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Charles Stross

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Charles Stross
Stross in 2019 at Finncon in Jyväskylä
Stross in 2019 atFinnconinJyväskylä
Born(1964-10-18)18 October 1964(age 59)[1]
Leeds,England
OccupationWriter
Alma materUniversity of Bradford[2]
Period1990s–present
GenreScience fiction,fantasy,horror
Website
www.antipope.org/charlie/

Charles David George"Charlie"Stross(born 18 October 1964[1]) is a British writer ofscience fictionandfantasy.Stross specialises inhard science fictionandspace opera.Between 1994 and 2004, he was also an active writer for the magazineComputer Shopperand was responsible for its monthlyLinuxcolumn. He stopped writing for the magazine to devote more time to novels. However, he continues to publishfreelancearticles on the Internet.[3]

Early life and education[edit]

Stross was born inLeeds,England.[4]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 atUniversity of Bradfordfor 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.[5][6]

Career[edit]

In the 1970s and 1980s, Stross published somerole-playing gamearticles aboutAdvanced Dungeons & DragonsinWhite Dwarfmagazine. Some of his creatures, such as thedeath knight,githyanki(the name borrowed fromGeorge R. R. Martin's 1977 novel,Dying of the Light),githzerai,andslaad(a chaotic race of frog-like humanoids) were later published in theFiend Foliomonster compendium.[7]

His first published short story, "The Boys", appeared inInterzonein 1987. A collection of his short stories,Toast: And Other Rusted Futures,was released in 2002;[8]subsequent short stories have been nominated for the Hugo Award,Nebula Award,and other awards. His first novel,Singularity Sky,was published byAce Booksin 2003 and was also nominated for theHugo Award.His novella "The Concrete Jungle" (published inThe Atrocity Archives) won the Hugo award forits categoryin 2005.[9]His novelAccelerandowon the 2006Locus Awardfor Best Science Fiction Novel, was a finalist for theJohn W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel,[10]and was on the final ballot for the Hugo Award in the best novel category.[11]Glasshousewon the 2007Prometheus Awardand was on the final ballot for the Hugo Award in the best novel category; the German translationGlashauswon the 2009Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis.[12]His novella "Missile Gap"won the 2007 Locus Award for best novella, and he was awarded theEdward E. Smith Memorial Awardor Skylark atBoskone2008.

His novelThe Atrocity Archives(2004) detailed a British intelligence agency tasked with investigating otherworldly horrors; using ideas similar to those in the RPG bookDelta Green(1996), Stross wrote in the afterword to the book: "All I can say in my defence is... I hadn't heard ofDelta Greenwhen I wroteThe Atrocity Archive... I'll leave it at that except to say thatDelta Greenhas come dangerously close to making me pick up the dice again. "[13]: 247 

"Rogue Farm",his 2003 short story, was adapted into an eponymous animated film that debuted in August 2004.[14]

Stross was one of the Guests of Honour at Orbital 2008,[15]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 atFantasticon(Denmark) in August 2009. He was the Guest of Honor at Boskone 48 in Feb 2011.

Cubicle 7used theirBasic Role-Playinglicense to createThe Laundry(2010), based on Stross' writings, wherein agents must contend with both the outer gods and the bureaucracy of the United Kingdom.[13]: 432 

In September 2012, Stross releasedThe Rapture of the Nerds,a novel written in collaboration withCory Doctorow.[16]The two have also together been involved in theCreative Commonslicensing and copyright movement.[17]In December 2017 he gave a talk at34C3.[18]

Awards[edit]

Accelerandowon the 2006Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.[19]"Missile Gap"won the 2007 Locus Award for best novella.[20]"The Concrete Jungle" (contained inThe Atrocity Archives) won theHugo Award for Best Novellain 2005;[9]"Palimpsest",included inWireless,won the same award in 2010,[21]and "Equoid"in 2014.[22]Glasshouse won the 2009 Prometheus Award for Best Novel; Stross was a Best Novel finalist in 2009 for Saturn's Children and has been nominated four other times forIron Sunrise(in 2005), Accelerando (2006), The Revolution Business (2010) and Annihilation Score (2016).[23]The Apocalypse Codexwon the 2013Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.[24]Stross's work has also been nominated for a number of other awards, including theJohn W. Campbell Memorial Award,[10]Arthur C. Clarke Award,[25]and theHugo Award for Best Novel,[9][11][26][27]as well as the JapaneseSeiun Award.[20]

Personal life[edit]

Stross believes himself to beautistic,but does not intend to seek a professional diagnosis.[28]

Selected bibliography[edit]

Main article:Charles Stross bibliography

The Merchant Princesseries[edit]

Main article:The Merchant Princes
  • 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(2021)[29]

The Laundry Files universe[edit]

The Laundry Files[edit]

