Nina Allan

Nina Allan(born 27 May 1966) is a British writer ofspeculative fiction.She has published five collections of short stories, multiple novella-sized works, and five novels. Her stories have appeared in the magazinesInterzone,Black StaticandCrimewaveand have been nominated for or won a number of awards, including theGrand prix de l'Imaginaireand theBSFA Award.

Nina Allan
Allan in 2016
Born	(1966-05-27)27 May 1966 Whitechapel,London, England
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	British
Alma mater	University of Exeter Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Genre	Speculative fiction
Notable works	The Silver Wind The Harlequin
Notable awards	Aeon Award (2007) BSFA Best Short Fiction (2013) Grand Prix de L'Imaginaire (2014) Novella Award (2015)
Partner	Christopher Priest
Website
The Spider's House

Early life and education

Allan was born inWhitechapel,in theEast End of London,and grew up in theMidlandsand inWest Sussex.She studied Russian language and literature at theUniversity of Readingand theUniversity of Exeter,and then did anMLittatCorpus Christi College, Oxford.

After leaving Oxford she worked as a buyer for an independent chain of record stores based in Exeter, and then as a bookseller in London.Her first published story appeared in theBritish Fantasy SocietyjournalDark Horizonsin 2002. She lived in the Taw Valley area ofNorth Devonbut now lives onIsle of Bute.

Her column "Nina Allan's Time Pieces" appears inInterzone.

Critical reception

Allan's storyDarkroomappeared inSubtle Edens: An Anthology of Slipstream Fictionedited by Allen AshleyElastic Pressin 2008.In a review of the collection Andy Hedgecock wrote that Nina Allan is developing into "one of the finest stylists of modern genre fiction." He went on to say that very few writers had her talent to uncover, "the strange within the ordinary with such clarity and precision."

Paul Kincaidin reviewingThe Silver Windasks when a series of stories can turn into a novel. He wrote that this was when, "the congeries of stories tell us more than any individual stories can." He suggests that this has been achieved and outlines the links between the stories before concluding that the sum of the parts is greater than the individual stories.One of the links is the viewpoint character Martin who appears in different parallel realities.Sofia Samatarhowever in her review questioned whether or not there is a danger in Allan's experiment of the emotional force being, "more likely to be lost than gained in the leaps between parallel realities."

InPeter Tennant's 2014 review ofThe Racehe wrote that this was "one of the finest books" he had read that year, but also wrote that he did not know what it was about and could "only hazard guesses." Although a novel, it is, "four self-contained sections that form a greater whole."Sofia Samataragrees that "The Raceguards its secrets. "She writes that, this is" a distancing novel about drawing in, ascience fictionnovel aware of its own artifice, aliterary fictionimpatient withmimesis."

In Stuart Conover's 2017 review ofThe Rifthe stated "There are a lot of fun concepts here and a fully crafted alien world which could easily have a completely separate tale told in. Actually, I'd love to Nina revisit this world without even mentioning Selena, Julie, or the events from this book and just have it as connective tissue."

In Ian Sansom's review ofConquesthe wrote "Nina Allan belongs to that small set of writers whom you probably haven’t heard of, but who is really famous among certain readers and also really good."

Nominations and awards

Allan's storyAngeluswon the Aeon Award in 2007. It was announced at theEuropean Science Fiction ConventioninCopenhagen,Denmarkin September 2007. The Grand JudgeIan Watsoncommented that it was “beautifully written and paced and Enigma tic yet in an entirely lucid way."

Year	Work	Award	Category	Result	Ref
2007	"Angelus"	Aeon Award	—	Won
2010	Flying in the Face of God	BSFA Award	Short Fiction	Shortlisted
2013	TheGateway	Shirley Jackson Award	Novella	Shortlisted
	Spin	BSFA Award	Short Fiction	Won
2014		British Fantasy Award	Novella	Shortlisted
	The Race	BSFA Award	Novel	Shortlisted
		Kitschies	Red Tentacle (Novel)	Shortlisted
2015		John W. Campbell Memorial Award	—	Shortlisted
	The Harlequin	Novella Award	—	Won
2017	"The Art of Space Travel"	Hugo Award	Novelette	Shortlisted
		Locus Award	Novelette	Shortlisted
		Theodore Sturgeon Award	—	Shortlisted
	The Rift	BSFA Award	Novel	Won
		Kitschies	Red Tentacle (Novel)	Won
2018		John W. Campbell Memorial Award	—	Shortlisted
		Locus Award	Science Fiction Novel	Nominated–17th
	The Gift of Angels	BSFA Award	Short Fiction	Shortlisted

In translation

• The Silver Wind– retitledComplications– won the FrenchGrand prix de l'Imaginairefor Foreign Short Fiction in 2014.

