Samuel Youd

Samuel Youd
Born	Sam Youd 16 April 1922(1922-04-16) Huyton, Lancashire, England, UK
Died	3 February 2012(2012-02-03) (aged 89) Bath, Somerset, England, UK
Nationality	British
Other names	John Christopher
Alma mater	Peter Symonds College
Occupation	Author

Samuel Youd (16 April 1922 – 3 February 2012), known professionally as Christopher Samuel Youd, was a British author, best known for his science fiction writings under the pseudonym John Christopher, including the novel The Death of Grass and the young adult oriented novel series The Tripods. He won the Guardian Award in 1971, and the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 1976.

Youd wrote under variations of his own name, and under the pseudonyms Stanley Winchester, Hilary Ford, William Godfrey, William Vine, Peter Graaf, Peter Nichols, and Anthony Rye.

Biography

Youd was born in Huyton, Lancashire. He was educated at Peter Symonds' School in Winchester, Hampshire in 1932. His surname, Youd, is an old Cheshire surname. His birthname was Sam Youd, but he adopted the name Christopher Samuel Youd for his professional writings leading to the widespread, but mistaken, belief that this was his birth name. Throughout his life he was known simply as Sam to his friends and acquaintances. He served in World War II in the Royal Corps of Signals between 1941 and 1946. A scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation made it possible for him to pursue a writing career, beginning with The Winter Swan, published as Christopher Youd. His first major success as a writer was with his science fiction novel The Death of Grass, his second work under the pseudonym John Christopher, under which the majority of his work, and all of his science fiction novels, has been published. The Death of Grass was reprinted in the Penguin Modern Classics series in 2009.

In 1966 he started writing science fiction for adolescents. The Tripods trilogy, the Sword of the Spirits trilogy, The Lotus Caves, and The Guardians were well received, with The Guardians winning the coincidentally titled Guardian Award in 1971.

He died in Bath, England, on 3 February 2012 of complications from bladder cancer.

Film and television adaptions

The Death of Grass was made into a film, No Blade of Grass, in 1970, by Cornel Wilde. The Tripods was partially developed into a British TV series. It is in development as a film. Empty World was developed into a 1987 TV movie in Germany, Leere Welt. The Guardians was made into a 1986 TV series in Germany, Die Wächter. The Lotus Caves was in development in 2007, as a film from Walden Media, to have been directed by Rpin Suwannath.

Bibliography

Novels unless otherwise indicated. Includes novellas published in book form.

John Christopher

• The Twenty-Second Century (1954) (short story collection)
• The Year of the Comet (US title Planet in Peril, 1955)
• The Death of Grass (1956), Michael Joseph (UK)
  • No Blade of Grass (1957), Simon & Schuster (US)
• The Caves of Night (1958)
• A Scent of White Poppies (1959)
• The Long Voyage (US title The White Voyage, 1960)
• The World in Winter (US title The Long Winter, 1962)
• Cloud on Silver (US title Sweeney's Island, 1964)
• The Possessors (1964)
• A Wrinkle in the Skin (US title The Ragged Edge, 1965)
• The Little People (1966)
• The Tripods trilogy (expanded to tetralogy, 1988)
  • The White Mountains (1967) Macmillan (US); Hamish Hamilton (UK)
    • 35th anniversary edition, with revised text and preface by author, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 9780689855047 (2003)
  • The City of Gold and Lead (1967) Macmillan (US); Hamish Hamilton (UK)
  • The Pool of Fire (1968) Macmillan (US); Hamish Hamilton (UK)
  • When the Tripods Came (prequel) (1988)
• Pendulum (1968)
• The Lotus Caves (1969) Macmillan (US); Hamish Hamilton (UK) ISBN 0-241-01729-7
• The Guardians (1970)
• The Sword of the Spirits trilogy
  • The Prince In Waiting (1970)
  • Beyond the Burning Lands (1971)
  • The Sword of the Spirits (1972)
• In the Beginning Longman (1972) ISBN 0-582-53726-6
• Dom and Va (1973)
• Wild Jack (1974)
• Empty World (1977)
• The Fireball trilogy
  • Fireball (1981), E. P. Dutton, ISBN 0-525-29738-3
  • New Found Land (1983), Dutton (US), ISBN 0-525-44049-6. Gollancz (UK), ISBN 0-575-03222-7
  • Dragon Dance (1986) Dutton (US) ISBN 0-525-44227-8; Viking Kestrel (UK), ISBN 0-670-81030-4
• When the Tripods Came (1988), a prequel to The Tripods trilogy
• A Dusk of Demons (1993)
• Bad Dream (2003)

