John Gloag (10 August 1896 - 17 July 1981) was an English writer in the fields of furniture design and architecture. Gloag also wrote science fiction novels. Gloag served with the

Welsh Guards The Welsh Guards (WG; cy, Gwarchodlu Cymreig), part of the Guards Division, is one of the Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. It was founded in 1915 as a single-battalion regiment, during the First World War, by Royal Warrant of George V. ...

during the First World War, and was invalided home after suffering gas poisoning.

Writings on design

''Artifex, or the Future of Craftsmanship'' (1926), part of the

To-day and To-morrow ''To-day and To-morrow'' (sometimes written ''Today and Tomorrow'') was a series of over 150 speculative essays published as short books by the London publishers Kegan Paul between 1923 and 1931 (and published in the United States by E. P. Dutton, ...

series, was a pamphlet by Gloag that discussed the relationship between artistic craftmanship and

mass production Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and batch ...

. Gloag's ''A Short Dictionary of Furniture'' (1969) was a reference book covering the history and types of furniture from the tenth century to the 1960s.

Novels

Gloag's first science fiction novel, ''Tomorrow's Yesterday'', (1932) was inspired by the work of H.G. Wells and Gloag's friend

Olaf Stapledon William Olaf Stapledon (10 May 1886 – 6 September 1950) – known as Olaf Stapledon – was a British philosopher and author of science fiction.Andy Sawyer, " illiamOlaf Stapledon (1886-1950)", in Bould, Mark, et al, eds. ''Fifty Key Figures ...

. ''Tomorrow's Yesterday'' is a

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

that depicts a race of cat people from the distant future observing human society. In ''The New Pleasure'' (1933) a powder that greatly increases the sense of smell causes a social upheaval. ''Winter's Youth'' (1934) revolves around a longevity technology, which falls into the hands of a corrupt politician, with disastrous social consequences. In ''Manna'' (1940) a journalist discovers a plan to develop a fungus that could end world hunger. ''99%'' (1944) is about an experiment to give humans access to their race memory. Later in his career Gloag wrote

historical fantasy Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Arthu ...

novels; ''Caesar of the Narrow Seas'' (1969), ''The Eagles Depart'' (1973) and ''Artorius Rex'' (1977).''Artorius Rex'' focuses on

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

and

Sir Kay In Arthurian legend, Sir Kay ( cy, Cai, Middle Welsh ''Kei'' or ''Cei''; la, Caius; French: ''Keu''; Old French: ''Kès'' or ''Kex'') is King Arthur's foster brother and later seneschal, as well as one of the first Knights of the Round Table. ...

.Raymond Henry Thompson, ''The Return from Avalon: a study of the Arthurian legend in modern fiction'' Greenwood Press, 1985. (p. 39).

Fiction publications

Novels

* ''Tomorrow's Yesterday'' (1932) * ''The New Pleasure'' (1933) * ''Winter's Youth'' (1934) * ''Sweet Racket'' (1936) * ''Ripe for Development'' (1936) * ''Sacred Edifice'' (1937, revised 1954) * ''Documents Marked Secret'' (1938) * ''Unwilling Adventurer'' (1940) * ''Manna'' (1940) * ''I Want An Audience'' (1941) * ''Mr. Buckby is Not at Home'' (1942) * ''99%'' (1944) * ''In Camera'' (1945) * ''Kind Uncle Buckby'' (1946) * ''All England At Home'' (1949) * ''Not in the Newspapers'' (1953) * ''Slow'' (1954) * ''Unlawful Justice'' (1962) * ''Rising Suns'' (1964) * ''Caesar of the Narrow Seas'' (1969) * ''The Eagles Depart'' (1973) * ''Artorius Rex'' (1977)

Short Stories

* ''It Makes a Nice Change'' (1938) * ''First One and Twenty'' (1946) * ''Take One a Week: An Omnibus of Volume of 52 Short Stories'' (1950)

Selected non-fiction publications

*''The architectural interpretation of history'' *''Artifex, or the Future of Craftsmanship'' 1926 *''A Short Dictionary of Furniture'' (first edition 1952) 1969. **revised and expanded as ''John Gloag's Dictionary of Furniture'' 1990. London, Unwin Hyman *''Colour & comfort in decoration'' *''The Englishman's castle'' *''Georgian grace'' *''Guide to Furniture Styles English and French 1450 to 1850'' London:

A & C Black A & C Black is a British book publishing company, owned since 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing. The company is noted for publishing '' Who's Who'' since 1849. It also published popular travel guides and novels. History The firm was founded in 18 ...

. *''Guide to Western architecture'' *''Industrial art explained'' *''Victorian Comfort: A Social History of Design from 1830-1900'' 1961. London:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gloag, John 1896 births 1981 deaths English science fiction writers English fantasy writers English male short story writers English short story writers English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century British short story writers Welsh Guards soldiers 20th-century English male writers English male non-fiction writers