Leslie Purnell Davies (20 October 1914 – 6 January 1988) was a British novelist whose works typically combine elements of horror, science fiction and mystery. He also wrote many short stories under several pseudonyms, including: L. Purnell Davies, Leo Berne, Richard Bridgeman, Morgan Evans, Ian Jefferson, Lawrence Phillips, Thomas Philips, G. K. Thomas, Leslie Vardre, and Rowland Welch.[1]
Davies' books often deal with the manipulation of human consciousness, and in some ways are comparable to the works of Philip K. Dick. (The premise of The Artificial Man resembles that of Dick's Time Out of Joint.) His protagonists frequently suffer from amnesia or other loss of identity, and their quest to find out who they really are drives the plot.
Davies' novels The Artificial Man (1965) and Psychogeist (1966) were adapted into the 1968 film Project X, and The Alien (1968) was loosely adapted into the 1972 film The Groundstar Conspiracy. The Paper Dolls (1964) was adapted by Hammer as an episode ("Paper Dolls") of its television series Journey to the Unknown (1968).
Davies worked as a pharmacist, postmaster, optometrist, and gift shop owner, and served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in France, Italy and North Africa.
