In a recession defying move that will have many other authors salivating, award-winning science fiction scribe Alastair Reynolds has signed a ten-year, ten-book deal with UK SF publisher Gollancz (home to some top SF&F talent) for one million pounds. Al exploded onto the SF scene with Revelation Space, which I recall arrived with the PR blurb confidently proclaiming it to be the first great SF work of the new century. A pretty proud boast but the readers agreed and Gollancz are clearly rewarding the huge audience (and respect) he has built since that explosive debut and showing an enomrous amount of faith in him with this deal.
“In my opinion, he’s the UK’s best exponent of hard SF in space opera. He mixes the expected – weird cities, big dumb objects – with the very unexpected, does a mean line in alien cultures and technology, and has pulled his characterisation up by its boot straps since the early novels. He’s one of the few SF novelists I’d actually go out and buy in hardback,” fellow award-winning and highly respected SF scribe Jon Courtenay Grimwood pays tribute to Reynolds. (via the Guardian; on a related topic the Guardian’s book podcast has a short audio SF tale written by Reynolds, Scales, to enjoy right now)
Tue, Jun 23, 2009
Books