John M. Murry, 75; Novelist, Short Story Writer and Teacher

John Middleton Murry, 75, who penned lyrical science fiction under the pseudonym Richard Cowper, died April 29 in London after suffering a stroke, his family announced Friday.

The son and namesake of the famous British literary critic John Middleton Murry, the younger Murry began writing while at Rencomb College. After serving in the Royal Navy during World War II, he completed his education at Oxford University and became a teacher in 1950.

Murry taught for 20 years, during which he wrote six successful novels, including the critically praised “The Golden Valley,” published in 1958 under the pen name of Colin Murry.

Eventually abandoning teaching to become a full-time writer, Murry wrote more than two dozen novels and several collections of short stories. Critics particularly liked his 1974 mystical work, “The Twilight of Briareus.” The book describes how the explosion of a supernova in outer space prompts the creation of a paradise on Earth and details the resulting interactions between aliens and humans.