The Other List: UK sf/fantasy writers as of 2008

[major_clanger]

And now my list of UK sf/fantasy writers in 2008. This list is almost inevitably subjective and incomplete; I've excluded living authors who've not written any genre work this decade, and writers who have worked entirely in comics or spin-off books. Having said that, I've stretched a few points, as with Alan Moore, and Arthur C Clarke (who, if we're honest, didn't write any work substantially his own after the late nineties.) Nonetheless, suggestions and comments welcome.

Joe Abercrombie, Neil Asher, Steve Aylett, Tony Ballantyne, Iain M Banks, Stephen Baxter, Barrington Bayley, Keith Brooke, Eric Brown, Chris Beckett, Malorie Blackman, Richard Calder, Mark Chadbourn, Arthur C Clarke, Susanna Clarke, Storm Constantine, Paul Cornell, Hal Duncan, Christopher Evans, Jaine Fenn, Neil Gaiman, Mary Gentle, Alasdair Gray, Dominic Green, Simon Green, Colin Greenland, Nicola Griffith, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Peter F Hamilton, M John Harrison, Robert Holdstock, Liz Holliday, Tom Holt, Simon Ings, Ben Jeapes, Jane Johnson, Diana Wynne Jones, Gwyneth Jones, J V Jones, Graham Joyce, David Langford, Tanith Lee, Doris Lessing, Ian McDonald, Juliet E McKenna, Ian R MacLeod, Ken MacLeod, Paul McAuley, John Meaney, China Miéville, Michael Moorcock, Alan Moore, Richard Morgan, Jeff Noon, Philip Palmer, K J Parker, Terry Pratchett, Christopher Priest, Philip Pullman, Philip Reeve, Alastair Reynolds, Adam Roberts, Justina Robson, J K Rowling, Geoff Ryman, Michael Marshall Smith, Brian Stableford, Charles Stross, Tricia Sullivan, Steph Swainston, Karen Travis, Jo Walton, Freda Warrington, Ian Watson, John Whitbourn, Liz Williams.

Comments

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming you're only listing people with novels? There are a lot of short writers out there as well, but it would be tough to get them all.

One you have missed:

Kari Spelling

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

[FX: Thwacks head with large stick] OK, who else on my f-list have I missed...?

As you say, there are a lot of active short writers I've doubtless missed, although some of my list have few if any novels.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Thank you... but, umm, Sperring. But I don't count properly.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

You'll be the artist known as 'Spelling (sp?)'.

I'll get me coat, shall I?

[nwhyte]

I can see several names on that list who have emigrated pretty definitively from the UK - A Clarke, Gaiman, Griffith, Walton.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Walton has only just got Canadian residency. But I rather get the impression she's in love with Montréal and not coming come except for visits.

[drplokta]

If Geoff Ryman is British, then Jo Walton is Canadian and Arthur C Clarke is Sri Lankan. Conversely, if Clarke and Walton are British then Ryman is Canadian.

Add John Clute (subject to reservations above) and Conor Kostick (ditto, as he now lives in Ireland).

[dalmeny]

It is easily possible to have more than one nationality at once.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

I'm taking a rather wide interpretation of 'British' to include expatriates (otherwise Clarke would be excluded, which would seem ridiculous) and writers from overseas who have done much of their writing in the UK (otherwise Ryman would be excluded, which given what this list is for would be downright embarrassing!)

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Yes, definitely.

[celestialweasel.livejournal.com]

Kim Newman. Mat Coward (short story collection anyway)

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

I wondered about Kim but according to ISFDB he hasn't written any fiction in over a decade. But... he's hugely influential, and I've made an exception for Clarke, so OK.

[celestialweasel.livejournal.com]

Secret Files of the Diogenes Club published 2007 has a new story in it.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Ah! No question then; Mr Newman is waved in.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Lisanne Norman

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Also Sarah Singleton, Fiona McGavin and Alex Bell.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Sarah Singleton and Fiona McGavin yes. Alex Bell I'm not so sure about; it seems that Bell's published output is one novel that only came out a few weeks ago so I'm a little wary of including him/her.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Her.

[maeve-the-red.livejournal.com]

Alex will have another novel out next year, so in all fairness if I'm in there she should probably be too.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

He may not have been visible in written form, but Peter Morwood does have a co-screenwriting credit for Sword of Xanten a year of two back.

Jon George (Faces of Mist And Flame)

S. F. Said (Varjak Paw)

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Cherith Baldry (published rather a lot).

Deirdre Counihan (novel with Immanion: THE PANTHER)

Are you including short story writers? I missed that bit of your post.

I'll try and think of some more.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

I'd like to include short story writers who have a reasonable recent output, although I'd be hard-pressed to define exactly what that meant. More than five professional sales in the last three years?

And yes re Cherith and Deirdre.

