deaths American horror writers American science fiction writers American women short story writers Writers from Greensboro, North Carolina Roman Catholic writers Unknown (magazine) Women science fiction and fantasy writers Women horror writers American women novelists Chapbook writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers Novelists from North Carolina 21st-century American women