Jane Dixon Rice (April 30, 1913 – March 2, 2003)[1] was an American science fiction and horror writer.
Her science fiction debut was with "The Dream" in the July 1940 issue of Unknown, edited by the legendary sf editor John W. Campbell.[2]:145, 322 She published a number of other stories in Unknown. Her werewolf story "The Refugee" from the October 1943 issue was selected by Campbell for his best of anthology From Unknown Worlds (1946)[2]:146 and it was also anthologized in Rivals of Weird Tales (1990)[2]:402 and the Library of America's American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from the 1940s to Now (2009), edited by Peter Straub. "The Idol of the Flies" from the June 1942 issue was also frequently anthologized. It concerns an evil boy named Pruitt who has been called "one of the most monstrous children in literature".[3]
Rice collaborated with Ruth Allison on the story "The Loolies Are Here" under the name Allison Rice for the anthology Orbit 1 (1966), edited by Damon Knight.[2]:402 She also published short fiction in a number of science fiction and non-genre magazines, including The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (under the name Mary Austin), Charm, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Cosmopolitan, and Ladies' Home Journal.[2]:402
Despite this history of publication, Rice's first book was not published until 1995 when Necronomicon Press published her horror novelette The Sixth Dog as a chapbook.[2]:402 She did not live to see the publication of her second book, a collection of her short fiction called The Idol of the Flies and Other Stories, published by Midnight House in 2003 as a limited edition of 500 copies.[4]
Rice was a Roman Catholic and strongly opposed abortion.[5] She married John T. Rice, and the couple had a son, John.[5] Her husband preceded her in death, but she was survived by her son.[5]
Rice died at her home in Greensboro, North Carolina.[1]