Publications

Novels

• —— (2014).The Race.NewCon Press.ISBN9781907069703.

• —— (2017).The Rift.Titan Books.ISBN9781785650376.
• —— (2019).The Dollmaker.Riverrun.ISBN9781787472549.
• —— (2021).The Good Neighbours(hardcover ed.). Riverrun.ISBN9781529405170.
• —— (2023).Conquest(hardcover ed.). Riverrun.ISBN9781529420777.

Novellas

• —— (2013).Spin.The Third Alternative Press.ISBN9780955368363.
• —— (2015).The Harlequin.Sandstone Press.ISBN9781910124383.
• —— (2016).The Art of Space Travel(ebook ed.). Tor Books.ISBN9780765390653.
• —— (2016).Maggots(ebook ed.). Five Stories High.ISBN9781786180582.

Collections

• —— (2007).A Thread of Truth.Eibonvale Press.ISBN9780955526800.
• —— (2011).The Silver Wind.Eibonvale Press.ISBN9781908125057.
• —— (2013).Microcosmos.NewCon Press.ISBN9781907069475.
• —— (2013).Stardust: The Ruby Castle Stories.PS Publishing.ISBN9781848636149.
• —— (2021).The Art of Space Travel and Other Stories.Titan.ISBN9781789091755.

Short stories

• "A Storm in Kingstown" inOut of the Ruins,edited by Preston Grassmann, Titan Books, (2021),ISBN978-1789097399

Allan's stories have appeared in various publications and six "Best of" collections:

• Allan's story "The Lammas Worm" appeared inStrange Tales 3edited byRosalie ParkerofTartarus Pressin 2010. It was then selected byEllen DatlowforThe Best Horror of the Year: Volume Two.The story was re-printed as part ofStardust: The Ruby Castle Stories.
• Her storyFlying in the Face of Godappeared in issue 227 ofInterzonein 2010. It was then selected byGardner Dozoisto appear inTheYear's BestScience Fiction: Twenty-Eighth Annual Collection.
• The story "The Silver Wind" originally appeared in issue 233 ofInterzonein 2011. It was reprinted inThe Silver WindandThe Year’s Best Fantasy and Science Fiction 2012edited by Rich HortonPrime Books.It was also short-listed forBSFA Awardsfor (short fiction) 2012.

  

  Hastings

• Her storyWilkolakappeared in issue 11 ofCrimewaveedited by Andy Cox in 2011. It was selected byMaxim Jakubowskifor The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 10.Constable & Robinson2013.
• "Sunshine" appeared in issue 29 ofBlack Staticedited by Andy Cox in 2012. It was selected by Rich Horton forThe Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2013Prime Books.
• Her story "The Tiger" appeared inTerror Tales of Londonedited byPaul Finch(Gray Friar Press) in 2013.It was then selected byEllen DatlowforThe Best Horror of the Year: Volume Six.

Allan has said that all her short fiction to date has been, "a kind of apprenticeship in novel-writing". Her first novel isThe Race,which uses the town ofHastingsfor its landscape, where she was living for most of the time she was writing it.

Notes

• A Thread of Truth:"Amethyst", "Ryman's Suitcase", "Bird Songs at Eventide", "Queen South", "The Vicar with Seven Rigs", "Heroes", "Terminus", and "A Thread of Truth."
• The Silver Wind:"Time's Chariot", "My Brother's Keeper", "The Silver Wind", "Rewind", and "Timelines: An Afterword."
  • In the French edition, titledComplications,"Darkroom" added as the opening story, "Chambre noire".
  • The Spanish edition,Máquinas del Tiempo,keeps the original contents.
• Microcosmos:"Microcosmos", "The Phoney War", "Chaconne", "A. H.", "Orinoco", "Flying in the Face of God" and "Higher Up."
• Stardust:Linked stories "B-Side", "The Lammas Worm", "The Gateway", "Laburnums", "Stardust", "Wreck of the Julia" and the poem "Red Queen". "Angelus", "Flying in the Face of God" and "Stardust" all involve Russian astrophysicist called Valery Kushnev. The collection was reissued in a slightly different form asRuby,Titan Books (2020).

References

This article incorporates text by Nina Allan available under theCC BY-SA 3.0license. The text and its release have been received by theWikimedia Volunteer Response Team;for more information, see thetalk page.