Version 1, August 2007. More information needed ! Send some in ! |
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Robert Presslie was featured twice in the NEW WORLDS author profiles - you will see those features here. See also Speaking for Myself , a Guest Editorial in NEW WORLDS no 133, August 1963 |
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Robert Presslie was a British science fiction writer - a part-timer, in fact, like so many of his contemporaries. He never made even a modest living from it, despite having stories published in all of the important British sf magazines of the 1950s and 60s, and in the New Writings in SF book series. It would be foolish to suggest that Presslie was a star writer, or even that he deserves wholesale reassessment, but he does have a certain something, perhaps an air of potential, perhaps just a slightly different take on sf ideas that makes him stand out a little, be memorable to many of those who have read his fiction. This page is produced by two of those readers - David Redd and Greg Pickersgill. We hope that by presenting this small tribute to Presslie we might draw out further information about him from family, friends, or sf people who knew him back in the days of AUTHENTIC, NEBULA and the Carnell-era NEW WORLDS. Do you know anything about Robert Presslie? Contact us ! |
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We know little about Presslie other than what is given in the NW profiles; some other notes reveal that even his date of death is not absolutely known - Robert Presslie (1920 – 2002?) - Worked as a pharmacy manager in London - the SKYRACK newsletter refers to him twice - once in issue 50 of March 1963 as "Robert Presslie, who was one of the personalities at this year's Peterborough Convention" and then again in SKYRACK 45 dated 4th Sept 1962 it is noted that Presslie was at the monthly Globe meeting of 2nd August 1962. Therefore we can assume that he had least some contact with the general British sf and sf fan community. The year of death given above is found in several places on the
web, however the web version of The
Pharmaceutical Journal for December 2000 has this - See also an extract from the Tuck Encyclopedia, below. |
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Robert Presslie is in the unfortunate position of never having had a book publication, either a novel or collection of short fiction. That means that he is not included, as a matter of policy, in either the first or second editions of the SCIENCE FICTION ENCYCLOPEDIA. That has been remedied in the third, online edition, his entry is here. There is also a Wikipedia entry. Presslie does have a short entry in Donald H Tuck's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY (Advent:Publishers 1978) Now apparently out of print, but highly recommended for enthusiasts of 20thCentury science fiction - "PRESSLIE, ROBERT. British science fiction author. A native of Aberdeen, he went to London around 1954; in the 1960's he was working as a pharmacy manager. He first appeared in science fiction with a number of stories in Authentic SF, beginning in June 1955 and including "Creeps" (sic) (a serial in parts, January and February 1956). Later he appeared in Nebula and in Carnell's New Worlds and Science Fantasy. He has had over 30 stories published." |
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