Jonathan Clements
Encyclopedia
Jonathan Clements is a British author and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of Confucius
, Koxinga
and Qin Shihuangdi (the First Emperor of China), as well as monthly opinion columns for Neo
magazine. He is also the co-author of encyclopedias of anime
and Japanese television drama
s.
and Japanese
, and many of his works relate to East Asia
. He wrote his 1995 Master's degree
at the University of Stirling
on manga
and anime
exports, predicting the rise of several trends in the international industry including back-to-front printing, direct American investment in anime, and the proliferation of attempts to substitute non-Japanese products. Subsequently he translated over 70 anime and manga works for British distributors, and worked as a voice director and actor.
He served two years at Titan Books
in London as the editor of Manga Max magazine, an experience he would later fictionalise as the Judge Dredd
adventure Trapped on Titan. In 2000, he received the Japan Festival Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Understanding of Japanese Culture, specifically for his work on Manga Max magazine.
movie project, and wrote several episodes of Halcyon Sun for Kuju Entertainment, before serving as a writer or translator on TV programs, including Japanorama (BBC Three
), Saiko Exciting (Sci-Fi Channel
) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (BBC Two
). He was also an interviewee and consultant on the documentary Koxinga: A Hero's Legacy (National Geographic Channel), which drew heavily on his book Pirate King. Much of his fiction work is CD audio drama or radio under the auspices of Big Finish Productions
, including the Strontium Dog
series, starring Simon Pegg
, and the Doctor Who
spin-off Sympathy for the Devil
, starring David Warner
and David Tennant
.
Other work includes the script for the comic Tastes Like Chicken in the Judge Dredd Megazine, as well as assorted short stories both there and in Doctor Who anthologies. His most famous work, Schoolgirl Milky Crisis, was the name for a fictional TV series that Clements often used in his Newtype USA columns in order to avoid breaking various non-disclosure agreement
s regarding real titles that he had worked on as a writer, director or translator. The name was later used as the title to a collection of Clements's articles and speeches.
, serve as research for his fiction. His books have been translated into a dozen languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and Korean. His major works include:
Confucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
, Koxinga
Koxinga
Koxinga is the customary Western spelling of the popular appellation of Zheng Chenggong , a military leader who was born in 1624 in Hirado, Japan to Zheng Zhilong, a Chinese merchant/pirate, and his Japanese wife and died in 1662 on the island of Formosa .A Ming loyalist and the arch commander of...
and Qin Shihuangdi (the First Emperor of China), as well as monthly opinion columns for Neo
Neo (magazine)
NEO is a 100-page monthly magazine published in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Uncooked Media that focuses on various aspects of East Asian entertainment such as Japanese anime and manga ; Hong Kong, Korean and Japanese films; and Japanese pop, rock and visual kei music, etc.The magazine...
magazine. He is also the co-author of encyclopedias of anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
and Japanese television drama
Japanese television drama
, also called , are a staple of Japanese television and are broadcast daily. All major TV networks in Japan produce a variety of drama series including murder romance, comedy, detective stories, horror, and many others...
s.
Background
Clements speaks both ChineseChinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
and Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, and many of his works relate to East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
. He wrote his 1995 Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
at the University of Stirling
University of Stirling
The University of Stirling is a campus university founded by Royal charter in 1967, on the Airthrey Estate in Stirling, Scotland.-History and campus development:...
on manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
exports, predicting the rise of several trends in the international industry including back-to-front printing, direct American investment in anime, and the proliferation of attempts to substitute non-Japanese products. Subsequently he translated over 70 anime and manga works for British distributors, and worked as a voice director and actor.
He served two years at Titan Books
Titan Books
Titan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. It is based at offices in London, England's Bankside area. The Books Division has two main areas of publishing: film & TV tie-ins/cinema reference books; and graphic novels and comics reference/art titles. The...
in London as the editor of Manga Max magazine, an experience he would later fictionalise as the Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
adventure Trapped on Titan. In 2000, he received the Japan Festival Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Understanding of Japanese Culture, specifically for his work on Manga Max magazine.
