Richard C. Meredith
| Richard C. Meredith | |
|---|---|
Richard C. Meredith pictured with one of his own oil paintings
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| Born | Richard Carlton Meredith October 21, 1937 Alderson, West Virginia, United States |
| Died | March 8, 1979 (aged 41) Milton, Florida, United States |
| Occupation | Writer, illustrator, graphic designer, copy editor, newspaper editor |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1962-1979 |
| Genre | Science fiction, Supernatural fiction |
| Notable works |
We All Died at Breakaway Station The Timeliner Trilogy Run, Come See Jerusalem |
| Notable awards | Phoenix Award, DeepSouthCon 8 (1970) |
| Spouse | Joy Gates (1963-1979) |
| Children | Kira Chimene Jefferson Conan Derek Carlton Rand Calvin |
| Relatives | Joseph (father) LaVon (mother) |
Richard Carlton Meredith (October 21, 1937 – March 8, 1979), was an American writer, illustrator and graphic designer, best known as the author of science fiction short stories and novels including We All Died at Breakaway Station and The Timeliner Trilogy.
Meredith was born on October 21, 1937, in Alderson, West Virginia, United States, the first son of Joseph and LaVon Meredith. The family moved several times before eventually settling in St. Albans, West Virginia late in 1942 or early in 1943, where his father, a pipe-fitter by trade, found employment as a technician in a chemical plant involved in the development and production of synthetic rubber. The family remained there until 1956, during which time it was blessed with another new arrival - a daughter they named Sandra.
During Meredith's years at high school and one year at West Virginia State College, he discovered science fiction, including the juvenile novels of Robert A. Heinlein and the pulp magazines Amazing and Fantastic. In 1950 he bought his first copy of Astounding, of which he collected virtually all issues until the death of the editor John W. Campbell, in 1971. It was at this time that Meredith wrote his first short stories. He had no thought of becoming a full-time author; Meredith wanted to be an astronomer - an ambition he followed until he realized that he did not have the mathematical aptitude necessary for a career in astronomy.
Meredith's parents moved to Pensacola, Florida in 1956 in pursuit of improved economic and financial opportunities. Meredith followed soon after and, disillusioned at the lack of jobs available to him (he had not finished college), he decided to enlist in the U.S. Army. There he received extensive training in microwave radio theory and practice before becoming a microwave systems technician and later an instructor in microwave radio theory and the electronics aspects of aircraft navigation and communication. This experience might have influenced the plot of his later novel We All Died at Breakaway Station, which is focused on the communications technology of a future space culture and on the extreme sacrifice made by a space navy's technicians in order to maintain interstellar communications and let a vital message get through.
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