Charles Stross
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Charles Stross | |
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Charles Stross at Worldcon 2005 in Glasgow |
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Born | 18 October 1964 Leeds, England |
Occupation | Writer, former Programmer and Pharmacist |
Nationality | British |
Writing period | 1990s-present |
Genres | Science fiction, fantasy, horror |
Influences
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Official website |
Charles David George "Charlie" Stross (born 18 October 1964) is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. His works range from science fiction and Lovecraftian horror to fantasy. Stross was born in Leeds.
Stross is sometimes regarded as being part of a new generation of British science fiction writers who specialise in hard science fiction and space opera. His contemporaries include Alastair Reynolds, Ken MacLeod, Liz Williams and Richard Morgan. Obvious inspirations include Vernor Vinge, Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, and Bruce Sterling, among other cyberpunk and postcyberpunk writers as well as older figures such as H. P. Lovecraft, Roger Zelazny and Robert A. Heinlein.
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[edit] Biography
In the 1970s and 1980s, Stross published some role-playing game articles for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the White Dwarf magazine. Some of his creatures, such as the death knight, githyanki (borrowed from George R. R. Martin's book, Dying of the Light), githzerai, and slaad (a chaotic race notable for their rigid caste system) were later published in the Fiend Folio monster compendium.
His first published short story, "The Boys", appeared in Interzone in 1987. His first novel, Singularity Sky was published by Ace Books in 2003 and was nominated for the Hugo Award. A collection of his short stories, Toast: And Other Rusted Futures appeared in 2002. Subsequent short stories have been nominated for the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and other awards. His novella "The Concrete Jungle" (available online) won the Hugo award for its category in 2005. His novel Accelerando (also available online) won the 2006 Locus Award for best science fiction novel, was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the year's best science fiction novel, and was on the final ballot for the Hugo Award in the best novel category. Glasshouse won the 2007 Prometheus Award and was on the final ballot for the Hugo Award in the best novel category. His novella Missile Gap (likewise available online) won the 2007 Locus Award for best novella and most recently he was awarded the Edward E. Smith Memorial Award or Skylark at Boskone 2008.
In addition to working as a writer of fiction he has worked as a technical author, freelance journalist, programmer, and pharmacist at different times. He holds degrees in Pharmacy and Computer Science.
Rogue Farm, an animated film based on his 2003 short story of the same title, debuted in August 2004.
He was one of the Guests of Honour at Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) in March 2008.
He is the Author Guest of Honour at the Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention (Balticon) in May 2009.
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Non-Fiction
[edit] Stand alone works
- Scratch Monkey (unpublished, 1993)
- "A Colder War" (2000, novellette)
- Toast: And Other Rusted Futures (2002, ISBN 1-58715-413-7; short story collection)
- Accelerando (2005, ISBN 0-441-01284-1; 2006 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel)
- Glasshouse (2006, ISBN 0-441-01403-8[1]; 2007 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel)
- "Missile Gap" (2007, ISBN 1-59606-058-1; novella)
- Saturn's Children (2008, ISBN 0-441-01594-8; 2009 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel)
[edit] Halting State series
- Halting State (2007, ISBN 978-0-441-01498-9; 2008 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel)
- 419 (forthcoming 2010[2])
[edit] Eschaton series
- Singularity Sky (2003, ISBN 0-441-01072-5; 2004 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel)
- Iron Sunrise (2004, ISBN 1-84149-335-X; 2005 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel)
[edit] The "Bob Howard - Laundry" series
- The Atrocity Archives (2004, ISBN 1-930846-25-8; contains the Hugo Award-winning novella "The Concrete Jungle")
- The Jennifer Morgue (2006, ISBN 1-930846-44-4; also contains the extra story "Pimpf")
- "Down on the Farm" (2008)
- The Fuller Memorandum (forthcoming 2010, Ace Books)
[edit] Merchant Princes series
The Merchant Princes is a series in which some humans have an ability to travel between parallel Earths, which have differing levels of technology. This series is science fiction, even though it was originally marketed by the publisher as fantasy.
The first three books were collectively nominated for and won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 2007.
- The Family Trade (2004, ISBN 0-7653-0929-7)
- The Hidden Family (2005, ISBN 0-7653-1347-2)
- The Clan Corporate (2006, ISBN 0-7653-0930-0)
- The Merchants' War (2007, ISBN 0-7653-1671-4)
- The Revolution Business (forthcoming April 2009[3], ISBN 0-7653-1672-2 )
[edit] Omnibus titles
The Science Fiction Book Club has published omnibus editions that combine two books, without new material.
- Timelike Diplomacy (2004; combines Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise)
- On Her Majesty's Occult Service (2007, combines The Atrocity Archives and The Jennifer Morgue)
[edit] References
- ^ It is set in the same universe as Accelerando
- ^ "The Charles Stross FAQ". http://www.antipope.org/charlie/fiction/faq.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-21.
- ^ Incidentally…, Charles Stross's blog, 23 August 2008
[edit] External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Charles Stross |
- Official Homepage and blog
- Charles Stross at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- The Family Trade has been coded by StoryCode
- A FAQ, mainly listing his published novels. The descriptions for the series came from this.
- Golden Gryphon Press official sites for The Atrocity Archives & The Jennifer Morgue
[edit] Fiction
- Accelerando The complete text of Stross' novel, released as a free ebook under a Creative Commons license.
- "A Colder War" is available online at Infinity Plus
- Charles Stross's online fiction at Free Speculative Fiction Online
[edit] Essays
- Life's a Game and Then you Die, regarding the future of online games.
- "The High Frontier, Redux", an article on the harsh realities of the future of space travel and colonization of the solar system and beyond.
[edit] Interviews
- Interview conducted by Lou Anders at Infinity Plus
- Interview conducted by Nick Gevers at Science Fiction Weekly (2003)
- Interview extract from an interview in Locus (2003)
- Interview conducted by Martin Empson for Socialist Review, full text here. (2005)
- Mini Interview conducted by John Joseph Adams for SCI FI WIRE (2006)
- Interview moderated by Cory Doctorow at The Well (2003)
- Interview conducted by Roger Deforest (2006)
Persondata | |
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NAME | Stross, Charles |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Stross, Charlie |
SHORT DESCRIPTION | Science fiction writer |
DATE OF BIRTH | 18 October 1964 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Leeds, England |
DATE OF DEATH | |
PLACE OF DEATH |