David John Lake (26 March 1929 – 31 January 2016[1]) was an Indian-born Australian science fiction writer, poet, and literary critic. He wrote as David Lake and David J. Lake.
Lake began his writing career as a literary critic, and in that vein he is known for his books Style and Meaning, Queensland University Press, 1971,[4] and The Canon of Thomas Middleton's Plays, Cambridge University Press, 1975.[5]
After arriving in Australia, Lake published poetry in magazines such as Westerly, Southerly, and Makar. In 1971 he published Portnoyad and in 1973 the poetry collection, Hornpipes and Funerals.[6]
He began writing science fiction in 1976. John Clute indicates Jungian psychology influences on some of his works. Lake might be best known for the "Breakout" sequence of novels. In two, The Gods of Xuma and Warlords of Xuma, the new world is reminiscent of Edgar Rice Burroughs's fictional version of Mars; the books take a critical stance on his Barsoom novels.
His most known work outside of that sequence is The Man who Loved Morlocks from 1981, a sequel to The Time Machine. He was essentially inactive in the genre since 1989 with the exception of one award-winning short story. That story, "The Truth About Weena", also involved The Time Machine. It won the Ditmar Award in 1999.[7]
Bibliographyedit
Breakout sequenceedit
Walkers on the Sky (1976)
The Right Hand of Dextra (1977)
The Wildings of Westron (1977)
The Gods of Xuma or Barsoom Revisited (1978)
Warlords of Xuma (1983)
The Fourth Hemisphere (1980)
Time Machine universeedit
The Man Who Loved Morlocks (1981)
"The Truth About Weena" (1998)
Other novelsedit
Ring of Truth (1982)
The Changelings of Chaan (1985)
West of the Moon (1988)
Other short fictionedit
"Creator" (1978)
"Re-deem the Time" (1978)
"What Is She?" (1979)
"Who Killed Cock Robin?" (1979)
"The Last Day of Christmas" (1981)
"Omphalos, a Dialogue" (1983)
"The Pure Light of the Void" (1983)
Verseedit
Portnoyad (1971)
Hornpipes and Funerals (collection) (1973)
"Unparty" (2010)
"Design Faults" (2011)
Nonfictionedit
Style and Meaning (1971)
The Canon of Thomas Middleton's Plays (1975)
Darwin and Doom: H.G.Wells and the Time Machine (1997)
Short nonfictionedit
"How to Get Away with Murder: Advice to a Would-Be Critic" (1979)
"Sex as a Hard Problem in Science Fiction" (1985)
"A Theory of Errors: The Altered Worlds of Fiction" (1986)
"The Making of Meldilorn: A Poetics of Imaginary Names" (1987)
"Introduction (The First Men in the Moon)" (1995)
"Arriving Home" (1998)
Reviewsedit
"Pilgermann" (1983) by Russell Hoban
"Riddley Walker" (1983) by Russell Hoban
"Charles Williams: Poet of Theology" (1984) by Glen Cavaliero
"More Tales of Pirx the Pilot" (1984) by Stanislaw Lem
^Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC
^"David (John) Lake." St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers, 4th ed. St. James Press, 1996.
^Style and meaning. Papers. University of Queensland Press. 1971. ISBN 9780702207532.
^The canon of Thomas Middleton's plays: Internal evidence for the major problems of authorship. Cambridge University Press. 1975. ISBN 9780521207416. OCLC 1531576.
^Australian Poets and Their Works, by William Wilde, Oxford University Press, 1996
^Ortlieb, Marc, ed. (10 September 1999). "Australian Science Fiction Achievement Awards (Ditmars)". The Australian Science Fiction Bullsheet. No. 125. Retrieved 20 February 2022.