The Shadow People

Margaret St Clair (1911-1995)
Margaret St Clair was an American science fiction writer who wrote mostly under her own name, but published a number of titles under the pseudonyms Idris Seabright and Wilton Hazzard. Born in Hutchinson, Kansas, St Clair had no siblings and recalled her childhood as 'rather a lonely and bookish one'. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1932 and in 1934 she earned a Master of Arts in Greek Classics. Her sf career began with 'Rocket to Limbo' for Fantastic Adventures in November 1946 and by 1950 she had published about 30 more stories. From the outset of her career, St. Clair was aware of her unusual role as a woman writing in a male-dominated field. An article she wrote for Writer's Digest in 1947, about selling stories to the science fiction market, begins: 'Why is science fiction fun to write? At first blush, it doesn't seem attractive, particularly for a woman.' A lifelong supporter of the American Friends Service Committee, she spent her final years at Friends House in Santa Rosa, California. She died in 1995.