Bibliography
of the science fiction of
Charles Eric Maine (David McIlwain)

by John Howard

INTRODUCTION

This is a draft bibliography of the work published professionally by David McIlwain in the United Kingdom and the United States of America under his pseudonym Charles Eric Maine. David McIlwain used this pseudonym almost exclusively for his work in the science fiction field, although some of his stories could rather be classified as belonging to the wider field of fantastic fiction. This bibliography does not attempt to cover anything outside of these aspects of McIlwain's work.

David McIlwain was born in Liverpool on 21 January 1921. His involvement with the science fiction field began early. He took on an active role in fandom from the late 1930s, and was a member of a circle of contemporaries that included future science fiction authors John Burke and Sam Youd (John Christopher). With Burke, McIlwain began to write science fiction under the pseudonym Charles Eric Maine, having decided that a "treble-barrelled" name was almost obligatory! They also published three issues of a fanzine, The Satellite, with joint editorship credited to J F Burke and Charles Eric Maine. David McIlwain went on to publish his own fanzine Gargoyle (1940-41).

World War II put a stop to McIlwain's publishing activities. In 1941 he began training as a signals officer in the Royal Air Force. 1943 saw McIlwain serving in North Africa. After the war David McIlwain spent several years in TV engineering. He also pursued a career in journalism and editorial work connected with radio and television. (Many of the characters in McIlwain's fiction have backgrounds in technical journalism and publishing.) In 1947 he married Joan Hardy. Divorcing in 1960, McIlwain married his second wife Clare Came in 1961.

In the early 1950s McIlwain began his science fiction career in earnest. He started by writing radio plays, and sold his first, Spaceways, to the BBC in 1952. This was popular and soon also appeared as a novel and a film. McIlwain's second novel Timeliner also began life as a radio play, The Einstein Highway.

McIlwain's novels regularly blurred the boundaries between science fiction, mystery fiction, and thrillers. Spaceways and Count-Down (1959) are murder mysteries that take place in situations where space travel technology is being developed and tested. The novels The Isotope Man (1957), Subterfuge (1959), and Never Let Up (1964) feature the intrepid duo Mike Delaney and Jill Friday, whose day jobs as science reporter and photographer respectively for View magazine lead them into a range of dangerous predicaments. Their adventures are a mixture of espionage mystery and science fiction techno-thriller, with a shot of hard boiled 'romance' thrown in for good measure. B.E.A.S.T. (1966) is in much the same fast-paced vein.

With The Tide Went Out (1958) and The Darkest of Nights (1962) McIlwain applied himself to writing disaster novels. They are in the John Wyndham, John Christopher, and early J G Ballard tradition of post World War II British catastrophes, in which a single and often apparently very minor event leads to breakdown and destruction on an international scale, totally transforming the world and the lives of the survivors. McIlwain's contributions are as bleak and violent as the best of them. Both novels were reprinted in revised editions in the late 1970's.

David McIlwain made use of a wide variety of science fiction themes throughout his novels. Mental time travel and the complications and dangers resulting from it, is the theme in both Timeliner (1955) and Calculated Risk (1960). World Without Men (1958) and its revised version Alph, takes a look at the war between the sexes. Social themes and relationships are the concern of McIlwain's most highly-regarded novel, The Mind of Mr Soames (1961). High Vacuum (1957) is a gripping story of a fight for survival on the Moon. Many novels involve various topical aspects of technology, such as space travel, atomic energy, electronics, computers, and research into the human mind. McIlwain's grasp of his subject was not always totally sure - a point often, and rightly, made by reviewers within the science fiction field such as Damon Knight and James Blish. However, McIlwain always handled his chosen themes with dexterity and skill, and was rarely ever less than entertaining, often casting an exciting new light on a well-used idea.

After Spaceways, three more films appeared based on McIlwain's work. He adapted his 1956 screenplay for Timeslip as the basis for the novel The Isotope Man (1957). His earlier novel Escapement was filmed in 1958, and The Mind of Mr Soames (1961) was released in 1970.

David McIlwain remained a prolific and successful novelist for nearly twenty years. He died in London on 30 November 1981.

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Take a look at the Book Cover Gallery -- cover art from the books by Charles Eric Maine in my collection. Published between 1953 and 1978, work by such classic artists as Richard Powers, Gerard Quinn, Ed Emshwiller ("Emsh"), and Dean Ellis is featured. (Click on the image to see a larger version -- the image will open in a new browser window.) You can also view the cover art (larger version) by clicking on the button by its entry in the Bibliography.

Few of Maine's short stories were illustrated on the covers of the magazines publishing them. Visit the Magazine Cover Gallery to see cover art from the magazines in my collection. (Click on the image to see a larger version -- the image will open in a new browser window.) For historical interest I have also included covers where the Maine story is not the subject of the cover. You can also view the cover art (larger version) by clicking on the button by its entry in the Bibliography. Most of Maine's stories did have accompanying interior black-and-white illustrations -- which I have not scanned in due to the danger of damaging the usually fragile magazine!