Christopher Priest at Tangled Web UK

Page Updated: 28/01/2008

Christopher Priest

The Extremes

The Glamour

The Separation

About the Author (Photo (c) Claire Clifford)

Bibliography

Paperback - Scribner (1999)

The Extremes
Shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award 1999
A groundbreaking, highly original new novel by the award winning author of The Prestige and winner of the James Tait Black Award, about the human capacity for violence and the virtual reality computer games that encourage it.
British-born Teresa Simons, recently widowed, returns to England in the hope of coming to terms with her grief. Her husband, an FBI agent, was killed by an out-of-control gumman while on assignment. In an attempt to find some answers, Teresa turns to the virtual-reality world of Extreme Experiences where the best and worst of human experience can be found. Seeking the best, Teresa has to confront the worst. And in the extremes of violence she finds that past and present combine and that her own future may be glimpsed.
'Swift, haunting, cruel and kind, a guidance manual for the maze we face' Independent
'Complicated metaphysics and a good deal of horribly vivid carnage combine here into an enthralling novel, which raises important issues about the pornography of violence and its packaging as entertainment. A thought provoking, terrifying and persuasive prophesy' Sunday Telegraph
'Priest brilliantly suggests how time slips and slides inside Teresa's fantasies' Sunday Times
'Mesmeric, sparely written: a dexterous mix of emotion and computer sci-fi' Mail On Sunday
'All of Priest's familiar raw material is set out here, and the author's adherents will relish the seductive skill with which he draws the reader into a tangled web of relationships, phenomena and understated sensuality. The Extremes is a novel of violence and reality of extraordinary power and ambiguity. A vital contribution from a key British writer' SFX
Praise for The Prestige:
'Priest's mesmeric power is formidable. Magnificent, utterly alarming and genuinely moving' Independent
'Few recent novels have felt so vividly imagined. A magnificently eerie novel' Sunday Times
Praise for Christopher Priest
'Priest's mesmeric power is formidable. Magnificent, utterly alarming and genuinely moving' Independent
'An absolutely hypnotic tale ... The Prestige is a thing of beauty. It is quite superb, exemplary. It is a lesson to us in the joy of story' Interzone
'Images from this poignant, unsettling book linger long in the mind. Just as a magic act should be; filled with haunting marvels' Time Out

First British Edition Jonathan Cape (1984)

Paperback - Gollancz (2005)

The Glamour
Welcome to the world of the glamour.
The glamour is the unsuspected underworld to our normal lives, seductive and sinister, peopled by those who can never be seen. It exists on the edge of reality, full of doubt, behind a veil of invisibility.
But is the invisibility real,
Or is it merely a state of not being noticed?
This is the story of two young people who fall in love while trying to escape from the glamour. Richard Grey is a television news cameraman, his career shattered by terrorist outrage, who has to piece his life together from old but unreliable memories. Susan Kewley, a graphic artist, is torn between Grey and another man, one deeply embedded in his introspective world of invisibility.
'Priest's control is masterly' New Statesman
`Told in a variety of voices, with a dawning sense of the evils of his special gift; and with twists of plot that make it a satisfying piece of psychological horror, this is a compelling and haunting novel.’ Publishers Weekly
‘Thoroughly engrossing; highly recommended’ Library Journal
‘Read it… It will change the way you see the world. And yourself’ Time Out

Paperback - Gollancz (2007)

The Separation
Jack is an RAF pilot, Joe, his twin brother, a conscientious objector. Both are destined to become victims of the Second World War. In Britain’s hour of greatest danger, an opportunity for peace unexpectedly arises. A larger separation, a dividing of ways, becomes a real possibility. Which of the brothers is to stride briefly across the stage of history?
`A major work of alternate history, masterfully conceived and written, thoughtful, ‘audacious, a stab to the heart of historical appearances’ Locus
‘Priest builds an impressive set of imagined places and times. He knows the literature of the mass bombing raids and the debate as to their morality as well as he knows the blackout and the sceptical version of Churchill’s role’ The Independent

About The Author
Christopher Priest is the author of nine previous novels and two collections of short stories. His last novel, The Prestige, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction end the World Fantasy Award, and was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clark Award. He lives in Hastings with his wife and twin children.

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Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.

The Extremes (Simon & Schuster, 1998) Simon & Schuster Aug 98 Scribner Pbk Sep 99

The Glamour (Jonathan Cape, 1984) Gollancz Pbk Jun 05

The Separation ( 2002) Gollancz Pbk Aug 07