Charles Stross

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Charles Stross
Charles Stross at the Forbidden Planet bookstore, London, in 2009
Born	18 October 1964 (1964-10-18) (age 44) Leeds, England
Occupation	Writer, former Programmer and Pharmacist
Nationality	British
Writing period	1990s-present
Genres	Science fiction, fantasy, horror
Influences H. P. Lovecraft, Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, John le Carré
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^{[citation needed]} 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.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Bibliography 2.1 Non-Fiction 2.2 Stand alone works 2.3 Halting State series 2.4 Eschaton series 2.5 The "Bob Howard - Laundry" series 2.6 Merchant Princes series 2.7 Omnibus titles 3 References 4 External links 4.1 Fiction 4.2 Essays 4.3 Interviews

[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" won the Hugo award for its category in 2005. His novel Accelerando 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 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 was the Author Guest of Honour at the Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention (Balticon) in May 2009.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Non-Fiction

• The Web Architect's Handbook (1996, ISBN 0-201-87735-X)

[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)

2005 BSFA Award nominee for Best Novel ^[1]

2006 Locus Award winner for Best Novel ^[2]

2006 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel ^[2]

2006 John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee ^[2]

2006 Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee ^[2]

• Glasshouse (2006, ISBN 0-441-01403-8^[3])

2007 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel ^[4]

2007 Locus Award nominee for Best Novel ^[4]

2007 John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee ^[4]

• "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 ^[5]

2009 Locus Award nominee for Best Novel ^[5]

[edit] Halting State series

• Halting State (2007, ISBN 978-0-441-01498-9)

2008 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel ^[6]

2008 Locus Award nominee for Best Novel ^[6]

• 419 (forthcoming 2010^[7])

[edit] Eschaton series

• Singularity Sky (2003, ISBN 0-441-01072-5)

2004 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel ^[8]

• Iron Sunrise (2004, ISBN 1-84149-335-X)

2005 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel ^[1]

2005 Locus Award nominee for Best Novel ^[1]

[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")

2007 Locus Award nominee for Best Fantasy Novel ^[4]

• "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 (2009, ISBN 0-7653-1672-2)
• The Trade of Queens (scheduled for April 2010)^[9][10]

[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

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Charles Stross

This article's external links may not follow Wikipedia's content policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links. (July 2009)

• 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)
• Audio Interview conducted by Yog Radio (2009)

Persondata
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