Julian May was born on July 10, 1931. She discovered science fiction at age sixteen through SF pulp magazines. She became involved in fandom, writing letters to fans in the US and abroad. This group started a club called Science Fiction International, whose fanzine May published. She met her future husband, science fiction publisher Ted Dikty, at a convention. Her first short story, "Dune Roller", appeared in Astounding magazine in December 1951. She chaired the Tenth World SF Convention, Chicon II, in 1952. Her second short story, "Star of Wonder", was published in Thrilling Wonder Stories in February 1953. After that, she dropped out of science fiction writing for economic reasons.
From 1953 to 1957, she was Science Editor for a Chicago encyclo- pedia publisher, writing seven thousand or so encyclopedia articles. During this period she also wrote the Buck Rogers comic strip, technical manuals, and a catechism with a doctor of theology. In 1957, she and her husband started a production service for educational publishers. In conjunction with this, she began writing juvenile non-fiction, often science-orientated.
She once more became involved in science fiction upon attending a convention in 1976, her husband previously having begun publishing SF-related nonfiction. She made a diamond-studded silver space suit to wear to this event. This costume was the inspiration for the Galactic Milieu trilogy, whose plot May developed over the next two years. However, concerned that this trilogy would have limited audience appeal, she chose to reenter SF with the Saga of the Pliocene Exile. And the rest was history ...
Courtesy of Marina Drobnic, marid@ix.netcom.com
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