Steph Swainston
Encyclopedia
Steph Swainston is a British literary fantasy
/science fiction
author, receiving critical acclaim (from China Miéville
among others) for her first novel The Year of Our War
(2004). The book won the 2005 Crawford Award
and a nomination for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. The sequel No Present Like Time
was published in 2005. Swainston's third book, The Modern World
, is set in the same universe and was published in May 2007. Her fourth novel Above the Snowline was published in 2010, and she has begun work on a fifth book. In 2011, she announced she was quitting full-time writing to become a Chemistry teacher.
, Yorkshire, in 1974. She lives in the United Kingdom. She has a message board at Night Shade Books
, and sample chapters of her novels are free online on the books page of her website.
Ms. Swainston has previously worked in a variety of jobs, including as a qualified archaeologist (with a degree from Girton College, University of Cambridge
, and a research degree from the University of Wales
), being employed on a dig that researched the oldest recorded burial site in the UK, Paviland Cave, as well as in Hayonim Cave
in Israel
. Additional occupations include working for an ethical company developing pharmaceuticals from cannabis
, as an assistant in a zoo vet's lab and as a researcher for the MoD
.
and M. John Harrison
as her major influences and Mervyn Peake
as her favourite author. She likes the weird eccentric wordplay and nonsense poetry of Lewis Carroll
, Edward Lear
, a tradition continued by Douglas Adams
and Jeff Noon
's Vurt
. She is widely read, especially in the ouvres of Dumas
, Dickens
, Vonnegut
, Huxley
, T.S. Eliot, Louis de Bernieres, Orhan Pamuk, Alexander Trocchi, the fantasy of Gene Wolfe
, and adventure stories such as Robert Louis Stevenson
.
, further influenced by aspects of her later adult life, including the competitive academic world. The novels centre on the life of 'the Circle', an elite group of immortals
created and sustained by the Emperor, a near god-like figure engaged in a prolonged conflict with insectoid
creatures, apparently from another world. Told in the first person
, the novels follow the life of Jant, a winged humanoid with a distinctly flawed personality. The Castle series is also marked by the existence of multiple worlds, including the fantastic, baroque 'Shift'.
Whilst characterised by others as a member of the fantasy literary genre the New Weird
, which aims to reform fantasy literature by transcending its traditional boundaries, Swainston has argued against labelling writers, including herself, within genres, arguing that good fantasy and mainstream literature instead form a continuum. Nonetheless she has been critical of the conservative nature of much commercial fantasy writing, and her approach embraces narrative themes unfamiliar to conventional fantasy, including drug use
and sexual scenes, alongside the hyper-realistic
depiction of warfare. Whereas much of the New Weird
genre embraces the idea of a deliberate subversion of the established fantasy tropes with a specific readership in mind, however, Swainston has preferred to describe her work as appealing to the ongoing deep structures of universal storytelling, as literature written as much in response to the author's own needs than as a response to specific market requirements.
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
/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, receiving critical acclaim (from China Miéville
China Miéville
China Tom Miéville is an award-winning English fantasy fiction writer. He is fond of describing his work as "weird fiction" , and belongs to a loose group of writers sometimes called New Weird. He is also active in left-wing politics as a member of the Socialist Workers Party...
among others) for her first novel The Year of Our War
The Year of Our War
The fantasy novel The Year of Our War is the first book by British author Steph Swainston. It is often given as an example of the New Weird literary genre.-Plot summary:...
(2004). The book won the 2005 Crawford Award
Crawford Award
The IAFA William L. Crawford Fantasy Award is a literary award given to a writer whose first fantasy book was published during the preceding 18 months. It's one of several awards presented by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts , and is presented at the conference each...
and a nomination for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. The sequel No Present Like Time
No Present Like Time
The Fantasy/Science Fiction novel No Present Like Time by Steph Swainston is the sequel to the critically acclaimed The Year of Our War .Again the Emperor’s winged messenger Jant is the protagonist of the story...
was published in 2005. Swainston's third book, The Modern World
The Modern World (novel)
The Modern World is a fantasy/science fiction novel by Steph Swainston and is the sequel to the critically acclaimed The Year of Our War and No Present Like Time...
, is set in the same universe and was published in May 2007. Her fourth novel Above the Snowline was published in 2010, and she has begun work on a fifth book. In 2011, she announced she was quitting full-time writing to become a Chemistry teacher.
Early life
She was born in BradfordBradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
, Yorkshire, in 1974. She lives in the United Kingdom. She has a message board at Night Shade Books
Night Shade Books
Night Shade Books is an independent publishing company based in San Francisco, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It was started in 1997 by Jason Williams, with Jeremy Lassen coming on board as a partner shortly after the company's founding...
, and sample chapters of her novels are free online on the books page of her website.
Ms. Swainston has previously worked in a variety of jobs, including as a qualified archaeologist (with a degree from Girton College, University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, and a research degree from the University of Wales
University of Wales
The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...
), being employed on a dig that researched the oldest recorded burial site in the UK, Paviland Cave, as well as in Hayonim Cave
Hayonim Cave
HaYonim Cave is a cave located in a limestone bluff about 250 meters above modern sea level, in the Upper Galilee, Israel. The site had substantial occupation during the Middle Paleolithic Mousterian period, from 250,000 years ago to 100,000 years ago, and later, during the Natufian period around...
in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. Additional occupations include working for an ethical company developing pharmaceuticals from cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
, as an assistant in a zoo vet's lab and as a researcher for the MoD
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
.
