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Douglas Arthur Hill (6 April 1935 – 21 June 2007) was a
Canadian science fiction A strong element in Canadian culture is rich, diverse, thoughtful and witty science fiction. History of Canadian science fiction The first recorded Canadian works of science fiction or proto-science fiction include Napoléon Aubin's unfinished se ...
author, editor and reviewer. He was born in
Brandon, Manitoba Brandon () is the second-largest city in the province of Manitoba, Canada. It is located in the southwestern corner of the province on the banks of the Assiniboine River, approximately west of the provincial capital, Winnipeg, and east of the ...
, the son of a railroad engineer, and was raised in
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada, after Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina. It is situated near the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway ...
. An avid science fiction reader from an early age, he studied English at the
University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...
(where he earned an Honours B.A. in 1957) and at the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
. He married fellow writer and U. of S. alumna
Gail Robinson Gail may refer to: People *Gail (given name), list of notable people with the given name Surname * Jean-Baptiste Gail (1755–1829), French Hellenist scholar * Max Gail (born 1943), American actor * Sophie Gail (1775–1819), French singer and ...
in 1958; they moved to Britain in 1959, where he worked as a freelance writer and editor for Aldus Books. In 1967–1968 he served as assistant editor of the controversial ''
New Worlds New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 19 ...
''
science fiction magazine A science fiction magazine is a publication that offers primarily science fiction, either in a hard-copy periodical format or on the Internet. Science fiction magazines traditionally featured speculative fiction in short story, novelette, nov ...
under
Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, particularly of science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has wo ...
. A lifetime leftist, he served from 1971 to 1984 as the Literary Editor of the
socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
weekly ''
Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...
'' (a position once held by
George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
), where he regularly reviewed science fiction despite the continued refusal of the literary world to take it seriously. Before starting to write fiction in 1978, he wrote many books on history, science and folklore. Using the pseudonym ''Martin Hillman'', he also worked as an editor of several anthologies, among them ''Window on the Future'' (1966), ''The Shape of Sex to Come'' (1978), ''Out of Time'' (1984), and ''Hidden Turnings'' (1988). He is probably best known for his '' The Last Legionary'' quintet of novels, supposedly produced as the result of a challenge by a publisher to Hill's complaints about the lack of good science fiction for younger readers. Hill and his wife had one child, a son. They were divorced in 1978. He lived in
Wood Green Wood Green is a suburban district of the London Borough of Haringey, London, England. Its postal district is N22, with parts in N8 or N15. The London Plan identifies it as one of the metropolitan centres in Greater London, and today it forms ...
, London, and died in London after being struck by a bus at a
zebra crossing A zebra crossing (British English) or a marked crosswalk (American English) is a pedestrian crossing marked with white stripes (zebra markings). Normally, pedestrians are afforded precedence over vehicular traffic, although the significance o ...
. His death occurred one day after he completed his last trilogy, the ''Demon Stalkers''.


Writing science-fiction/fantasy for children

His most well-known series for younger children appears to have been ''The Last Legionary'' quintet. Starting with ''Galactic Warlord ''the quartet (the fifth book was a prequel anthology) told the story of Keill Randor, last survivor of a murdered world, seeking revenge for the genocide, aided by a secretive group of advisers known as The Overseers and a winged, telepathic alien named Glr. The series contained the tropes of 'well-intentioned' Science perverted by ego and over-confidence into evil, and the 'good' science being used as the servant not master of humanity. The series also had the trope that elderly people are not irrelevant and worthless, but the smartest, wisest people around and the ones who really know what is going on. Both ''The Huntsman'' and ''Colsec'' trilogies continued the tropes and themes of youth alienation caused by being disenfranchised, not lumping all aliens oreignerstogether, mismanagement of natural resources by the
industrial military complex Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...
, and how disparate individuals can work together and find common ground for the greater good. Hill also explored these ideas in writing fantasy as well as science-fiction series, first in ''Poisoner'' and then ''Demon Stalkers''. His books were popular in schools as their straightforward action and sci-fi or sword-and-sorcery themes appealed to impatient or inattentive readers, particularly boys, who were increasingly difficult to engage in 'reading for pleasure and leisure' and above all they were relatively short-length books without a great deal of background waffle. Whilst still at school and having become a volunteer 'pupil librarian', one writer and tutor was tasked with encouraging her teenage male peers to borrow more books from the school library and take up reading as a recreational activity and recommending books that would facilitate this from potential new stock; she found through peer reviews, questionnaires and a mini-poll that, 'alongside the contemporary, competitive sports-based stories of authors such as
Michael Hardcastle Michael Hardcastle (6 February 1933 – 17 January 2019) was a British author of sports fiction for children. He has written more than one hundred and forty books on a range of sporting subjects but is probably best known for his books about a ...
and the humorous stories of such as
Dick King-Smith Ronald Gordon King-Smith OBE (27 March 1922 – 4 January 2011), known by his pen name Dick King-Smith, was an English writer of children's books. He is best known for '' The Sheep-Pig'' (1983), which was adapted as the movie '' Babe'' (1995) ...
, the other of the 'big three' for boys was Douglas Hill. They liked the fast pace, the paring away of extraneous words and the compact length of the books, as well as that although each novel was a complete story, it existed within a 'universe' that enabled them to not have to learn a whole set of new characters each time.' Another advantage to sustain the increased reading interest of boys was that Hill produced his novels fairly quickly—he had five books published between 1980 and 1982, which meant the engaged interest of young readers was kept as there was another title ready when they finished a previous one.