[maeve-the-red.livejournal.com]

Ian Creasey has had a fair few stories in Asimov's recently. Of course, that's in the US, but he's a Brit.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

So have Liz Counihan and Chris Butler. I'm still thinking as I know there are people I've missed out too.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

You missed desperance, aka Chaz Brenchley. Also Debbie Miller (aka Miller Lau), David Devereaux, and ... my memory just farted and ran out of gas. (Too early in the morning!)

Ah. Alan Campbell.

[celestialweasel.livejournal.com]

We are getting into dangerous territory here, but what about Andrew Crumey? Sputnik Caledonia, whilst I thought it was deeply hateful, seemed to be to be undeniably SF. ISTR Crumey, though a litfic person, said 'of course it's SF'.

[coth.livejournal.com]

You've left off at least some authors shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award: Sarah Hall and Kazuo Ishiguro come immediately to mind. As Chair of the SFF you might have to work a bit at the justification for excluding any such :-)

And thinking of Ishiguro makes me wonder what criteria exclude the likes of P.D. James and Jeanette Winterson who are writing sf without acknowledging the genre.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

For the latter two the criteria is simple: manifest dismissal of the genre. This is for something that is in support of the BSFA's 50th, and if writers want to claim that their work isn't sf then I'm not going to embarrass them by including their names :-)

Yes, I need to trawl the award shortlists and also major convention GoHs.

[pigeonhed.livejournal.com]

Sarah Hall is proud to be considered aa writing SF, and has some SF short stories unrelated to The Carhullan Army and as yet unpublished.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know - I was referring to James and Winterson.

[drasecretcampus.livejournal.com]

This is the list from my British Boom piece - which I suspect was not complete:

Joan Aiken, Brian Aldiss, David Almond, Joe Ahearne, Chris Amies, Tom Arden, Neal Asher, Steve Aylett, Wilhelmina Baird, Cherith Baldry, J.G. Ballard, Iain M. Banks, James Barclay, Clive Barker, Paul Barnett/John Grant, Stephen Baxter, Malorie Blackman, Stephen Bowkett, Chaz Brenchley, Keith Brooke/Nick Gifford, Christopher Brookmyre, Eric Brown, Molly Brown, Eugene Byrne, Pat Cadigan, Richard Calder, Mark Chadbourn, Simon Clark, John Clute, Michael Cobley, Steve Cockayne, Storm Constantine, Louise Cooper, Paul Cornell, Gillian Cross, Peter Crowther, Russell T. Davies, Jack Deighton, Peter Dickinson, Eric Evans, Jasper Fforde, Christopher Fowler, Maggie Furey, Neil Gaiman, Stephen Gallagher, David S. Garnett/David Ferring, Mary Gentle, Debi Gliori, Muriel Gray, Colin Greenland, Nicola Griffith, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Peter F. Hamilton, M. John Harrison, Robert Holdstock, Tom Holland, Tom Holt, Lesley Howarth, Eva Ibbotson, Simon Ings, Brian Jacques, Robin Jarvis, Ben Jeapes, Diana Wynne Jones, Gwyneth Jones/Ann Halam, Graham Joyce, Peter Kalu, Garry Kilworth, William King, David Langford, Tanith Lee, Roger Levy, James Lovegrove/J.M.S. Lovegrove, Brian Lumley, Ian R. MacLeod, Ken MacLeod, Jan Mark, Graham Masterton, Paul McAuley, Geraldine McCaughrean, Ian McDonald, Juliet E. McKenna, Robin McKinley, John Meaney, China Miéville, Martin Millar/Martin Scott, Michael Moorcock, Alan Moore, Simon Morden, Richard Morgan, Grant Morrison, Kim Newman/Jack Yeovil, William Nicholson, Jenny Nimmo, Jeff Noon, Daniel O’Mahoney, Darren O’Shaughnessy/Darren Shan, Stephen Palmer, K.J. Parker, Terry Pratchett, Christopher Priest, Philip Pullman, Robert Rankin, Philip Reeve, Alastair Reynolds, Chris Riddell, Philip Ridley, Adam Roberts/A.R.R. Roberts, Katherine Roberts, Justina Robson, J.K. Rowling, Nicholas Royle, Geoff Ryman, Jan Siegel, Alison Sinclair, Gus Smith, Michael Marshall Smith, Brian Stableford/Brian Craig/Francis Amery, Paul Stewart, Charles Stross, Tricia Sullivan/Valery Leith, Brian Talbot, Sue Thomas, Karen Traviss, Lisa Tuttle, Jo Walton, Ian Watson, John Whitbourn, Liz Williams, John Wilson, David Wingrove, Chris Wooding.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I am British in the sense that I was born in Britain and still have a British passport, but I am not A British Writer. There's a British SF boom or whatever, and I am not part of it -- I'm not published in the UK, I've never been published in Interzone, insofar as "British SF" is one thing, I think I'm not falling very well within that thing.

(This is of course why I emigrated... no, only kidding. And I still feel as if I am part of British Fandom, FWIW.)

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Sarah Ash, Jessica Rydill, Anne Gay, Louise Cooper.