Richard Carlton Meredith (October 21, 1937 – March 8, 1979),[1] was an American writer, illustrator and graphic designer, best known as the author of science fiction short stories and novels including We All Died at Breakaway Station and The Timeliner Trilogy.

The family moved several times before eventually settling in St. Albans, West Virginia late in 1942 or early in 1943, where his father, a pipe-fitter by trade, found employment as a technician in a chemical plant involved in the development and production of synthetic rubber.

[1] Meredith developed his writing during his time in the Army and began to submit short stories to some of the men's magazines that had appeared in imitation of Playboy.

Numerous rejection slips followed until he was taken on by the Scott Meredith Literary Agency and then began to get short stories accepted for publication.

[6] "Choice of Weapons" appeared in the March 1966 issue of Worlds of Tomorrow[7] and more stories were published over the next two years as Meredith refined his writing style.

This appears to have drawn the attention of Ballantine Books, because later in the year they published Meredith's first novels: The Sky is Filled with Ships and a revised and expanded version of We All Died at Breakaway Station.

The three novels are commonly referred to as The Timeliner Trilogy, but this series title was not applied until the books were reprinted in revised form by Playboy Press in 1979.

[2] Meredith underwent spinal surgery in the Fall of 1974 and did not return to work until January 1975 when he helped to found the Santa Rosa Free Press and served as editor.

"Creative differences" with the publisher and the accidental drowning of his son Jeff in July 1975 led Meredith to take a brief sabbatical during which he returned to West Virginia.

Filmmaker Robert H. Gwinn has announced plans to reprint the books as part of a promotional campaign supporting a film adaption of The Timeliner Trilogy.