Mark Clifton

Mark Clifton (1906 -1963) was an American science fiction author of the 1950's. His stories fit into one of two series: the "Bossy" sequence, and the "Ralph Kennedy" sequence. The first was written alone and in collaboration with both Alex Apostolides and Frank Riley. The "Ralph Kennedy" series, which is lighter in tone 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 (a.k.a. The Forever Machine), co-written with Riley, which was serialized in Astounding in 1954 and went on to win the Hugo Award, perhaps the most contentious novel ever to win the award. Clifton began publishing in May of 1952 with the story "What Have I Done?". Today, he is probably best known for his novella "Star, Bright" (in Galaxy, July 1952), about a super-intelligent toddler with psi abilities. Clifton worked as a personnel manager during his life and interviewed close to 100,000 people, which formed much of his attitude about the delusions people place on themselves, and the greatness they are capable of.