Patricia Miles. Another good writer gone by Dennis Hamly
I don't want to get the reputation of being Authors Electric's old miseryguts but over the last three years I really do seem to have been at a lot of funerals of writers uncomfortably close to my generation who have been my friends and colleagues over many years and whose passing will diminish me. However, I'm writing to celebrate as much as mourn. To be able to look back at high achievement and mark out unique talent is in itself a privilege. Last Friday (May 10th)) I attended the funeral of an author whose name may be familiar to our older contemporaries as a colleague and rival and to younger writers as a really good read and an understanding companion. Patricia Miles was a remarkable children's novelist and short story writer, in my opinion hugely underrated, whose main work was done in the 70s and 80s. Her work seemed to fall out of favour as the 90s got under way, an early victim of publisher fickleness. The independent revolution came too late for her.She wa...