William F. Temple
(March 9, 1914 – July 15, 1989)
William Frederick Temple was a British fan and pro, best known for his story 'The 4-Sided Triangle' (Amazing, November 1939), in which a girl two men love is duplicated in order to solve the problem. The story was later published as a novel, Four-Sided Triangle in 1949, and still later made into a movie.
Temple was a member of the British Interplanetary Society, the editor of their journal, and was active in fandom beginning in the 1930s. He was a member of the Science Fiction Association SFA, joining in October 1937. Prior to World War II, he shared an apartment in London — The Flat — with Arthur C. Clarke. He was an associate editor of the fanzine Novae Terrae from #25, August 1938. He attended the Second British Convention in 1938 and the Third in 1939.
Temple's first published story was 'The Kosso', which appeared in the anthology Thrills (1935). He went on to publish other works in amateur and professional magazines over the next few years.
Service in World War II interrupted his writing career; but after the war, he wrote novels and resumed publishing stories in magazines, at a steady rate until the early 1970s. His published novels included The Automated Goliath (1962), Shoot at the Moon (1966), and The Fleshpots of Sansato (1968). He also wrote three juvenile SF novels in his "Martin Magnus" series (1954-1956). His somewhat fictionalized account of life with Clarke in The Flat eventually appeared (with other stories included) as 88 Gray's Inn Road: A Living-Space Odyssey (2000).
In addition, he wrote crime fiction and non-fiction books about space travel.
His (mostly humorous) fanzine writing from 1938 to 1960 is collected as Temple at the Bar (Ansible Editions 2017 ebook; 2022 trade paperback), edited by Rob Hansen.
In 1939, he married Joan Temple, and they lived together in The Flat. Their daughter, Ann, married fan Joe Patrizio.
- Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
- William F. Temple in Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Temple at the Bar
| Person | 1914—1989 |
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