MASTERS, Anthony (Richard) 1940-2003

(Richard Tate)

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born December 14, 1940, in Esher, Surrey, England; died April 4, 2003, in Hastings, East Sussex, England. Author. Although Masters was also the author of biographies and adult fiction, critics often praised his fiction featuring the struggles of coming-of-age characters. After being kicked out of King's College, Wimbledon, for organizing a protest against mandated school uniforms, Masters worked various jobs, including a year as a journalist and several years at Hodder & Stoughton in London, where he was a book salesman and production assistant. His talent as a writer, however, was recognized with his first book, A Pocketful of Rye (1964). This was followed by a number of adult novels, including the acclaimed The Seahorse (1966), which won the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, Red Ice (1986), The Men (1997), The Good and Faithful Servant (1999), and Lifers (2001). He also penned biographies such as Bakunin: The Father of Anarchism (1974) and The Man Who Was M: The Life of Maxwell Knight (1984), as well as paperback thrillers published under the pseudonym Richard Tate. Especially in his native England, Masters was even most appreciated for young-adult fiction in which he was felt to have penetrated the thoughts and emotions of teenagers better than many of his peers. These books include Badger (1986), Wicked (1997), and Finding Joe (2000), among others. Masters strongly believed in encouraging the imaginations of children and teens, and toward this end he not only wrote fiction but also created workshops called "Book Explosions" in which children were invited to participate in a staged interpretation of an event and then write down their feelings about it. He also penned books designed for children with special needs and has been praised for his supernatural "Weird World" series that invites reluctant readers to open a book. At the time of his death, Masters was working on an adult novel to be titled Dark Bridges.

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PERIODICALS

Independent (London, England), April 14, 2003, p. 18.