Charles Stross

Charles David George "Charlie" Stross (born Leeds, 18 October 1964) is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. His works range from science fiction and Lovecraftian horror to fantasy.

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.

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.

Bibliography

Non-Fiction

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

Stand Alone Works

• Scratch Monkey, unpublished, 1993
• A Colder War, published 2000
• Toast: And Other Rusted Futures, published 2002, ISBN 1-58715-413-7 (short story collection)
• Accelerando, published 2005, ISBN 0-441-01284-1 (2006 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel)
• Glasshouse, published 2006, ISBN 0-441-01403-8 (set in the same universe as Accelerando; 2007 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel)
• Missile Gap, published 2007, ISBN 1-59606-058-1 (novella)
• Halting State, published 2007, ISBN 978-0-441-01498-9 (2008 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel)
• Saturn's Children, published 2008, ISBN 0-441-01594-8

Eschaton series

This series is "a post-singularity space opera."

• Singularity Sky, published 2003, ISBN 0-441-01072-5 (2004 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel)
• Iron Sunrise, published 2004, ISBN 1-84149-335-X (2005 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel)

The "Bob Howard - Laundry" series

This series is "cross-genre... combining aspects of science fiction, information technology (with a subtle nod to the BOFH), Lovecraftian horror, and the classic British spy thriller."

• The Atrocity Archives, published 2004, ISBN 1-930846-25-8 (contains the Hugo Award-winning novella "The Concrete Jungle")
• The Jennifer Morgue, published 2006, ISBN 1-930846-44-4 (also contains the extra story "Pimpf")

Merchant Princes series

The Merchant Princes is a series in which some humans have a hereditary ability to travel between parallel Earths, that 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, published 2004, ISBN 0-7653-0929-7
• The Hidden Family, published 2005, ISBN 0-7653-1347-2
• The Clan Corporate, published 2006, ISBN 0-7653-0930-0
• The Merchants' War, published 2007, ISBN 0-7653-1671-4
• The Revolution Business, forthcoming April 2009
• The Trade of Queens, forthcoming 2010

Omnibus titles

The Science Fiction Book Club has published omnibus editions that combine two books, without new material.

• Timelike Diplomacy, published 2004, combines Singularity Sky & Iron Sunrise
• On Her Majesty's Occult Service, published 2007, combines The Atrocity Archives & The Jennifer Morgue

References

External links

• Official Homepage and blog
• 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

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
• Glasshouse in Librusec library.

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.

Interviews

• Interview at Bookspotcentral.com (previously Fantasybookspot.com) (2008)
• 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 Jay Tomio for Bookspotcentral.com (previously Fantasybookspot.com) (2006)
• Interview conducted by Martin Empson for Socialist Review, full text here (2005)
• Mini Inverview conducted by John Joseph Adams for SCI FI WIRE (2006)
• Interview moderated by Cory Doctorow at The Well (2003)
• Interview conducted by Roger Deforest at HardSF.net (2006)