Keith Roberts

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For the former head of the Grenadian security forces, see Keith Roberts (Grenada).

Keith Roberts (September 20, 1935 - October 5, 2000) was a British science fiction author. He began publishing with two stories in the September 1964 issue of Science Fantasy magazine, "Anita" (the first of a series of stories featuring a teenaged modern witch and her eccentric granny) and "Escapism." .

Several of his early stories were written using the pseudonym Alistair Bevan. His second novel, Pavane, which is really a collection of linked stories, may be his most famous work: an alternate history novel in which the Roman Catholic Church took control of England following the assassination of Queen Elizabeth I.

A later series of stories features Kaeti, a young woman who turns up in different guises at different historical periods, but always with the same name and usually the same "supporting cast" of friends and lovers. The name Kaeti is almost an anagram of Keith, suggesting that she may represent Roberts' anima, as may Anita, an earlier protagonist and other examples of what Keith Roberts called "the PH" or Primitive Heroine.

Roberts wrote numerous novels and short stories, and also worked as an illustrator. His artistic contributions include covers and interior artwork for New Worlds and Science Fantasy, later renamed Impulse. He also edited the last few issues of Impulse although the nominal editor was Harry Harrison.

In later life, Roberts lived in Salisbury. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1990, and died of its complications in October 2000. Obituaries recalled him as a talented but personally 'difficult' author, with a history of disputes with publishers, editors and colleagues.

Many of his stories have been published posthumously.

[edit] Partial bibliography

Novels

The Inner Wheel
Pavane
The Boat of Fate (a historical novel set in Britain at the end of the Roman Empire's power)
The Furies
The Chalk Giants (arguably also a collection of linked short stories)
Molly Zero
Gráinne (British Science Fiction Award winner, 1988; slipstream fiction)
Kiteworld (originally published as linked short stories)
The Road to Paradise (a thriller, without fantastic elements)

Collections