Pseudonym of UK author David Lee Higginbottom (1923- ), who has written exclusively for children, reportedly beginning to publish short stories before World War Two (none has been identified). His first sf tale was Space Hostages (1967), in which his tastes for Hard-SF backgrounds and realistically flawed protagonists were competently expressed. The former reaches full expression in tales like Trillions (1971), featuring a kind of alien precursor of Nanotechnology, and Antigrav (1978), in which a stone with Antigravity properties becomes a focus for Cold War rivalry. A Rag, a Bone, and a Hank of Hair (1980), on the other hand, gravely and movingly concentrates on its emotionally torn protagonist, a young genius in an arid far-future Dystopia commanded to observe a small family of reconstructed "primitives", who have been drugged into repeating the same fake 1940 day over and over again, so that he may garner experimental data about raw humans. In the end, both family and protagonist are killed by the masters of the terrible world of World War Two. Fisk is a smooth writer, which can sometimes conceal the fact that the world he envisages – as demonstrated in A Hole in the Head (1991), a harrowing tale of the Earth at the brink of ecological catastrophe – is fraught. [JC/DRL]
see also: Children's SF; Radio.
David Lee Higginbottom
born London: 14 October 1923 (other days in October have been given, including 10 October and 18 October)
died
works
series
Starstormers
- Starstormers
(Sevenoaks, Kent: Knight Books, 1980) [Starstormers: pb/] - Sunburst (Sevenoaks, Kent: Knight Books, 1980) [Starstormers: pb/]
- Catfang (Sevenoaks, Kent: Knight Books, 1981) [Starstormers: pb/]
- Evil Eye (Sevenoaks, Kent: Knight Books, 1982) [Starstormers: pb/Peter Elson]
- Volcano (Sevenoaks, Kent: Knight Books, 1983) [Starstormers: pb/Peter Elson]
individual titles
- Space Hostages (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1967) [hb/]
- Trillions (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1971) [hb/Ken Reilly]
- Grinny (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1973) [hb/]
- High Way Home (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1973) [hb/]
- Little Green Spacemen (London: Heinemann, 1974) [story: chap: hb/]
- Wheelie in the Stars (London: Heinemann, 1976) [chap: hb/]
- Time Trap (London: Victor Gollancz, 1976) [hb/Robin Jacques]
- Escape from Splatterbang (London: Pelham, 1978) [chap: hb/Dexter Brown]
- Flamers (Sevenoaks, Kent: Knight Books, 1979) [vt of the above: pb/]
- Antigrav (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Kestrel Books, 1978) [hb/Chris Molan]
- Monster Maker (London: Pelham, 1979) [hb/]
- A Rag, a Bone, and a Hank of Hair (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Kestrel Books, 1980) [hb/Dave Holmes]
- Robot Revolt (London: Pelham, 1981) [hb/Alun Hood]
- Sweets from a Stranger and Other SF Stories (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Kestrel Books, 1982) [coll: hb/David Barlow]
- On the Flip Side (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Viking Kestrel, 1983) [hb/Andrew Skilleter]
- Extraterrestrial Tales (London: Puffin Books, 1991) [omni of the above plus Trillions and Space Hostages: pb/]
- Flip Side (London: Hodder Children's Books, 1998) [vt of the above: pb/]
- You Remember Me! (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Viking Kestrel, 1984) [hb/]
- Bonkers Clocks (London: Viking Kestrel, 1987) [chap: hb/]
- Dark Sun, Bright Sun (Edinburgh, Scotland: Blackie, 1986) [hb/]
- Living Fire and Other SF Stories (London: Corgi Books, 1987) [coll: pb/]
- Mindbenders (London: Viking Kestrel, 1987) [hb/]
- Backlash (London: Walker Books, 1988) [hb/Jean-Christian Knaff]
- The Talking Car (London: Macmillan, 1988) [chap: Firefly: hb/Ann Johns]
- The Telly is Watching You (London: Macdonald Children's Books, 1989) [chap: pb/]
- The Worm Charmers (London: Walker Books, 1989) [hb/]
- The Back-Yard War (London: Macmillan, 1990) [chap: hb/]
- The Model Village (London: Walker Books, 1990) [chap: hb/Alan Cracknell]
- Pig Ignorant (London: Walker Books, 1991) [chap: hb/]
- A Hole in the Head (London: Walker Books, 1991) [hb/]
- Broops! Down the Chimney (London: Walker Books, 1992) [pb/Russell Ayto]
- Fantastico (London: Longman, 1994) [chap: pb/]
works as editor
links
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