Ian Watson is a British science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 author. He currently lives in Northamptonshire, England.

His first novel, The Embedding, winner of the Prix Apollo in 1975, is unusual for being based on ideas from generative grammar

Generative grammar

In theoretical linguistics, generative grammar refers to a particular approach to the study of syntax. A generative grammar of a language attempts to give a set of rules that will correctly predict which combinations of words will form grammatical sentences...

; the title refers to the process of center embedding

Center embedding

In linguistics, center embedding refers to the process of embedding a phrase in the middle of another phrase of the same type. This often leads to difficulty with parsing which would be difficult to explain on grammatical grounds alone...

. A prolific writer, he has also written the novels Miracle Visitors, God's World, The Jonah Kit and The Flies of Memory and many collections of short stories. Watson is credited as author of the screen story for the motion picture A.I.:Artificial Intelligence

A.I. (film)

A.I. Artificial Intelligence, also known as A.I., is a 2001 science fiction drama film directed, produced and co-written by Steven Spielberg. Based on Brian Aldiss' short story "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long", the film stars Haley Joel Osment, Frances O'Connor, Jude Law, Sam Robards, Jake Thomas...

.

During 1980, Watson and Michael Bishop

Michael Bishop (author)

Michael Lawson Bishop is an award-winning American writer. Over four decades and thirty books, he has created a body of work that stands among the most admired in modern science fiction and fantasy literature....

 wrote the first transatlantic SF novel collaboration, Under Heaven's Bridge, using typewriters and postal services.

He has also written a series of novels relating to the Warhammer 40,000

Warhammer 40,000

Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop, set in a dystopian science fantasy universe. Warhammer 40,000 was created by Rick Priestley in 1987 as the futuristic companion to Warhammer Fantasy Battle, sharing many game mechanics...

line of games: Space Marine, and the Inquisition War trilogy of Inquisitor, Chaos Child and Harlequin (republished in 2002 by The Black Library, with Inquisitor retitled Draco). Other recent stories have been published in US magazine Weird Tales

Weird Tales

Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....

, the Canadian anthology Lust For Life, New Writings in the Fantastic, the Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica volume 7, and in a few more books. Some of these stories have been translated into non-English languages.

A collaboration with Italian surrealist writer Roberto Quaglia

Roberto Quaglia

Roberto Quaglia is an Italian science fiction writer. Many of his works have been translated and published in Romania, and some have also been translated into English, Russian, Czech, Hungarian and Dutch.-Life and career:...

 has recently produced a book, The Beloved of My Beloved, launched during April 2009 during Eastercon

Eastercon

Eastercon is the common name for the British national science fiction convention. From 1948 until the 1960s, the convention was held over the three-day Whitsun bank holiday at the end of May. Since then it has been held over the four-day Easter holiday weekend...

.

Novels

• The Embedding. London: Gollancz, 1973. ISBN 0-575-01687-6
• The Jonah Kit. London: Gollancz, 1975. ISBN 0-575-01938-7
• Orgasmachine. Paris: Editions Champ Libre, 1976.
• The Martian Inca. London: Gollancz, 1977. ISBN 0-575-02218-3
• Alien Embassy. London: Gollancz, 1977. ISBN 0-575-02336-8
• Miracle Visitors. London: Gollancz, 1978. ISBN 0-575-02474-7
• God's World. London, Gollancz, 1979. ISBN 0-575-02683-9
• The Gardens of Delight. London: Gollancz, 1980. ISBN 0-575-02819-X
• Deathhunter. London: Gollancz, 1981. ISBN 0-575-03023-2
• Under Heaven's Bridge, with Michael Bishop
  Michael Bishop (author)
  Michael Lawson Bishop is an award-winning American writer. Over four decades and thirty books, he has created a body of work that stands among the most admired in modern science fiction and fantasy literature....
  
  . London: Gollancz, 1982. ISBN 0-575-02927-7
• Chekov's Journey. London: Gollancz, 1983. ISBN 0-575-03213-8
• Converts. London: Granada, 1984 (paper). ISBN 0-586-05895-8
• The Books of the Black Current:
  • The Book of the River. London: Gollancz, 1984. ISBN 0-575-03396-7
  • The Book of the Stars. London: Gollancz, 1984. ISBN 0-575-03508-0
  • The Book of Being. London: Gollancz, 1985. ISBN 0-575-03596-X
  • Yaleen, omnibus edition. Dallas, TX: Benbella Books
    BenBella Books
    BenBella Books is an independent publishing house based in Dallas, Texas. Founded by Glenn Yeffeth in 2001, BenBella specializes in non-fiction books on popular culture, health, and nutrition, along with books on science, politics, psychology, and other topics....
    
    , 2004 ISBN 1-932100-24-5
• Queenmagic, Kingmagic. London: Gollancz, 1986. ISBN 0-575-03883-7
• The Power. London: Headline, 1987. ISBN 0-7472-0031-9
• Whores of Babylon. London: Paladin, 1988 (paper). ISBN 0-586-08773-7
• Meat. London: Headline, 1988. ISBN 0-7472-3130-3
• The Fire Worm. London: Gollancz, 1988. ISBN 0-575-04300-8
• The Flies of Memory. London: Gollancz, 1990. ISBN 0-575-04873-5
• The Books of Mana:
  • Lucky's Harvest. London: Gollancz, 1993. ISBN 0-575-05423-9
  • The Fallen Moon. London: Gollancz, 1994. ISBN 0-575-05424-7
• Hard Questions. London: Gollancz, 1996. ISBN 0-575-06189-8
• Oracle. London: Gollancz, 1997. ISBN 0-575-06487-0
• Mockymen. Urbana, IL: Golden Gryphon Press, 2003. ISBN 1-930846-21-5

Warhammer 40,000

• The Inquisition War trilogy:
  • Inquisitor (vt 2002 Draco). Brighton: GW Books, 1990 (paper). ISBN 1-872372-29-5
  • Harlequin. London: Boxtree, 1994. ISBN 0-7522-0965-5
  • Chaos Child. London: Boxtree, 1995. ISBN 0-7522-0621-4
• Space Marine. London: Boxtree, 1993 (paper). ISBN 1-85283-840-X

Collections

• The Very Slow Time Machine. London: Gollancz, 1979. ISBN 0-575-02582-4
• Sunstroke and Other Stories. London: Gollancz, 1982. ISBN 0-575-03138-7
• Slow Birds and Other Stories. London: Gollancz, 1985. ISBN 0-575-03675-3
• The Book of Ian Watson. Willimantic: Mark V. Zeising, 1985. ISBN 0-9612970-3-4
• Evil Water and Other Stories. London: Gollancz, 1987. ISBN 0-575-03953-1
• Salvage Rites and Other Stories. London: Gollancz, 1989. ISBN 0-575-04447-0
• Stalin's Teardrops. London: Gollancz, 1991. ISBN 0-575-04942-1
• The Coming of Vertumnus. London: Gollancz, 1994. ISBN 0-575-05766-1
• The Great Escape. Urbana, IL: Golden Gryphon Press, 2002. ISBN 1-930846-09-6
• The Butterflies of Memory. Harrogate: PS Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1-904619-49-5

External links

• Ian Watson's homepage
• The Beloved of My Beloved, Homepage of this book of 2009