Links to Bibliography Pages

Alan Dean Foster

The Big Three
--- Isaac Asimov
--- Arthur C. Clarke
--- Robert A. Heinlein

J.R.R. Tolkien

Philip E. High
--- Introduction
--- Novels
--- Essays and Short Fiction - Part 1
--- Essays and Short Fiction - Part 2
--- Translations

Richard C. Meredith

Fighting Fantasy

Venture Science Fiction

A Brief Biography of Philip E. High (1914-2006)
Philip E. High was born on 28 April 1914, in Biggleswade, a town in Bedfordshire, England. The 'E' stands for Empson. His father was a bank worker and the family moved first to North Walsham in Norfolk, then to Great Yarmouth, and finally to Whitstable in Kent in 1921.

High was a prodigious reader of all types of fiction, as well as non-fiction and encountered science fiction for the first time at the age of 13. At age 16 he began to write his own stories (in various genres) and began to submit them for publication without success, but he did not try his hand at science fiction until many years later.

In the 1930s High began to read British science fiction magazines such as Scoops, and would buy imported copies of American SF magazines such as Astounding Stories when he could get them.

High's career as a local newspaper reporter was interrupted by World War II. After serving in the Royal Navy he gained employment as an insurance agent before becoming a bus driver with the East Kent Car Road Company in 1950, a job he retained until his retirement in 1979. He married Pamela Baker in 1950 and they had two children, Beverley and Jacqui.

It was not until 1955 that High decided to try his hand at writing science fiction stories. His first attempt, The Statics, was published in the September issue of Authentic Science Fiction. This was a begin a successful period, with the publication over the next eight years of nearly fifty stories in magazines such as Authentic Science Fiction, Nebula Science Fiction and New Worlds Science Fiction.

By 1964, the science fiction magazine market in the UK was changing and High decided to redirect his efforts to writing novels. His first, The Prodigal Sun, was published by Ace Books and lead to a string of fourteen novels and numerous reprints.

This continued until 1979 when High was told that the market had changed again and there was no demand for his stories. Thereafter he stopped writing until 1997, when he was approached to contribute to Fantasy Annual. He found that he still had a lot to say in his stories and more than thirty new ones followed as well as two anthologies.

Philip E. High died on 9 August 2006, aged 92.

References
- Infinityplus.co.uk - Phil High - Literary Craftsman - retrieved 25 June 2011
- The Independent - Philip E. High - retrieved 25 June 2011
- Philip E. High: A Tribute - Philip E. High - A History - retrieved 25 June 2011
- Philip E. High: A Tribute - Books Written by Philip E. High - retrieved 25 June 2011
- The Internet Speculative Fiction Database - Philip E. High - Summary Bibliography - retrieved 25 June 2011

A list of the first publications of Philip E. High's novels and short stories appears below.
An illustrated bibliography can be found here.

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