Script work
He left to work as a scriptwriter on an abortive Astro BoyAstro Boy (1960s)
is a Japanese manga series first published in 1952 and television program first broadcast in Japan in 1963. The story follows the adventures of a robot named Astro Boy and a selection of other characters along the way....
movie project, and wrote several episodes of Halcyon Sun for Kuju Entertainment, before serving as a writer or translator on TV programs, including Japanorama (BBC Three
BBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...
), Saiko Exciting (Sci-Fi Channel
Sci Fi channel (United Kingdom)
Syfy is a television channel service specialising in science fiction, fantasy and horror shows and movies. It is available via digital cable, IPTV, satellite television and Top Up TV platforms. The channel launched in 1995 in the UK a sister channel to the US Sci Fi Channel , with a similar...
) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
). He was also an interviewee and consultant on the documentary Koxinga: A Hero's Legacy (National Geographic Channel), which drew heavily on his book Pirate King. Much of his fiction work is CD audio drama or radio under the auspices of Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
, including the Strontium Dog
Strontium Dog
Strontium Dog is a long-running comics series featuring in the British science fiction weekly 2000 AD, starring Johnny Alpha, a mutant bounty hunter with an array of imaginative gadgets and weapons....
series, starring Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and director. He is best known for having co-written and stared in various Edgar Wright features, mainly Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the comedy series Spaced.He also portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the 2009 Star Trek film...
, and the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
spin-off Sympathy for the Devil
Sympathy for the Devil (Doctor Who audio)
Sympathy for the Devil is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The Doctor Who Unbound dramas pose a series of "What if...?" questions.-Plot:What if.....
, starring David Warner
David Warner (actor)
David Warner is an English actor who is known for playing both romantic leads and sinister or villainous characters, both in film and animation...
and David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
.
- Down to Earth (London: Big Finish, 2002; web, BBCi, 2005) (Strontium DogStrontium DogStrontium Dog is a long-running comics series featuring in the British science fiction weekly 2000 AD, starring Johnny Alpha, a mutant bounty hunter with an array of imaginative gadgets and weapons....
) - Trapped on Titan (London: Big Finish, 2002) (Judge DreddJudge DreddJudge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
) - Unbound: Sympathy for the Devil (London: Big Finish, 2003) (Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
) - Fire From Heaven (London: Big Finish, 2003 web, BBCi, 2005) (Strontium Dog)
- 99 Code Red (London: Big Finish, 2003) (Judge Dredd)
- Pre-Emptive Revenge (London: Big Finish, 2004) (Judge Dredd)
- Solo (London: Big Finish, 2005) (Judge Dredd)
- Snake Head (London: Big Finish, 2005) (Doctor Who: UNIT)
- Red Devils (London: Noise Monster, 2005) (Space 1889)
- Immortal Beloved (London: Big Finish, 2007; radio, BBC7, 2008) (Doctor Who)
- Brave New Town (London: Big Finish, 2008; radio, BBC7, 2009) (Doctor Who)
- The Destroyer of Delights (London: Big Finish, 2009) (Doctor Who)
- The Tiger's Tail (London: Big Finish, 2009) (Robin HoodRobin HoodRobin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
) - The Deer Hunters (London: Big Finish, 2009) (Robin Hood)
- Secret of the Sword (London: Big Finish, 2009) (Highlander)
- Survival of the Fittest (London: Big Finish, 2010) (Doctor Who)
- The Devil's Playground (London: Big Finish, 2010) (Judge Dredd)
- Year Zero (London: Big Finish, 2010) (Bernice SummerfieldBernice SummerfieldBernice Surprise Summerfield is a fictional character created by author Paul Cornell as a new companion of the Seventh Doctor in Virgin Publishing's range of original full-length Doctor Who novels, the New Adventures...
