James Moffat (author)

James Moffat
Born 27 January 1922 (1922-01-27)
Canada
Died 8 November 1993 (1993-11-09) (aged 71)
Cheltenham, England
Alma mater Queen's University[1]
Occupation Writer

James Moffat (27 January 1922 in Canada – 8 November 1993 in England)[2][3] was a "Canadian-born UK writer who wrote at least 290 novels in several genres under at least 45 pseudonyms".[2]

Moffat produced many pulp novels for the United Kingdom publishing house New English Library during the 1970s. Moffat's pen names included Richard Allen, Etienne Aubin (The Terror of the Seven Crypts) and Trudi Maxwell (Diary of A Female Wrestler). Moffat's pulp novels mostly focused on youth subcultures of the late 1960s and 1970s, such as skinheads, hippies and bikers. In particular Moffat wrote a series of popular and commercially successful books featuring what came to be known as his most famous protagonist, the skinhead antihero Joe Hawkins.[4] Moffat often expressed admiration for his subject matter and commented on social issues, mostly from a right wing perspective.

The collected works of Richard Allen were reissued in a six volume set by ST Publishing in the 1990s. A BBC TV documentary about his life, Skinhead Farewell, aired in 1996. Allen's formulaic and sensationalist writing style has been imitated by Neoist writer Stewart Home. Mark Sargeant wrote a feature in Scootering Magazine titled The Richard Allen Legacy. An interview titled The Return of Joe Hawkins with publisher George Marshall was in issue seven of Skinhead Times (1992).

Under his own name Moffat wrote at least two science fiction novels: The Sleeping Bomb (New English Library, 1970; US edition 1973, The Cambri Plot) and a Queen Kong (1977) a movie tie-in to the low-budget 1976 movie of that name.[2]

Books written as Richard Allen

Skinhead series

New English Library published 18 Skinhead novels by Richard Allen.[1]

  • Skinhead (June 1970)
  • Suedehead (1971)
  • Demo (1971)
  • Boot Boys (1972)
  • Skinhead Escapes (1972)
  • Skinhead Girls (1972)
  • Glam (1973)
  • Smoothies (1973)
  • Sorts (1973)
  • Teeny Bopper Idol (1973)
  • Top Gear Skin (1973)
  • Trouble for Skinhead (1973)
  • Skinhead Farewell (1974)
  • Dragon Skins (1975)
  • Terrace Terrors (1975)
  • Knuckle Girls (1977)
  • Punk Rock (1977)
  • Mod Rule (1980)

References

  1. 1 2 Server, Lee, ed. (2009). "Allen, Richard (James Moffat)". Encyclopedia of Pulp Fiction Writers. Infobase Publishing. pp. 5–7.
  2. 1 2 3 "Moffatt, James". Modified 28 October 2014. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (sf-encyclopedia.com). Retrieved 23 February 2015. Entry by 'JC', John Clute.
  3. ↑ Shamash, Jack (25 November 1993). "Obituary: Richard Allen". The Independent. UK. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
  4. ↑ Andrew, Stevens (26 April 2007). "Cropping the skinhead image". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 7 December 2010.

External links

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