Author: Mark Clifton

Mark Clifton (1906-1963) was an award-winning American science fiction writer.He began publishing in May 1952 with the widely anthologized story “What Have I Done?” Most of his work falls into two series: the “Bossy” series, about a computer with artificial intelligence, was written either alone or in collaboration with Alex Apostolides or Frank Riley; and the “Ralph Kennedy” series, which is lighter in tone and was mostly written solo, including the novel When They Come From Space, although there was one collaboration with Apostolides. Clifton gained his greatest success with his novel They”d Rather Be Right (also known as The Forever Machine), co-written with Riley, which was serialized in Astounding during 1954, and which was awarded the Hugo Award.Clifton”s other most popular short story is “Star Bright, ” the first of three appearances in Horace Gold”s Galaxy (July 1952), about a super-intelligent toddler with psi abilities, which has been compared to Kuttner and Moore”s “Mimsy Were the Borogoves.”Clifton as a personnel manager worked for many years and interviewed some 200, 000 people, an experience that much formed Clifton”s views about people”s positive and negative traits and capabilities.He received the 2010 Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award posthumously. He died in 1963.