Charles Stross

Charles David George "Charlie" Stross (born 18 October 1964<ref name="isfdb">Template:Cite web</ref>) is a British writer of science fiction and fantasy. Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. Between 1994 and 2004, he was also an active writer for the magazine Computer Shopper and was responsible for its monthly Linux column. He stopped writing for the magazine to devote more time to novels. However, he continues to publish freelance articles on the Internet.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life and education

Stross was born in Leeds, England.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He showed an early interest in writing and wrote his first science fiction story at age 12. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Pharmacy in 1986 and qualified as a pharmacist in 1987. In 1989, he enrolled at University of Bradford for a post-graduate degree in computer science. In 1990, he went to work as a technical author and programmer. In 2000, he began working as a writer full-time, as a technical writer at first, but then became successful as a fiction writer.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref name="tor">Charles Stross Template:Webarchive, Tor.com (accessed 29 May 2013)</ref>

Career

In the 1970s and 1980s, Stross published some role-playing game articles about Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in White Dwarf magazine. Some of his creatures, such as the death knight, githyanki (the name borrowed from George R. R. Martin's 1977 novel, Dying of the Light), githzerai, and slaad (a chaotic race of frog-like humanoids) were later published in the Fiend Folio monster compendium for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.<ref name="rpg">Template:Cite web</ref>

His first published short story, The Boys, appeared in Interzone in 1987. A collection of his short stories, Toast: And Other Rusted Futures, was released in 2002;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> subsequent short stories have been nominated for the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and other awards. His first novel, Singularity Sky, was published by Ace Books in 2003 and was also nominated for the Hugo Award. His novella The Concrete Jungle (published in The Atrocity Archives) won the Hugo award for its category in 2005.<ref name=Hugo05 /> His novel Accelerando won the 2006 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel,<ref name=CampbellNom /> and was on the final ballot for the Hugo Award in the best novel category.<ref name=Hugo06 /> Glasshouse won the 2007 Prometheus Award and was on the final ballot for the Hugo Award in the best novel category; the German translation Glashaus won the 2009 Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His novella Missile Gap won the 2007 Locus Award for best novella, and he was awarded the Edward E. Smith Memorial Award or Skylark at Boskone 2008.

His novel The Atrocity Archives (2004) detailed a British intelligence agency tasked with investigating otherworldly horrors; using ideas similar to those in the RPG book Delta Green (1996), Stross wrote in the afterword to the book: "All I can say in my defence isTemplate:Nbsp... I hadn't heard of Delta Green when I wrote The Atrocity ArchiveTemplate:Nbsp... I'll leave it at that except to say that Delta Green has come dangerously close to making me pick up the dice again."<ref name="designers">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp

Rogue Farm, his 2003 short story, was adapted into an eponymous animated film that debuted in August 2004.<ref>Evens, Arthur (2010). The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press. p. 728.</ref>

Stross was one of the Guests of Honour at Orbital 2008,<ref name="orbital">Template:Cite web</ref> and at the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) in March 2008.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was the Author Guest of Honour at the Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention (Balticon) in May 2009. He was Author Guest of Honour at Fantasticon (Denmark) in August 2009. He was the Guest of Honor at Boskone 48 in Feb 2011.

Cubicle 7 used their Basic Role-Playing license to create The Laundry (2010), based on Stross' writings, wherein agents must contend with both the outer gods and the bureaucracy of the United Kingdom.<ref name="designers" />Template:Rp

In September 2012, Stross released The Rapture of the Nerds, a novel written in collaboration with Cory Doctorow.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The two have also together been involved in the Creative Commons licensing and copyright movement.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In December 2017 he gave a talk at 34C3 hacker conference.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Awards

Accelerando won the 2006 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.<ref name="Locus2006">Template:Cite web</ref> Missile Gap won the 2007 Locus Award for best novella.<ref name=LocusList>Template:Cite web</ref> The Concrete Jungle (contained in The Atrocity Archives) won the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 2005;<ref name=Hugo05>Template:Cite web</ref> Palimpsest, included in Wireless, won the same award in 2010,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Equoid in 2014.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Glasshouse won the 2009 Prometheus Award for Best Novel; Stross was a Best Novel finalist in 2009 for Saturn's Children and has been nominated four other times for Iron Sunrise (in 2005), Accelerando (2006), The Revolution Business (2010) and Annihilation Score (2016).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Apocalypse Codex won the 2013 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.<ref name="Locus2013">Template:Cite web</ref> Stross's work has also been nominated for a number of other awards, including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award,<ref name=CampbellNom>Template:Cite web</ref> Arthur C. Clarke Award,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Hugo Award for Best Novel,<ref name=Hugo05 /><ref name=Hugo06>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Hugo09>Template:Cite web</ref> as well as the Japanese Seiun Award.<ref name=LocusList />

Personal life

Stross believes himself to be autistic, but does not intend to seek a professional diagnosis.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref>Template:Dead link

Selected bibliography

The Merchant Princes series

• The Family Trade (2004)
• The Hidden Family (2005)
• The Clan Corporate (2006)
• The Merchants' War (2007)
• The Revolution Business (2009)
• The Trade of Queens (2010)
• Empire Games (2017)
• Dark State (2018)
• Invisible Sun (2021)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Laundry Files universe

The Laundry Files

• The Atrocity Archives (2004)
• The Jennifer Morgue (2006)
• Down on the Farm (2008 novelette)
• Equoid (2013 novelette)
• The Fuller Memorandum (2010)
• Overtime (2009 novelette)
• The Apocalypse Codex (2012)
• The Rhesus Chart (2014)
• The Annihilation Score (2015)
• The Nightmare Stacks (2016)
• The Delirium Brief (2017)
• The Labyrinth Index (2018)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Escape From Yokai Land (2022 novella)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• A Conventional Boy (2025)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Tales of the New Management

• Dead Lies Dreaming (2020)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Quantum of Nightmares (2022)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Season of Skulls (2023)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Halting State series

• Halting State (2007)
• Rule 34 (2011)

Eschaton series

• Singularity Sky (2003)
• Iron Sunrise (2004)

Standalone work

• A Colder War (2000)
• Accelerando (2005)
• Glasshouse (2006)
• Missile Gap (2006)

External links

• Template:Official website – featuring a blog with guest contributions
• Template:Cite web
• Stross software releases – latest, 2000
• Template:Isfdb name
• Charles Stross, stories available free online accessed 2 OCT 2022
• Template:Cite web