Stephen Amidon is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 author and film critic. He grew up on the East Coast

East Coast of the United States

The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...

 of the United States of America, including a spell in Columbia, Maryland

Columbia, Maryland

Columbia is a planned community that consists of ten self-contained villages, located in Howard County, Maryland, United States. It began with the idea that a city could enhance its residents' quality of life. Creator and developer James W. Rouse saw the new community in terms of human values, not...

, which served as the inspiration for his fourth novel The New City. Amidon moved to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, UK, in 1987, where he was given his first job as a critic by Auberon Waugh

Auberon Waugh

Auberon Alexander Waugh was a British author and journalist, son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was known to his family and friends as Bron Waugh.-Life and career:...

, who invited him to review a novel for The Literary Review

The Literary Review

The Literary Review is an American literary magazine founded in 1957. The quarterly magazine is published internationally by Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey...

. Shortly after this Amidon sold his first work of fiction; the short story "Echolocation" was chosen by Ian Hamilton

Ian Hamilton

Ian Michael "Chico" Hamilton is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder. He made more than 300 appearances in the Football League playing for Chelsea, Southend United, Aston Villa and Sheffield United, and more than 100 in the North American Soccer League for Minnesota Kicks and...

 for inclusion in the Bloomsbury anthology Soho Square II. In 1999 he returned to the US. His literary criticism and essays have appeared in many publications in North America and the UK and he has also worked as a film critic for the Financial Times

Financial Times

The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....

and the Sunday Times. Amidon is the author of a collection of short stories and six novels, the most recent of which, Security, was published by FSG in 2009. His fiction has been published in fifteen countries. The novel Human Capital was chosen by Jonathan Yardley

Jonathan Yardley

Jonathan Yardley is a book critic at The Washington Post, and at one time of the Washington Star. In 1981 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.-Background and education:...

 of The Washington Post

The Washington Post

The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

as one of the five best works of fiction of 2004.

Works

• Splitting the Atom, 1990
• Subdivision : Stories, 1991
• Thirst, 1993
• The Primitive, 1995
• The New City, 2000
• Human Capital, 2004
• Security, 2009
• The Sublime Engine: A Biography of the Human Heart, 2010

External links

• Literary Encyclopedia Entry