John Lymington (1911–1983) was born
John Richard Newton Chance in
London. He was a prolific writer of
short stories,
children's literature,
mystery and
science fiction novels. An obituary in Ansible Link credits Lymington with writing over 150 novels, 'including 20+ SF potboilers', adding that he 'made a steady income by delivering thrillers to Robert Hale (the publisher) at a chapter a week'.
Lymington's first book,
Wheels in the Forest, was written in 1935. He also wrote
Night of the Big Heat in 1959. Several of his short stories were collected in
The Night Spiders in 1964. Pseudonyms used by Lymington throughout his career included John Drummond, David C. Newton, Desmond Reid (see '
Sexton Blake') and Jonathan Chance. Brian Stableford suggested in the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature (pp. 208) that the name Lymington was chosen 'in a blatant attempt to cash in' on John Wyndham's popularity.
Chance was educated in a private school in London, and subsequently attended a technical college with the intention of becoming a civil engineer, an ambition which he left behind to become a quantity surveyor. By the age of 21, he decided to give up this job and began to work full-time as a writer.
During his career with the RAF, which began in the summer of 1940, he became a flying instructor at
South Cerney,
Long Newnton and
Bibury airfields in the
Cotswolds. The three airfields were administrated under the Cerney office. In this role, he applied previous...
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