Editing James White (author) (section)

==Biography==
James White was born to a Catholic family in [[Belfast]], [[Northern Ireland]], on 7 April 1928, and spent part of his early life in Canada.<ref name="Andrews1999WhiteObit">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/sep/29/guardianobituaries|title=James White (obituary)|last=Andrews|first=G.|date=29 September 1999|work=The Guardian|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|access-date=24 November 2009|location=England}}</ref> He was educated in Belfast at St. John's Primary School (1935–1941) and St. Joseph's Technical Secondary School (1942–1943).<ref name="SectorgeneralBiobiblio" /> As a teenager he lived with foster parents.<ref name="SFRevuNov1998WhiteInterview">{{Cite news
| url=http://www.sfrevu.com/ISSUES/1998/9811/DEFAULT.HTM#Interviews | access-date=21 December 2008
| title=Focus On: Author James White | newspaper=SFRevue | volume=2 | issue=11 |date=November 1998}}</ref> He wanted to study medicine but financial circumstances prevented this. Between 1943 and 1965 he worked for several Belfast tailoring firms and then as assistant manager of a [[The Co-operative Group|Co-op]] [[department store]]. He married Margaret ("Peggy") Sarah Martin, another science fiction fan,<ref name="Ryder1991WhiteInterview" /> in 1955 and the couple had three children: daughter Patricia, and sons Martin and Peter. White later worked for the aeroplane builders [[Short Brothers]] Ltd. as a technical clerk (1965–1966), publicity assistant (1966–1968), and publicity officer (1968–1984).<ref name="SectorgeneralBiobiblio">{{cite web | url=http://www.sectorgeneral.com/biobiblio.html | access-date=17 December 2008 | title=Dr. Kilcasey in Space: A Bio-bibliography of James White | author=Andrews, G. | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207013020/http://www.sectorgeneral.com/biobiblio.html | archive-date=7 February 2012 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="DictLitBioJames White">{{Cite book
| contribution=James White
| title=Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 261, British Fantasy and Science-Fiction Writers Since 1960
| publisher=Gale Research Publications
| url=http://www.bookrags.com/biography/james-white-dlb/ | access-date=17 December 2008
}}</ref>

He became a science fiction fan in 1941, attracted particularly by the works of [[E. E. Smith|E. E. "Doc" Smith]], which featured good aliens as well as evil ones, and of [[Robert A. Heinlein]], many of whose stories concern ordinary people. In 1947 he met another Irish fan, [[Walt Willis|Walter A. ("Walt") Willis]], and the two helped to produce the fan magazines ''[[Slant (fanzine)|Slant]]'' (1948–1953) and ''[[Hyphen (fanzine)|Hyphen]]'' (1952–1965),<ref name="SectorgeneralBiobiblio" /><ref name="sfwaWalterWillisObit">{{cite web
| url=http://www.sfwa.org/News/willis.htm | access-date=17 December 2008
| title=Walter Alexander Willis (1919–1999) | publisher=[[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America]]
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000204062317/http://www.sfwa.org/News/willis.htm | archive-date=4 February 2000
}}</ref><ref name="James White">{{cite book | title=The First Protector (Earth: Final Conflict) | author=James White | publisher=Tor Books | date=March 2000 | isbn=978-0-312-84890-3 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/firstprotector00whit }}</ref> which featured stories and articles by noted authors including [[John Brunner (novelist)|John Brunner]], [[A. Bertram Chandler]], and [[Bob Shaw]]. In 2004 both White and Willis were nominated for the retrospective [[Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer]] of 1953, although neither won.<ref>{{cite web
| url=http://www.frankwu.com/hugo2004anon.html | access-date=19 December 2008
| title=2004 Hugo Awards and Retro Hugo Awards
}}</ref> <!-- White's main contribution was artwork, but he became interested in writing as the magazines used an increasing amount of art from noted professional illustrator [[Gerard Quinn]].<ref name="SectorgeneralBiobiblio" /> -->White said that he started writing stories because the ''Slant'' team felt that ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]'' was too dominated by prophesies of [[nuclear war|nuclear doom]], and his friends dared him to write the kind of story that they all liked to read.<ref name="SFRevuNov1998WhiteInterview" /> He said that getting published was fairly easy during the 1950s, as the [[World War II]] restrictions on paper were ended, and there were at least 12&nbsp;science magazines in Britain and about 40 in the United States.<ref name="Ryder1991WhiteInterview">{{cite journal|url=http://homepage.eircom.net/~albedo1/interview-white.html|title=Octocon Special – James White Interview|last=Ryder|first=B.|year=1991|journal=FTL|publisher=Irish Science Fiction Association|volume=11|access-date=28 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040403234523/http://homepage.eircom.net/~albedo1/interview-white.html |archive-date=3 April 2004}}</ref> His first published short story, "Assisted Passage", a parody of 1950s [[Ten Pound Poms|Anglo-Australian emigration policies]], appeared in the January 1953 edition of the magazine ''[[New Worlds (magazine)|New Worlds]]''.<ref name="Andrews1999WhiteObit" /><ref>{{Cite news | last=White | first=James | title=Assisted Passage | newspaper=New Worlds | issue=19 | date=January 1953 | url=http://www.sectorgeneral.com/shortstories/assistedpassage.html | access-date=17 December 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080809053908/http://www.sectorgeneral.com/shortstories/assistedpassage.html | archive-date=9 August 2008 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Further stories appeared in ''New Worlds'' during the next few years, but White's attempt to access the more lucrative American market by submitting stories to ''Astounding Science Fiction'' stalled after the publication of "The Scavengers".<ref name="Ryder1991WhiteInterview" /><ref>{{Cite news | last=White | first=James | title=The Scavengers | newspaper=Astounding Science Fiction | date=October 1953 | url=http://www.sectorgeneral.com/shortstories/thescavangers.html | access-date=17 December 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080809053839/http://www.sectorgeneral.com/shortstories/thescavangers.html | archive-date=9 August 2008 | url-status=dead }}</ref> White later said that his optimism about inter-species relations was unpalatable to ''Astounding'''s [[xenophobic]] editor, [[John W. Campbell]].<ref name="SectorgeneralBiobiblio" /><ref name="DictLitBioJames White" /> As a result, White's work was little-known outside the UK until the 1960s.<ref name="Ashley2005Transformations2">{{cite book
| title=Transformations: Volume 2 in the History of the Science Fiction Magazine, 1950–1970 | author=Michael Ashley
| publisher=Liverpool University Press | year=2005 | isbn=978-0-85323-769-3 | pages=146, 223
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F-zHBPAWmHkC&dq=%22james+white%22+%22science+fiction%22&pg=PA146
| access-date=19 December 2008
| author-link=Mike Ashley (writer)
}}</ref>

