Born: 10-Jul-1931
Birthplace: Chicago, IL

Gender: Female
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Novelist

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Galactic Milieu Trilogy

Author and editor Julian May is the creator of the Pliocene Exiles and Galactic Milieu series and as such has created such works as The Many Colored Land (nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards), The Golden Torc, Intervention, and Jack the Bodiless. Also of note is her Black Trillium, co-authored with Marion Zimmer Bradley and Andre Norton. May has also authored over 290 books for young readers.

Julian May discovered science fiction pulp magazines at age sixteen. She involved herself in the world of science fiction fandom, exchanging letters with other fans. She eventually formalized her club as Science Fiction International and became publisher of its fanzine. At a convention she met future husband Ted Dikty who would, in later life, serve as her editor and literary agent.

May's first short story, "Dune Roller", was published in 1951. She meanwhile continued her interest in the world of sci-fi fandom, chairing the 10th World Science Fiction Convention in Chicon, Illinois. In 1953 her second science fiction short, "Star of Wonder", was published in Thrilling Wonder Stories magazine. Yet the need to produce more substantial income led May to largely abandon science fiction writing in favor of a position as science editor for a Chicago encyclopedia publisher. Between 1953 and 1957 she produced roughly seven thousand encyclopedia articles. During this time she also managed to slip in the occasional comic strip (Buck Rogers), technical manual, as well as a catechism (produced jointly with a doctor of theology).

In 1957, May and her husband co-founded Publication Associates, a production service for educational publishers. She herself began writing and publishing a plethora of juvenile non-fiction works, many of them on science and nature topics, as well as a number of biographies. Among her many pseudonyms was "Ian Thorne", under which name she later (in the 1970s and 80s) created a string of chapter books based on classic monster characters, including adaptations of Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man, as well as the more science fiction oriented Godzilla and It Came from Outer Space.

In 1976 May once again became involved in writing for the adult science fiction genre after attending a science conviction, while May's husband was involved in publishing sci-fi related non-fiction. She constructed a diamond-studded silver space suit, which she wore to this event, and supposedly the costume inspired her later creation of the Galactic Milieu stories. May began work on her Saga of the Pliocene Exhiles, a related series that she imagined would have broader appeal. In 1982 she published The Many Colored Land, followed by The Golden Torc, with both books, and two later sequels, enjoying great popular success. In 1987 she at last published her first book in the Galactic Milieu series. May's collaboration with Marion Zimmer Bradley and Andre Norton on Black Trillium led to three sequels in what is now the Trillium saga.

Husband: Ted Ditky (science fiction anthologist, b. 1920, m. 1953, d. 1991)

Author of books:
The Many-Coloured Land (1981)
The Golden Torc (1981)
The Nonborn King (1983)
The Adversary (1984)
The Surveillance (1988)
Metaconcert (1988)
Intervention (1987)
Jack the Bodiless (1992)
Diamond Mask (1994)
Magnificat (1996)
Perseus Spur (1998)
Orion Arm (1999)
Sagittarius Whorl (2001)
Conqueror's Moon (2003)
Ironcrown Moon (2004)
Robots and Thinking Machines (1961)

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