Kay Eaton

Kay Eaton

Kay Eaton was a science fiction writer who wrote under the pseudonym of "K.C. Hunter" in the 1950s in order to conceal the truth, from the more conservative elements of that era, that she was in fact a woman. She is best known for her work from the New York based Incredible Tales magazine.

Kay often worked in conjunction with her husband Julius Eaton and the two had something of a reputation among the magazine staff for turning out slightly sentimental stories, particularly by Herbert Rossoff. Because she was a woman, and consequently discriminated against, Kay felt some solidarity with Benny Russell, the staff's only African-American writer.

When Benny submitted his story about a space station, Kay was particularly impressed with the character of Major Kira Nerys, saying science fiction needed more strong women. (DS9: "Far Beyond the Stars")

Kay Eaton was played by Nana Visitor. Coincidentally, she was also married to Alexander Siddig (who played Julius) at the time this episode was filmed.

The fact that sf writer Eaton had to disguise the fact she was female may be taken as an homage to TOS/TNG/DS9 writer D.C. Fontana, who began writing in the 1960s. However, the character is probably more directly inspired by Catherine Moore, a prominent female SF writer of the 1950s who often collaborated with her husband, Henry Kuttner, and hid her gender behind the byline C.L. Moore.

For a variety of reasons there are many female authors in the Trek genre for whom this naming convention continues to be used. These include: J.M. Dillard, A.C. Crispin, M.S. Murdock, D.C. Fontana, V.E. Mitchell, L.A. Graf, T.L. Mancour, E.L. Flood, W.R. Thompson, S.D. Perry, and S.N. Lewitt.