In 1957, [[Ace Books]] published White's first novel, ''[[The Secret Visitors]]'', which included locations in Northern Ireland.<ref name="Andrews1999WhiteObit" /> The book had previously been serialised in ''New Worlds'' with the title ''Tourist Planet''. Ace Books' science fiction editor, [[Donald A. Wollheim]], thought the original ending was too tame and suggested that White should insert an all-out space battle just after the climactic courtroom scene.<ref name="SectorgeneralBiobiblio" /> In November the same year ''New Worlds'' published White's [[Novella|novelette]] ''Sector General'', and editor [[John Carnell|John ("Ted") Carnell]] requested more stories set in the same universe, founding the series for which White is known best.<ref name="SectorgeneralBiobiblio" /> White gained "a steady following" for his "scientifically accurate" stories, which were  examples of [[hard science fiction]] in ''New Worlds'', despite the magazine's promotion of literary [[New Wave (science fiction)|"New Wave" science fiction]] during the 1960s.<ref name="Ashley2005Transformations2" />

White kept his job with Short Brothers and wrote in the evenings, as his stories did not make enough money for him to become a full-time author.<ref name="DictLitBioJames White" /> In 1980 he taught a literature course at a Belfast branch of the [[Workers Educational Association]].
When [[diabetes]] had severely impaired his eyesight, he took early retirement in 1984 and relocated to the north [[County Antrim|Antrim]] resort town of [[Portstewart]], where he continued to write.<ref name="SectorgeneralBiobiblio" /><ref name="Ryder1991WhiteInterview" /> For many years he was a Council Member of the [[British Science Fiction Association]] and, with [[Harry Harrison (writer)|Harry Harrison]] and [[Anne McCaffrey]], a Patron of the [[Irish Science Fiction Association]].<ref name="SectorgeneralBiobiblio" />
White was also a strong [[pacifist]].<ref>''[[Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia]]''
by [[Brian Stableford]]. CRC Press, 2006 (pg. 392).</ref> He died of a stroke on 23 August 1999,<ref name="Andrews1999WhiteObit"/><ref name="sfwaJamesWhiteObit">{{cite web
| url=http://www.sfwa.org/News/white.htm | access-date=17 December 2008 | title=James White, 1928–1999
| author=Nielsen Hayden, P | publisher=[[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America]]
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000119075840/http://www.sfwa.org/News/white.htm | archive-date=19 January 2000
}}</ref> while his novels ''[[Double Contact]]'' and ''[[The First Protector (Earth: Final Conflict)|The First Protector]]'' were being prepared for publication.<ref name="SectorgeneralBiobiblio" /><ref name="James White"/><ref>{{cite web
| url=http://www.inconjunction.org/coj/newsletters/1999/09.shtml#Cont3
| access-date=19 December 2008
| title=James White Dies
| archive-date=28 August 2008
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828204353/http://www.inconjunction.org/coj/newsletters/1999/09.shtml#Cont3
| url-status=dead
}}</ref> His wife Peggy, son Martin, and daughter Patricia survived him.<ref name="Andrews1999WhiteObit" />