Main article:The Laundry Files
  • The Atrocity Archives(2004)
  • The Jennifer Morgue(2006)
  • Down on the Farm(2008 novelette)
  • Equoid(2013 novelette)
  • The Fuller Memorandum(2010)
  • Overtime(2009 novelette)
  • The Apocalypse Codex(2012)
  • The Rhesus Chart(2014)
  • The Annihilation Score(2015)
  • The Nightmare Stacks(2016)
  • The Delirium Brief(2017)
  • The Labyrinth Index(2018)[30]
  • Escape From Yokai Land(2022 novella)[31][32]

Tales of the New Management[edit]

  • Dead Lies Dreaming(2020)[33]
  • Quantum of Nightmares(2022)[34][35]
  • Season of Skulls(2023)[36]

Halting Stateseries[edit]

Eschaton series[edit]

Standalone work[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ab"Summary Bibliography: Charles Stross".isfdb.org.Retrieved10 December2018.
  2. ^"How I got here in the end – my non-writing careers".Antipope.org.Retrieved31 January2014.
  3. ^Stross, Charles."Linux in Computer Shopper".antipope.org.
  4. ^"Charles Stross interviewed - infinity plus non-fiction".
  5. ^Charles Stross: Fast Forward,2005,retrieved14 October2015
  6. ^Charles StrossArchived9 October 2014 at theWayback Machine,Tor (accessed 29 May 2013)
  7. ^"The Kyngdoms Interview".Kyngdoms. 26 May 2010.Retrieved26 May2010.
  8. ^"SFE: Stross, Charles".
  9. ^abc"2005 Hugo Awards: Best Novella: The Concrete Jungle; Best Novel Nominee: Iron Sunrise".Official Site of The Hugo Awards.Archived fromthe originalon 7 May 2011.
  10. ^ab"John W. Campbell Memorial Award Finalists".Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction, University of Kansas. Archived fromthe originalon 30 August 2018.Retrieved22 August2014.
  11. ^ab"2006 Hugo Awards: Accelerando (Nominee)".Official Site of The Hugo Awards.Archived fromthe originalon 7 May 2011.
  12. ^"KLP 2009 Bestes ausländisches Werk".kurd-lasswitz-preis.de.Archived fromthe originalon 10 April 2013.Retrieved11 August2013.
  13. ^abShannon Appelcline (2011).Designers & Dragons.Mongoose Publishing.ISBN978-1-907702-58-7.
  14. ^Evens, Arthur (2010). The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press. p. 728.
  15. ^"Conventions 2008".Locus Publications.2008.Retrieved15 February2017.
  16. ^Upcoming4.me."Cory Doctorow, Charles Stross' Rapture of The Nerds cover art and summary reveal".Upcoming4.me. Archived fromthe originalon 18 July 2012.Retrieved31 May2012.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  17. ^Evens, Arthur (2010).The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction.Wesleyan University Press.p. 727.
  18. ^Charles Stross (27 December 2017)."Dude, you broke the Future!".34C3(video).media.ccc.de.YouTube RmIgJ64z6Y4.
  19. ^"2006 Locus Awards".Archived fromthe originalon 8 October 2010.Retrieved27 May2010.
  20. ^ab"Stross, Charles".Index of Literary Nominees.Locus Publications. Archived fromthe originalon 12 November 2013.
  21. ^Locus Publications (5 September 2010)."Locus Online News" 2010 Hugo Awards Winners ".Locusmag.Retrieved5 February2012.
  22. ^"2014 Hugo Award Winners".17 August 2014. Archived fromthe originalon 19 August 2014.Retrieved18 August2014.
  23. ^"Libertarian Futurist Society".
  24. ^"Locus Award Winners".30 June 2013.Retrieved13 December2014.
  25. ^"Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlists".Arthur C. Clarke Award.Archived fromthe originalon 4 November 2018.Retrieved13 December2018.
  26. ^"2008 Hugo Award Nominees".The Hugo Awards.21 March 2008.Retrieved13 December2018.
  27. ^"2009 Hugo Award Nominations: Saturn's Children".Official Site of The Hugo Awards.March 2003.
  28. ^Stross, Charles [@cstross] (3 April 2022)."I spent my childhood and teens not understanding the arbitrary and irrational rules. Imagine my relief on discovering in my 50s that I'm probably autistic. (There's no point seeking formal diagnosis now: I've had 50 years to develop coping strategies. But it explains a lot.)"(Tweet).Retrieved28 February2023– viaTwitter.
  29. ^"Invisible Sun,Empire Games (Volume 3) ".Macmillan Publishers.Retrieved29 September2021.
  30. ^Lapointe, Annette."A book review by Annette Lapointe:The Labyrinth Index(Laundry Files) ".New York Journal of Books.Retrieved13 December2018.
  31. ^"Escape from Puroland".Tor.Retrieved23 January2021.
  32. ^"Escape from Yokai Land".Tor.Retrieved21 January2022.
  33. ^"Introducing Dead Lies Dreaming - Charlie's Diary".
  34. ^"The Laundry Files: an updated chronology".antipope.org.Retrieved28 July2021.
  35. ^"Quantum of Nightmares".Macmillan.Retrieved21 January2022.
  36. ^"Season of Skulls".Tor Publishing.Retrieved22 March2023.

External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related toCharles Stross.
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