Crawford Kilian

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WHAT DOES a science fiction writer look like?

A bit owlish, with thick

glasses and a stoop? O

maybe he or she smokes a pipe and speaks with
the fierce intensity of one of his other characters.

Real sci-fi -authors, of
course, have to. pay the
mortgage, and: tend to look
just. like ordinary folk.
Crawford Kilian of North
Vancouver is one of the nor-
mat looking ones.

He also destroys the myth
that successful authors live
in artistic retreat in sunny
climates (Malibu and Sri
Lanka spring to mind).
When the forty-two year old
college teacher, former
school board member,
novelist and newspaper col-
umnist isn’t at work or at the.
supermarket he can most
likely be found tapping away
at his IBM Selectric at his
home in soggy Deep Cove.

While James Michener
can afford to spend a year on
location researching a book,
Kilian must do most of his
travelling in his imagination.
A. full time job and a family
mean the writing must be
done in whatever spare time
he can find.

So, he types away. A
children’s book in 1968,
another one in 1974. Some
radio plays, then five books
published in five years.

“I got into the habit of

There is
absoluteh
no other
CIPAreLte
quite like
Medallion.

writing something - every

day,” he says. “I plugged |
away at Eyas (a science fic- .

tion book about a feudal
time in  earth’s future)
writing a page or a couple of
pages a day.” Eyas and an
earlier science fiction book
should be followed in nine or
10 months by a science fic-
tion work in progress.

But diversity seems to be
Kilian’s trademark, and two
adventure novels and a
history of the black pioneers
of B.C. reflect that.

The adventure stories
make good reading. Ice-
quake, a tale of earth’s loss
of the ozone layer and the
resulting problems in the in-
stability of the antarctic,
captures the feel of an
isolated and cold outpost.

The sequel, concerning
the distintegration of North
American society § after
tsunamis (tidal waves) and
increased ultraviolet radia-
tion combine to destroy
coastal cities and most live-
stock and crops, is informing

CONTINUED ON PAGE B10

ly

CRAWFORD
Kilian relaxes at his
desk. He’s not sure
what his next pro-
ject will be, perhaps
-a mystery set in
China. Only his
selectric knows for
sure.

Worning: Health and Wellare Canada advises that danger to haalth increases with smount smoked — avoid inhaling

Average per cigarette: Img “tar” 0. ling nicotine

be

B7 - Sunday, September 11, 1983 -/North Shore News

38608000900

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