Hugh Walters (author)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Hugh Walters (15 June 1910 – 13 January 1993) was a British writer of juvenile
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
s from Bradley in the
West Midlands region The West Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level for Statistics, statistical purposes. It covers the western half of the area known tradit ...
of the United Kingdom.


Biography

Born Walter Llewelyn Hughes, he was educated at Dudley Grammar School and Wolverhampton College and lived most of his life in
Bilston Bilston is a market town in the City of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. It is in the Black Country, south east of Wolverhampton city centre and close to the borders of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough, Sandwell ...
. He managed his own furniture store, Walter Hughes Ltd in Bradley and became Managing Director of Brasteds Ltd (a contraction of Bradley Bedsteads). In 1931 he married Doris Higgins; they had two children. He was a member of the
British Interplanetary Society The British Interplanetary Society (BIS), founded in Liverpool in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest existing space advocacy organisation in the world. Its aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration. St ...
and
British Astronomical Association The British Astronomical Association (BAA) was formed in 1890 as a national body to support the UK's amateur astronomers. Throughout its history, the BAA has encouraged observers to make scientifically valuable observations, often in collaborat ...
, and became president of Bilston
Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...
, and High Chief Ranger of the
Ancient Order of Foresters The Foresters Friendly Society is a British friendly society which was formed in 1834 as the Ancient Order of Foresters. As of 31 December 2016, the society had approximately 75,000 members. Its head office is located in Southampton, England. ...
. He was also a member of Bilston Tennis Club, was elected a member of Bilston Borough Council and in due course was appointed a
magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...
.


Writings

In 1955 he was asked to talk at Bilston Rotary Club when the scheduled speaker cancelled. He spoke about space and astronomy, and as a result was asked to speak at nearby
Coseley Coseley ( ) is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, Dudley district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is situated north of Dudley itself, on the border with Wolverhampton and Sandwell. It f ...
library during Science Fiction week. In preparation he read a large number of science fiction books, was not impressed, and thought he could do better. At the age of 47 he wrote his first book using the
pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...
Hugh Walters. He later said: "As I was also a magistrate and a local councillor, I felt hat writing science fictionleft me open to ridicule. People tend to treat science fiction as a bit of a joke, so I juggled with my name and came up with Hugh Walters." Of his writing Walters said: "I believe a good SF story should (1) entertain, (2) educate painlessly, and (3) inspire the young people of today to be the scientists and technicians of tomorrow". His first novels mostly dealt with the exploration of other planets in the
Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
. Written for a juvenile audience, they had a scientific foundation, anticipating such advances as
ion engines An ion thruster, ion drive, or ion engine is a form of electric propulsion used for spacecraft propulsion. An ion thruster creates a cloud of positive ions from a neutral gas by ionizing it to extract some electrons from its atoms. The i ...
. Walters began writing novels concerning alien visits after all the planets had been explored. The main characters of his novels were two British astronauts, an American, and a Russian. Their names were Chris Godfrey, Tony Hale, Morrey Kant and Serge Smyslov, respectively. Later missions used a pair of telepathic twins, Gill and Gail Patrick, for communication. The covers of the first 14 books had illustrations by the
Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...
illustrator Leslie Wood. His books are still present on the
Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, Inc., or LASFS, is a science fiction fandom#Science fiction societies, science fiction and fantasy fan society that meets in the Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles area. The current meeting place can be f ...
recommended reading list for children and young adults. LASFA Reading list


Bibliography

Hughes published 25 novels during a 40-year literary career. Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A. (United Nations Exploration Agency) series: # '' Blast Off at Woomera'' (1957) a.k.a. ''Blast Off at 0300'' # '' The Domes of Pico'' (1958) a.k.a. ''Menace from the Moon'' # '' Operation Columbus'' (1959) a.k.a. ''First on the Moon'' () # '' Moon Base One'' (1960) a.k.a. ''Outpost on the Moon'' ¹ () # '' Expedition Venus'' (1962) () # ''Destination Mars'' (1963) () # '' Terror by Satellite'' (1964) () # '' Journey to Jupiter'' (1965) # ''
Mission to Mercury ''Mission to Mercury'' is a juvenile science fiction novel, the ninth in Hugh Walters' ''Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A.'' series. It was published in 1965 in the UK by Faber and in the US by Criterion Books. Also published under the name Missà ...
'' (1965) # '' Spaceship to Saturn'' (1967) () # ''
The Mohole Mystery ''The Mohole Mystery'' is a juvenile science fiction novel, the eleventh in Hugh Walters' ''Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A.'' series. It was published in the UK by Faber in 1968, in the US by Criterion Books in 1969 under the title ''The Mohole Me ...
'' (1968) a.k.a. ''The Mohole Menace'' # '' Nearly Neptune'' (1968) a.k.a. ''Neptune One is Missing'' # '' First Contact?'' (1971) () # '' Passage to Pluto'' (1973) () # '' Tony Hale, Space Detective'' (1973) () # '' Murder on Mars'' (1975) () # '' The Caves of Drach'' (1977) () # '' The Last Disaster'' (1978) () # ''The Blue Aura'' (1979) () # '' The Dark Triangle'' (1979) () # ''The Glass Men'' (unpublished) Boy Astronaut series: # ''Boy Astronaut'' (1977) # ''First Family on the Moon'' (1979) () (hardback), () (paperback) # ''School on the Moon'' (1981) () Other Books: # ''P-K'' (
Psychokinesis Telekinesis () (alternatively called psychokinesis) is a purported psychic ability allowing an individual to influence a physical system without physical interaction. Experiments to prove the existence of telekinesis have historically been cri ...
London : Severn House, 1986. ¹ ''Outpost On The Moon'' is the US title of the USA edition, published in 1962 by Criterion Books, Inc. Its jacket included the note, "A somewhat different version of this story was published in England by Faber and Faber under the title ''Moon Base One''."


See also


References


External links


Hugh Walters website
*


ISBN numbers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walters, Hugh 1910 births 1993 deaths People from Bilston Councillors in the West Midlands (county) English science fiction writers 20th-century English novelists English male novelists 20th-century English male writers English male non-fiction writers