)
Other work includes the script for the comic Tastes Like Chicken in the Judge Dredd Megazine, as well as assorted short stories both there and in Doctor Who anthologies. His most famous work, Schoolgirl Milky Crisis, was the name for a fictional TV series that Clements often used in his Newtype USA columns in order to avoid breaking various non-disclosure agreement
Non-disclosure agreement
A non-disclosure agreement , also known as a confidentiality agreement , confidential disclosure agreement , proprietary information agreement , or secrecy agreement, is a legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties...
s regarding real titles that he had worked on as a writer, director or translator. The name was later used as the title to a collection of Clements's articles and speeches.
Books
Clements is a prolific author, whose many non-fiction publications, on subjects ranging from the history of the Vikings to the life of Chairman Mao ZedongMao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
, serve as research for his fiction. His books have been translated into a dozen languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and Korean. His major works include:
- The Moon in the Pines (2000, reprinted in paperback as Zen Haiku, 2007)
- The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917 is a 2001 encyclopedia written by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy. It was published in 2001 by Stone Bridge Press in the United States, and a "revised and expanded" edition was released in 2007. In the United Kingdom, it was...
(1st ed. 2001, 2nd ed. 2006, with Helen McCarthyHelen McCarthyHelen McCarthy is the British author of such anime reference books as 500 Manga Heroes and Villains, Anime!, The Anime Movie Guide and Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation. She is the co-author of The Erotic Anime Movie Guide and the exhaustive The Anime Encyclopedia with Jonathan Clements...
) - The DoramaJapanese television drama, also called , are a staple of Japanese television and are broadcast daily. All major TV networks in Japan produce a variety of drama series including murder romance, comedy, detective stories, horror, and many others...
Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese TV Drama Since 1953 (2003, with Motoko Tamamuro) - The Pirate King: Coxinga and the Fall of the Ming Dynasty (2004, publ. in paperback as Coxinga, 2005)
- ConfuciusConfuciusConfucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
: A Biography (2004) - A Brief History of the Vikings (2005)
- The First Emperor of China (2006)
- MaoMao ZedongMao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
(2006) - WuWu ZetianWu Zetian , personal name Wu Zhao , often referred to as Tian Hou during the Tang Dynasty and Empress Consort Wu in later times, was the only woman in the history of China to assume the title of Empress Regnant...
(2007) - Marco PoloMarco PoloMarco Polo was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently...
(2007) - BeijingBeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
: The Biography of a City (2008) - Makers of the Modern World: Prince SaionjiSaionji KinmochiPrince was a Japanese politician, statesman and twice Prime Minister of Japan. His title does not signify the son of an emperor, but the highest rank of Japanese hereditary nobility; he was elevated from marquis to prince in 1920...
(2008) - Makers of the Modern World: Wellington KooWellington KooKoo Vi Kyuin or Ku Wei-chün , often known by the Western name V.K. Wellington Koo, was a prominent diplomat under the Republic of China, representative to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, Ambassador to France, Great Britain, and the United States; participant in founding the League of Nations...
(2008) - Schoolgirl Milky Crisis: Adventures in the Anime and Manga Trade (2009)
- Mannerheim: President, Soldier, Spy (2009)
- A Brief History of the SamuraiSamuraiis the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
(2010) - Admiral Togo: Nelson of the EastTogo HeihachiroFleet Admiral Marquis was a Fleet Admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy and one of Japan's greatest naval heroes. He was termed by Western journalists as "the Nelson of the East".-Early life:...
(2010) - contributor to The Encyclopedia of Science FictionThe Encyclopedia of Science FictionThe Encyclopedia of Science Fiction is an English language reference work on science fiction.- Publication history :The first edition, edited by Peter Nicholls with John Clute and Brian Stableford appeared in 1979, published by Granada. It was retitled The Science Fiction Encyclopedia in the US...
3rd ed
External links
- Muramasa Industries—The official web site of Jonathan Clements
- Schoolgirl Milky Crisis blog—Jonathan Clements' blog of essays and news