Schenck, Hilbert
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1926-2013) US engineer, university lecturer and author who published his first sf story, "Tomorrow's Weather" forTheMagazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in April 1953, long before he became seriously (though briefly) involved in fiction; much of his nonfiction of the 1950s and 1960s dealt lovingly with the ocean and with oceanological research and exploration technologies. His first two novels are both set in the ocean-girt Cape Cod region of New England, followed suit; they share a similar plot structure, circling in upon a central instant of space/time at whichTranscendence may be possible. The protagonist ofAt the Eye of the Ocean (1981) has an intuitive capacity to understand the inner shape of the oceanUnder the Sea, which unveils to him a mystical enlightenment about the shape and outcome of human history; the love-affair that drives the action ofA Rose for Armageddon (1982) comes to fruition at the morphological heart of aTimeslip in the centre of anIsland in the midst of the waters, leading to a form of liberation from (and possibly for) anEcologically-degradedNear-Future world sliding into chaos. His third novel,Chronosequence (1988), similarly presents its protagonist with a mystery from previous centuries whose solution involves the ocean, geography, time-slippage, anAlien presence, and, once again, the potential redemption of the world.
Though the range of Schenck's concerns is clearly narrow, there is nothing forced or lame in his presentation of these stories; their intensities are fluent, grounded and scientifically competent. His short novel "Steam Bird" (April-May 1984F&SF) recounts – in a clearcut, perhaps slightly heavy-handed manner characteristic of earlySteampunk – the pioneering flight of an enormously slow steam-driven nuclear bomber (seeTransportation;Weapons). It later appeared as the lead tale inSteam Bird (coll1988), along with the novella, "Hurricane Claude" (April 1983F&SF);Wave Rider (coll1980) assembles his early short fiction. Most of his work of interest is set along the coasts of New England and in the nearby ocean. His intent was never regional, however; the world for which Schenck spoke was the world as a whole. [JC]
see also:End of the World;Gothic SF;Pastoral;Scientists;Sociology;Time Paradoxes;Timescape Books.
Hilbert van Nydeck Schenck Jr
born Boston, Massachusetts: 12 February 1926
died 2 December 2013
works
- At the Eye of the Ocean (New York: Pocket Books/Timescape,1981) [pb/Mara McAfee]
- A Rose for Armageddon (New York: Pocket Books/Timescape,1982) [pb/DonMaitz]
- Chronosequence (New York: Tor,1988) [hb/CarolRusso]
collections
- Wave Rider (New York: Pocket Books,1980) [coll: pb/uncredited]
- Steam Bird (New York: Tor,1988) [coll: title novel first appeared April-May 1984F&SF: pb/VincentDi Fate]
links
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