Christopher Youd

• The Winter Swan (1949)

Samuel Youd

• Babel Itself (1951)
• Brave Conquerors (1952)
• Crown and Anchor (1953)
• A Palace of Strangers (1954)
• Holly Ash (US title The Opportunist, 1955)
• Giant's Arrow (1956) (as Anthony Rye in the UK, as Samuel Youd in the US)
• The Choice (UK title The Burning Bird, 1961)
• Messages of Love (1961)
• The Summers at Accorn (1963)

William Godfrey

• Malleson at Melbourne (1956) - a cricket novel, volume 1 of an unfinished trilogy
• The Friendly Game (1957) - volume 2 of the trilogy

Peter Graaf

• Dust and the Curious Boy (US title Give the Devil His Due, 1957) - volume 1 in the Joe Dust series
• Daughter Fair (1958) - volume 2 in the Joe Dust series
• The Sapphire Conference (1959) - volume 3 in the Joe Dust series
• The Gull's Kiss (1962)

Hilary Ford

• Felix Walking (1958)
• Felix Running (1959)
• Bella on the Roof (1965)
• A Figure in Grey (1973)
• Sarnia (1974)
• Castle Malindine (1975)
• A Bride for Bedivere (1976)

Peter Nichols

• Patchwork of Death (1965)

Stanley Winchester

• The Practice (1968)
• Men With Knives (US title A Man With a Knife, 1968)
• The Helpers (1970)
• Ten Per Cent of Your Life (1973)

Short stories

Youd's first published story was "Dreamer" in the March 1941 Weird Tales, as C.S. Youd. He has had stories published in the magazines Astounding Science Fiction, Science Fantasy, Worlds Beyond Science-Fantasy Fiction, New Worlds, Galaxy Science Fiction, SF Digest, Future Science Fiction, Space SF Digest, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Authentic Science Fiction, Space Science Fiction, Nebula Science Fiction, Fantastic Universe, Saturn Science Fiction, Orbit Science Fiction, Fantastic Story Magazine, If: Worlds of Science Fiction, Worlds of Science Fiction (UK), Argosy (UK), The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Beyond Infinity

Serializations

No Blade of Grass was serialized in The Saturday Evening Post in 1957. Caves of Night was serialized in John Bull Magazine in 1958.

Anthologies

• The Best SF Stories 3rd Series by Grayson & Grayson (1953)
• Avon Science fiction and Fantasy Reader #1 (1953)
• The Twenty-Second Century Grayson & Grayson (1954)
• Gateway To Tomorrow edited by John Carnell, published by Panther (1963)
• Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader No. 2
• The Best Science Fiction Stories Third Series edited by Everett F. Bleiler and T. E. Dikty
• The Tenth Pan Book of Horror Stories, edited by Herbert Van Thal (1969)
• Young Winter’s Tales No. 2, ed. M. R. Hodgkin, London: Macmillan (1971)
• In Time to Come, Topliner (1973)
• The Best of British SF 1 Orbit Books (1977)
• The Random House Book of Science Fiction Stories Random House (1997) (ISBN 0-679-88527-7)
• The Young Oxford Book of Nasty Endings, (1997), edited by Dennis Pepper, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-278151-0

External links

• biography at Penguin books website
• Biography of Samuel Youd
• Samuel Youd at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• John Christopher at the Internet Movie Database website
• biographical sketch at ECampus.com website
• Obituary at Locus Magazine
• John Christopher obituary by Jo Walton
• Christopher/Youd entry at the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
• John Christopher Obituary The Guardian