Influences
Swainston lists William Burroughs, Angela CarterAngela Carter
Angela Carter was an English novelist and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picaresque works...
and M. John Harrison
M. John Harrison
M. John Harrison , known as Mike Harrison, is an English author and critic. His work includes the Viriconium sequence of novels and short stories, , Climbers , and the Kefahuchi Tract series which begins with Light . He currently resides in London.-Early years:Harrison was born in Rugby,...
as her major influences and Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Laurence Peake was an English writer, artist, poet and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books. They are sometimes compared to the work of his older contemporary J. R. R...
as her favourite author. She likes the weird eccentric wordplay and nonsense poetry of Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
, Edward Lear
Edward Lear
Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, author, and poet, renowned today primarily for his literary nonsense, in poetry and prose, and especially his limericks, a form that he popularised.-Biography:...
, a tradition continued by Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
and Jeff Noon
Jeff Noon
Jeff Noon is a novelist, short story writer and playwright whose works make extensive use of word play and fantasy. Noon's speculative fiction books have ties to the works of writers such as Lewis Carroll and Jorge Luis Borges...
's Vurt
Vurt
Vurt is a 1993 science fiction novel written by British author Jeff Noon. Both Noon and small publishing house Ringpull's debut novel, it went on to win the 1994 Arthur C. Clarke Award and was later listed in The Best Novels of the Nineties....
. She is widely read, especially in the ouvres of Dumas
Dumas
Dumas is a Southern French topographic surname, with fused preposition and definite article du, for someone who lived in an isolated dwelling in the country rather than in a village, from Occitan mas 'farmstead' .- People :...
, Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
, Huxley
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
, T.S. Eliot, Louis de Bernieres, Orhan Pamuk, Alexander Trocchi, the fantasy of Gene Wolfe
Gene Wolfe
Gene Wolfe is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying into the religion. He is a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the...
, and adventure stories such as Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
.
Novels
Swainston's work so far has been set in 'the Fourlands' Castle series, which the author has described as a secret childhood paracosmParacosm
A paracosm is a detailed imaginary world involving humans and/or animals, or perhaps even fantasy or alien creations. Often having its own geography, history, and language, it is an experience that is developed during childhood and continues over a long period of time: months or even years.The...
, further influenced by aspects of her later adult life, including the competitive academic world. The novels centre on the life of 'the Circle', an elite group of immortals
Immortality
Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...
created and sustained by the Emperor, a near god-like figure engaged in a prolonged conflict with insectoid
Insectoid
Insectoid denotes any creature or object that shares a similar body or traits with common earth insects and arachnids. The term is a combination of "insect" and "-oid" . Compare "humanoid"....
creatures, apparently from another world. Told in the first person
First-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
, the novels follow the life of Jant, a winged humanoid with a distinctly flawed personality. The Castle series is also marked by the existence of multiple worlds, including the fantastic, baroque 'Shift'.
Whilst characterised by others as a member of the fantasy literary genre the New Weird
New Weird
The New Weird is a literary genre that began in the 1990s and developed in a series of novels and stories published from 2001 to 2005. The writers involved are mostly novelists who are considered to be parts of the horror and/or speculative fiction genres but who often cross genre boundaries...
, which aims to reform fantasy literature by transcending its traditional boundaries, Swainston has argued against labelling writers, including herself, within genres, arguing that good fantasy and mainstream literature instead form a continuum. Nonetheless she has been critical of the conservative nature of much commercial fantasy writing, and her approach embraces narrative themes unfamiliar to conventional fantasy, including drug use
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
and sexual scenes, alongside the hyper-realistic
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
depiction of warfare. Whereas much of the New Weird
New Weird
The New Weird is a literary genre that began in the 1990s and developed in a series of novels and stories published from 2001 to 2005. The writers involved are mostly novelists who are considered to be parts of the horror and/or speculative fiction genres but who often cross genre boundaries...
genre embraces the idea of a deliberate subversion of the established fantasy tropes with a specific readership in mind, however, Swainston has preferred to describe her work as appealing to the ongoing deep structures of universal storytelling, as literature written as much in response to the author's own needs than as a response to specific market requirements.
The Castle books
- The Year of Our WarThe Year of Our WarThe fantasy novel The Year of Our War is the first book by British author Steph Swainston. It is often given as an example of the New Weird literary genre.-Plot summary:...
(Gollancz SF, 2004) ISBN 978-0575076426 - The Year of Our War (Gollancz SF, 2006) ISBN 978-0575077980
- No Present Like TimeNo Present Like TimeThe Fantasy/Science Fiction novel No Present Like Time by Steph Swainston is the sequel to the critically acclaimed The Year of Our War .Again the Emperor’s winged messenger Jant is the protagonist of the story...
(Gollancz SF, 2005, hardcover) ISBN 978-0575070066 - No Present Like Time (Gollancz SF, 2006, paperback) ISBN 978-0575077980
- The Modern WorldThe Modern World (novel)The Modern World is a fantasy/science fiction novel by Steph Swainston and is the sequel to the critically acclaimed The Year of Our War and No Present Like Time...
(Gollancz SF, 2007, paperback) ISBN 978-0575082212 - The Castle Omnibus: "The Year of Our War", "No Present Like Time", "The Modern World" (Gollancz SF, 2009, paperback) ISBN 978-0575091252
- Above the Snowline (Gollancz SF, 2010, hardcover) ISBN 978-0575081581
Sources
External links
- Official site
- Night Shade Books Discussion Boards
- Interview conducted by Jeff VanderMeerJeff VanderMeerJeffrey Scott VanderMeer is an American writer, editor and publisher.He is best known for his contributions to the New Weird and his stories about the city of Ambergris, in books like City of Saints and Madmen.-Biography:...
for Clarkesworld MagazineClarkesworld MagazineClarkesworld Magazine is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine. The first issue was published October 1, 2006 and it has maintained a regular monthly schedule since, publishing fiction by authors such as Sarah Monette, Catherynne Valente, Elizabeth Bear, Caitlin R... - Reviews of all three books in the Castle series