Katherine MacLean facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Katherine MacLean
|
|
|---|---|
MacLean and Fritz Leiber at the 1952 World Science Fiction Convention
|
|
| Born | Katherine Anne MacLean January 22, 1925 Glen Ridge, New Jersey |
| Died | September 1, 2019 (aged 94) |
| Occupation |
|
| Period | 1949–1997 |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Notable awards | Nebula Award (novella) (1971) (The Missing Man) Science Fiction Writers of America Author Emeritus |
Katherine Anne MacLean (born January 22, 1925 – died September 1, 2019) was an American science fiction writer. She was famous for her short stories from the 1950s. Her stories often explored how new technology affects people and society.
Contents
About Katherine MacLean's Writing
Katherine MacLean was known for her smart and warm science fiction stories. She was very good at writing about "hard science," which means using real scientific ideas in her plots. She also explored ideas like psi phenomena, which are things like telepathy, using clear and logical thinking.
She was one of the first science fiction writers to try applying the rules of "hard sciences" (like physics) to "soft sciences" (like sociology). This means she used scientific methods to think about how societies and people behave.
Many of her stories have been put into collections. Some were even made into radio shows and TV programs. She started writing science fiction in 1947, when she was working as a lab technician. Her stories often showed a good understanding of future scientific discoveries. This was because she was influenced by General Systems Theory, which looks at how different parts of a system work together.
Katherine MacLean passed away on September 1, 2019, when she was 94 years old.
Awards and Honors
Katherine MacLean won several important awards for her writing.
In 1971, she received a Nebula Award for her story "The Missing Man." This award is one of the top honors for science fiction and fantasy writers.
She was also a special guest at the first WisCon in 1977. WisCon is a well-known science fiction convention that focuses on feminism.
In 2003, the Science Fiction Writers of America honored her as an SFWA Author Emeritus. This title is given to writers who have made a big impact on science fiction.
In 2011, she received the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award. This award helps bring attention back to important science fiction writers whose work might have been forgotten.
Story Collections
Katherine MacLean published several collections of her short stories.
Her first collection was The Diploids and Other Flights of Fancy (1962). It included stories like "The Diploids," "Feedback," "Pictures Don't Lie," and "The Snow Ball Effect."
Her second collection was The Trouble with You Earth People (1980). This book featured stories such as "The Trouble with You Earth People," "Syndrome Johnny," and her Nebula Award-winning story, "The Missing Man."
Short Stories and Novelettes
Katherine MacLean wrote many short stories and novelettes. Here are some of them:
- "Defense Mechanism" (1949): This was her very first story to be published. It was about hidden telepathic abilities.
- "And Be Merry" (1950): This story has also been called "The Pyramid in the Desert."
- "Incommunicado" (1950): Written in 1947, this story was about communication and computers. It showed her ability to imagine how personal computers would develop in the future.
- "Feedback" (1951): This story looks at what happens when everyone tries to be the same. A teacher who believes in being an individual is seen as a problem.
- "Syndrome Johnny" (1951): This story was published before scientists even knew for sure that DNA carried genetic information. It's about diseases that change human genes.
- "Pictures Don't Lie" (1951): This story is about making radio contact with an alien spaceship coming to Earth. It was so popular that it was adapted for radio, television, and even comic books.
- "The Man Who Staked the Stars" (1952): This story, published under the name Charles Dye, is about a criminal who starts to turn against himself.
- "The Snowball Effect" (1952): A professor tries to prove his ideas about how groups grow. He changes the rules of a small sewing club, and it grows much faster than he expected. This story was also adapted for radio.
- "Games" (1953): This story is about a boy who becomes the characters in his make-believe games.
- "The Diploids" (1953): In this longer story, a young lawyer thinks he might be an alien. He later finds out he is a human cell line that was grown illegally. It was also called "Six Fingers."
- "Cosmic Checkmate" (1958): Written with Charles V. De Vet, this story is about two players who play a complex game to decide the future of Earth's civilization. It was nominated for a Hugo Award.
- "Unhuman Sacrifice" (1958): This story is about a missionary trying to share his beliefs on an alien planet. But the aliens' unique life cycle makes it very difficult.
- "The Kidnapping of Baroness 5" (1995): In a future world after a disaster, a geneticist tries to help people whose genes are damaged. She uses her medical skills to help them, pretending it's magic.
- "Contagion" (1950): This story was reprinted in the collection Women of Wonder.
Novels
Katherine MacLean also wrote several novels:
- The Man in the Bird Cage (1971):
- Missing Man (1975): This novel is about an engineer in a divided New York City. His knowledge is used to cause disasters. It combines three of MacLean's earlier "Rescue Squad" stories, including her Nebula Award-winning novella.
- Dark Wing (1979): Written with her husband Carl West, this novel is set in a world where medical knowledge is forbidden. A young man finds an old medical kit and uses it to help people and learn about science.
Memoirs
Katherine MacLean also wrote about her own life:
- In 1981, she wrote "The Expanding Mind" for a book called Fantastic Lives. This was a memoir about her childhood and how science fiction influenced her as a young girl.
- She also shared details about how she worked with editor John W. Campbell to publish her first stories for the book Partners in Wonder.
Listen to
- X Minus One: "The Snowball Effect" (August 14, 1956)
- X Minus One: "Pictures Don't Lie" (October 24, 1956)
- Episode 4 of the podcast Buxom Blondes with Ray Guns (Hannah Wolfe, February 17, 2018) features two 1954 stories by Katherine MacLean.
See also
In Spanish: Katherine MacLean para niños
