Charles Stross

Charles Stross
Stross in 2017 at 34c3 in Leipzig, Germany
Born (1964-10-18) 18 October 1964
Leeds, England
Occupation Writer, former programmer and pharmacist
Nationality British
Alma mater University of Bradford[1]
Period 1990s–present
Genre Science fiction, fantasy, horror
Website
www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/

Charles David George "Charlie" Stross (born 18 October 1964) is a British writer of science fiction, Lovecraftian horror, and fantasy. Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. Between 1994 and 2004, he was also an active writer for the magazine Computer Shopper and was responsible for the monthly Linux column. He stopped writing for the magazine to devote more time to novels. However, he continues to publish freelance articles on the Internet.[2]

Early life and education

Stross was born in Leeds, England.[3] He showed an early interest in writing and wrote his first science fiction story at age 12. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Pharmacy in 1986 and qualified as a pharmacist in 1987. In 1989, he enrolled at Bradford University for a post-graduate degree in computer science. In 1990, he went to work as a technical author and programmer. In 2000, he began working as a writer full-time, as a technical writer at first, but then became successful as a fiction writer.[4][5]

Career

In the 1970s and 1980s, Stross published some role-playing game articles about Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in White Dwarf magazine. Some of his creatures, such as the death knight, githyanki (the name borrowed from George R. R. Martin's book, Dying of the Light), githzerai, and slaad (a chaotic race of frog-like humanoids) were later published in the Fiend Folio monster compendium.[6]

His first published short story, "The Boys", appeared in Interzone in 1987. A collection of his short stories, Toast: And Other Rusted Futures, was released in 2002; subsequent short stories have been nominated for the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and other awards. His first novel, Singularity Sky, was published by Ace Books in 2003 and was also nominated for the Hugo Award. His novella "The Concrete Jungle" (published in The Atrocity Archives) won the Hugo award for its category in 2005.[7] His novel Accelerando won the 2006 Locus Award for best science fiction novel, was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel,[8] and was on the final ballot for the Hugo Award in the best novel category.[9] Glasshouse won the 2007 Prometheus Award and was on the final ballot for the Hugo Award in the best novel category; the German translation Glashaus won the 2009 Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis.[10] 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.

His novel The Atrocity Archives (2004) focused on a British intelligence agency investigating Mythos-like horrors; using ideas similar to those in the RPG book Delta Green (1996), Stross commented in an afterword to the book: "All I can say in my defence is... I hadn't heard of Delta Green when I wrote The Atrocity Archive... I'll leave it at that except to say that Delta Green has come dangerously close to making me pick up the dice again."[11]:247

"Rogue Farm," his 2003 short story, was adapted into an eponymous animated film that debuted in August 2004.

Stross was one of the Guests of Honour at Orbital 2008,[12] 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. He was Author Guest of Honour at Fantasticon (Denmark) in August 2009. He was the Guest of Honor at Boskone 48 in Feb 2011.

Cubicle 7 used their Basic Role-Playing license to create The Laundry (2010), based on Stross' writings, wherein agents must deal with the outer gods and British bureaucracy at the same time.[11]:432

In September 2012, Stross released The Rapture of the Nerds, a novel written in collaboration with Cory Doctorow.[13] The two have also together been involved in the Creative Commons licensing and copyright movement.[14] In December 2017 he gave a talk at 34C3.[15]

Awards

Accelerando won the 2006 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.[16] "Missile Gap" won the 2007 Locus Award for best novella.[17] "The Concrete Jungle" (contained in The Atrocity Archives) won the Hugo Award for best novella in 2005;[7] "Palimpsest", included in Wireless, won the same award in 2010,[18] and "Equoid" in 2014.[19] The Apocalypse Codex won the 2013 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.[20] Stross's work has also been nominated for a number of other awards, including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award,[8] Arthur C. Clarke Award,[21] and the Hugo Award for Best Novel,[7][9][22][23] as well as the Japanese Seiun Award.[17]