Writing science-fiction/fantasy for adults

In the early 1990s he decided to develop a fantasy trilogy for adult readers; published in 1994 ''The Lightless Dome ''has the main protagonist of Jared 'Red' Cordell, who finds himself transported from contemporary 1990s Earth to a planet where sorcery and Mediaeval style knights and kingdoms exist – he finds that he is apparently descended from or possibly the genetic Doppelganger of a legendary warrior, Red Corodel, who mysteriously disappeared centuries before and who is viewed as the only hope of thwarting a power-crazed sorcerer intent on achieving global tyranny through Apotheosis – becoming a god. Again the series examines the concept of an individual's ideals of personal integrity and community responsibility and at what point does altruism become destructive rather than constructive, and also the issues of spin and
media manipulation Media manipulation refers to orchestrated campaigns in which actors exploit the distinctive features of broadcasting mass communications or digital media platforms to mislead, misinform, or create a narrative that advances their interests and ag ...
as initially, he enjoys being in his own 'Conan the Barbarian' movie and plays on the perks of being mistaken for Red Corodel returned to save the day. A sequel "The Leafless Forest" was published in 1994; however, the last part to the trilogy "The Limitless Bridge" was not released and remains unavailable.


Bibliography


Series


Last Legionary

#'' Galactic Warlord'' (1979) #''Deathwing Over Veynaa'' (1980) #''Day of the Starwind'' (1980) #''Planet of the Warlord'' (1981) #''Young Legionary'' (1982) ''Young Legionary'' is chronologically the first in the series.


Demon Stalkers

#''Prey'' (2008) #''Torment'' (2008) #''Vengeance'' (2009) ''Prey'' is chronologically the first in the series.


Huntsman

#''The Huntsman'' (1982), #''Warriors of the Wasteland'' (1983), #''Alien Citadel'' (1984),


Colsec

#''Exiles of Colsec'' (1984), #''The Caves of Klydor'' (1984), #''Colsec Rebellion'' (1985),


Poisoner

#''Blade of the Poisoner'' (1987), #''Master of Fiends'' (1987),


Del Curb, Cosmic Courier

#''The Fraxilly Fracas'' (1989), #''The Colloghi Conspiracy'' (1990),


Apotheosis

#''The Lightless Dome'' (1993), #''The Leafless Forest'' (1994), #''The Limitless Bridge'' (1996), SBN allocated, never commercially published


Cade

#''Galaxy's Edge'' (1996), #''The Moons of Lannamur'' (1996), #''The Phantom Planet'' (1997),


Other novels

*''The Exploits of Hercules'' (1978), *''The Illustrated Faerie Queene'' (1980), *''Have Your Own Extraterrestrial Adventure'' (1983), *''The Moon Monsters'' (1984), *''How Jennifer (and Speckle) Saved the Earth'' (1986), *''Goblin Party'' (1988), *''Penelope's Pendant'' (1990), *''The Tale of Trellie the Troog'' (1991), *''The Unicorn Dream'' (1992), *''The Voyage of MudJack'' (1993), *''Penelope's Protest'' (1994), *''World of the Stiks'' (1994), *''Penelope's Peril'' (1994), *''The Magical Tree-castle'' (1995), *''Malcolm and the Cloud-Stealer'' (1995), *''Fireball and the Hero'' (1995), *''The Dragon Charmer'' (1997), *''Space Girls Don't Cry'' (1998), *''Alien Deeps'' (2000), *''Melleron's Monsters'' (2000), *''Melleron's Magic'' (2001), *''Monster Maze'' (2001), *''Star Dragon'' (2002),


Plays

*''Window on the Future'' (1966)


Edited anthologies

*''Window on the Future'' (1966) *''Way of the Werewolf'' (1966) *''The Devil His Due'' (1967) *'' Warlocks and Warriors'' (1971) *''The Shape of Sex to Come'' (1978), *''Alien Worlds'' (1980), *''Planetfall'' (1986),


Non-fiction

*''The Supernatural'' (1965) *''The Opening of the Canadian West'' (1967) *''Magic and Superstition'' (1968) *''John Keats'' (1968), *''Regency London'' (1969), *''A Hundred Years of Georgian London'' (1970), *''Return from the Dead'' (1970), *''Fortune Telling'' (1972), *''The Scots to Canada'' (1972), *''The English to New England'' (1975), *''Tribune 40'' (1977) *''Bridging a Continent'' (1981, as "Martin Hillman") *''Witch and Wizard'' (1997),


Anthologies containing stories by Douglas Hill

*''Hidden Turnings'' (1989), , ed.
Diana Wynne Jones Diana Wynne Jones (16 August 1934 – 26 March 2011) was a British novelist, poet, academic, literary critic, and short story writer. She principally wrote fantasy and speculative fiction novels for children and young adults. Although usually d ...
*''Space Stories'' (1996), , ed. Mike Ashley


Short stories

*"Hally's Paradise" (1984) *"True Believer" (1989)


Plays

*''Roulette''


See also

*The Last Legionary series


Notes


External links


Obituary
in ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
''
Obituary
in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''
1995 profile of Hill
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Douglas 1935 births 2007 deaths University of Saskatchewan alumni Canadian science fiction writers Canadian children's writers Canadian speculative fiction editors Canadian speculative fiction critics Science fiction editors Writers from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Writers from Brandon, Manitoba