Christopher Hodder-Williams

{{Short description|English author and musician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox writer | name = Christopher Hodder-Williams | image = Christopher Hodder-Williams.jpg | caption = Hodder-Williams circa 1964 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|8|25|df=yes}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1995|5|15|1926|8|25|df=yes}} | birth_place = London, England | death_place = London, England<ref name=obituary>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-christopher-hodderwilliams-1620609.html|title=Obituary: Christopher Hodder-Williams|last=Barrett|first=David V.|date=21 May 1995|website=The Independent|access-date=10 June 2024}}</ref> | resting_place = | occupation = Author, musician | period = 1957–1984 | genre = Science fiction, thrillers, espionage, aviation }}

'''John Christopher Glazebrook Hodder-Williams''' (25 August 1926 – 15 May 1995) was an English musician, songwriter and author, primarily of science fiction. He also wrote novels about aviation and espionage. He was the son of Ralph Hodder-Williams, who was one of the owners of the British publishing firm Hodder and Stoughton. Many of his books are early examples of what would later be called techno-thrillers.<ref>Interview in ''Science Fiction Weekly'', Issue 343</ref> He also wrote teleplays, and worked as a composer and lyricist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.flyingturkeys.com/gsg/gsghodderwilliams.html|title=Christopher Hodder-Williams|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021025031149/http://www.flyingturkeys.com/gsg/gsghodderwilliams.html|archive-date=25 October 2002}}</ref>

== Biography == Hodder-Williams was born 25 August 1926, in London. He served in the Royal Corps of Signals from 1944 to 1948, where he served in the Middle East. Afterwards, after briefly working at Hodder and Stoughton, he became a jazz pianist and songwriter on Broadway in the early 1950s. He eventually returned to England, continuing to write songs & perform, before he published his first novel (''The Cummings Report'') in 1958 under the pseudonym James Brogan. His next 14 novels were published under his own name, and varied in genre. Hodder-Williams described some of his work as "fiction science". He was also a pilot, a theme that appears in several of his early literary works.<ref name=obituary />

Hodder-Williams died on 15 May 1995, in London.

==Partial bibliography==

===Novels=== *''The Cummings Report'' (1957), originally published under the pseudonym James Brogan *''Chain Reaction'' (1959) *''Final Approach'' (1960) *''Turbulence'' (1961) *''The Higher They Fly'' (1963) *''The Main Experiment'' (1964) *''The Egg-Shaped Thing'' (1966) *''Fistful of Digits'' (1968) *''98.4'' (1969), also published as ''Ninety-Eight Point Four'' *''Panic O'Clock'' (1973) *''Coward's Paradise'' (1974) *''The Prayer Machine'' (1976) *''The Silent Voice'' (1977) *''The Thinktank That Leaked'' (1979) *''Chromosome Game'' (1984)

===Teleplays=== For ''Armchair Theatre:'' *''The Ship That Couldn't Stop'' (1961) [https://web.archive.org/web/20050628100353/http://memorabletv.com/bfs3a.htm] *''The Higher They Fly'' (1963)[https://web.archive.org/web/20051001011630/http://www.memorabletv.com/bfh3.htm] *''A Voice in the Sky'' (1965) [https://web.archive.org/web/20051025024838/http://memorabletv.com/bfv1.htm]

For the British television series ''Suspense'': *''The White Hot Coal'' (1962) [https://web.archive.org/web/20050817012811/http://www.action-tv.org.uk/guides/suspense.htm]

==References== {{reflist}}

==External resources== *{{ISFDB name|id=Christopher_Hodder-Williams|name=Christopher Hodder-Williams}} *{{IMDb name | id=0387989 | name=Christopher Hodder-Williams}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hodder-Williams, Christopher}} Category:1926 births Category:1995 deaths Category:English fantasy writers Category:English science fiction writers Category:People educated at Sandroyd School Category:20th-century English novelists Category:20th-century English short story writers