Selected bibliography

Merchant Princes series

  • The Family Trade (2004)
  • The Hidden Family (2005)
  • The Clan Corporate (2006)
  • The Merchants' War (2007)
  • The Revolution Business (2009)
  • The Trade of Queens (2010)
  • Empire Games (2017)
  • Dark State (2018)
  • Invisible Sun (forthcoming, January 2019)[24]

The Laundry Files

  • The Atrocity Archives (2004)
  • The Jennifer Morgue (2006)
  • Down on the Farm (2008 novelette)
  • Overtime (2009 novelette)
  • The Fuller Memorandum (2010)
  • The Apocalypse Codex (2012)
  • Equoid (2013 novelette)
  • The Rhesus Chart (2014)
  • The Annihilation Score (2015)
  • The Nightmare Stacks (2016)[25]
  • The Delirium Brief (2017)[25]
  • The Labyrinth Index (scheduled to be published in 2018)[25]

Halting State series

References

  1. ↑ "How I got here in the end – my non-writing careers". Antipope.org. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  2. ↑ Stross, Charles. "Linux in Computer Shopper". antipope.org.
  3. ↑ http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/intcs.htm
  4. ↑ Charles Stross: Fast Forward, 2005, retrieved 14 October 2015
  5. ↑ Charles Stross Archived 9 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine., Tor.com (accessed 29 May 2013)
  6. ↑ "The Kyngdoms Interview". Kyngdoms. 26 May 2010. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
  7. 1 2 3 "2005 Hugo Awards: Best Novella: The Concrete Jungle; Best Novel Nominee: Iron Sunrise". Official Site of The Hugo Awards. Archived from the original on 7 May 2011.
  8. 1 2 "John W. Campbell Memorial Award Finalists". Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction, University of Kansas.
  9. 1 2 "2006 Hugo Awards: Accelerando (Nominee)". Official Site of The Hugo Awards. Archived from the original on 7 May 2011.
  10. ↑ Website for 2009 KLP results (in German)
  11. 1 2 Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  12. ↑ "Conventions 2008". Locus Publications. 2008. Retrieved 15 Feb 2017.
  13. ↑ Upcoming4.me. "Cory Doctorow, Charles Stross' Rapture of The Nerds cover art and summary reveal". Upcoming4.me. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  14. ↑ Evens, Arthur (2010). The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction. Wesleyan University Press. p. 727.
  15. ↑ Charles Stross (2017-12-27). "Dude, you broke the Future!". 34C3 (video). media.ccc.de. YouTube RmIgJ64z6Y4.
  16. ↑ "2006 Locus Awards". Archived from the original on 8 October 2010. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  17. 1 2 "Stross, Charles". Index of Literary Nominees. Locus Publications. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013.
  18. ↑ Locus Publications (5 September 2010). "Locus Online News " 2010 Hugo Awards Winners". Locusmag.com. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  19. ↑ "2014 Hugo Award Winners". 17 August 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  20. ↑ "Locus Award Winners". Retrieved 13 Dec 2014.
  21. ↑ "Award Shortlists". Arthur C. Clarke Award. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  22. ↑ "2008 Hugo Award Nominees Best Novel: Halting State". Official Site of The Hugo Awards. March 2003.
  23. ↑ "2009 Hugo Award Nominations: Saturn's Children". Official Site of The Hugo Awards. March 2003.
  24. ↑ Stross, Charles (18 April 2016). "Fiction by Charles Stross". Charlie's Diary. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  25. 1 2 3 "FAQ: The Laundry Files—series timeline". Charles Stross. 26 April 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  • Official website Edit this at Wikidata – featuring a blog with guest contributions
  • "Stross at Livejournal". Archived from the original on 3 December 2012.
  • Stross software releases – latest, 2000
  • Charles Stross at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
  • Charles Stross at Library of Congress Authorities, with 24 catalogue records
  • "Charles Stross :: Pen & Paper RPG Database". Archived from the original on 10 March 2005.
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