McMAHAN, Ian (D.)

PERSONAL: Married. Education: Ph.D.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, 5602 James Hall, 2900 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11210; fax: 718-951-4814. E-mail—imcmahan@brooklyn.cuny.edu.

CAREER: Brooklyn College, City University of New York, associate professor of psychology.

WRITINGS:

for young readers

Highlights of American History, Golden Press (New York, NY), 1968.

The Fox's Lair ("Microkid" series), illustrated by Yuri Salzman, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1983.

ESP McGee and the Ghost Ship, Avon Books (New York, NY), 1984.

Lake Fear ("Microkid" series), Macmillan (New York, NY), 1985.

The Lost Forest ("Microkid" series), Macmillan (New York, NY), 1985.

editor

Joseph Murphy The Power of Your Subconscious Mind: One of the Most Powerful Self-Help Guides Ever Written, Reward Books (Paramus, NJ), 2000.

Joseph Murphy The Amazing Laws of Cosmic Mind Power, Reward Books (Paramus, NJ), 2001.

Joseph Murphy Think Yourself Rich: Use the Power of Your Subconscious Mind to Find True Wealth, Reward Books (Paramus, NJ), 2001.

other

Footwork (novel), F. Watts (New York, NY), 1986.

Get It Done! A Guide to Motivation, Determination, and Achievement, Avon Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Secrets of the Pharaohs, Avon Books (New York, NY), 1998.

Also author of the novel From the Shamrock Store; contributor to periodicals.

SIDELIGHTS: Ian McMahan, who has a doctorate in child psychology, has written several books in the "Microkid" series, which targets middle-school readers and features Ricky, a seventh grader who has access to the computer network where his father works. Ricky communicates with Access Linkage to Electronic Computer (ALEC), a computerized personality that helps Ricky solve mysteries. In The Fox's Lair, Ricky looks to ALEC to clear a friend's father of computer fraud so that Karen Fujisawa and her family will not be disgraced and forced to return to Japan. Another thread involves local Native American ruins. In Lake Fear, another installment of the "Microkid" series, Ricky and ALEC deal with computer criminals, discover the source of chemical pollution, and expose the supplier of illegal weapons. ALEC helps Ricky find his missing mother when she disappears in The Lost Forest.

McMahan also wrote ESP McGee and the Ghost Ship, one of the books in the series about the brainy protagonist who in McMahan's title deals with environmental contamination. McMahan is the author of adult novels as well as his Get It Done! A Guide to Motivation, Determination, and Achievement and Secrets of the Pharaohs. He also revised and edited several books by motivational author Joseph Murphy.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

New York Times Book Review, March 2, 1969, review of Highlights of American History, p. 30.

Publishers Weekly, October 28, 1968, review of Highlights of American History.

School Library Journal, March, 1984, Mavis D. Arizzi, review of The Fox's Lair, p. 162.*