Eric Brown - Page 1
British Pbk Original - Gollancz (2005) |
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The Fall of Tartarus
In myth, Tartarus was the lowest region of hell:
so low, it was said, that an anvil dropped from heaven,
having taken nine days and nights to reach earth, would
take a further nine days and nights to reach Tartarus.
In reality ...
‘I’d heard many a tale about Tartarus Major, how certain
continents were technological backwaters five hundred
years behind the times; how the Church governed half the
planet with a fist of iron, and yet how, across scattered
islands and sequestered lands, a thousand bizarre and
heretic cults prospered too.
‘I’d heard how a lone traveller was hardly safe upon
the planet’s surface, prey to wild animals and cut-throats.
Most of all I’d heard that, in two hundred years, Tartarus
would be annihilated when its sun exploded in the
magnificent stellar suicide of a supernova.’
These are the stories of the people who are leaving
Tartarus, those have decided to stay and those who are
arriving on the planet for the apocalypse.
‘One of the very best of the new generation of British SF writers’ Vector
‘Eric Brown is the name to watch in British SF’ Peter F Hamilton
| British Pbk Original - Gollancz (2004) |
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New York Dreams
Private detective Hal Halliday’s addiction to VR is a sure way of escaping the mess that his life has become. Kim, his girlfriend, has left him. His business partner Barney Kluger is dead. Manhattan in 2041 is a polluted wasteland whose citizens seek refuge in virtual reality and rapidly lose their ability to interact with the real world.
But in the real world, Hal’s ex-girlfriend has vanishes, along with child prodigy Suzie Charlesworth. Hal forces himself away from the easy answers of VR to confront the complexity of reality.
What is the Methuselah Project? Has Barney Kluger really come back from the dead?
And who is trying to kill Hal Halliday?
'In the Virex trilogy Brown is at the height of his powers. Very nearly perfect' Stephen Baxter
‘One of the very best of the new generation of British SF writers’ Vector
‘SF infused with a cosmopolitan and literary sensibility… accomplished and affecting’ Paul McAuley
| Paperback - Gollancz Millenium (2003) |
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A Writer's Life
with The Human Front by Ken MacLeod
‘What you will find, among other treasures, is quietly alarming evocations of the British landscape. And, of course, more importantly, you will get to inhabit living soul as he confronts a choice between mortal, and supernal prizes. In this fine novella Eric Brown joins the ranks of Graham Joyce, Christopher Priest and Robert Holdstock as a master fabulist’ Paul di Filippo
'Eric Brown is the name to watch in SF' Peter F. Hamilton
| Paperback - Gollancz (2002) |
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New York Blues
Volume Two of the Virex Trilogy
Hal Halliday is just another of the lost, crowding the streets of New York, mired in a 21st century that is going nowhere. His business partner is dead, and Hal is keeping their missing persons business going without really knowing why.
When a holodrama star approaches Hal to find her missing sister Hal is drawn into the world of dreams set up by VR magnate Sergio Mantoni. It is a world built on the desperate lives of the population of a ruined America; a world facing a new challenge from VIREX, an underground movement dedicated to ending the false promise of Virtual Reality.
Eric Brown is unique amongst the new generation of British SF writers in the sensitivity and depth of his characterisation.
Praise for Eric Brown and New York Nights:
'A book with real heart, and with stamina. As Eric Brown has been in a class of his own for some time, this verdict, perhaps, comes as no great surprise. New York Nights is brilliant' Infinity Plus
‘New York Nights is a notable performance, pitch-perfect; and Brown is an excellent writer.’ Interzone
‘Meditations on memory and guilt and forgiveness are what work best in the book, for Brown draws acute portraits of his characters, and makes their personal battles both convincing and affecting.’ SFSite
‘An intelligent science-fiction thriller, and Hal is one of the more attractively flawed of recent SF private eyes . . . it will be worth seeing where Hal is going to go next.’ Dreamwatch
‘The plot bucks you about like a rodeo bronco and you are as loath to let go; Brown orchestrates his surprises and revelations with a spare economy.’ Adam Roberts, author of Salt
‘Prying beneath the shiny surface of worlds to come, Brown explores the darkness lingering in the human heart. Recommended’ Stephen Baxter
'Eric Brown is the name to watch in SF' Peter F. Hamilton
''British writing with a deft, understated touch: wonderful' New Scientist
‘SF infused with a cosmopolitan and literary sensibility ... accomplished and affecting' Paul McAuley, Interzone
'Stories which are the essence of modern science fiction and yet show a passionate concern for the human predicament and human values' Bob Shaw
‘One of the very best of the new generation of British SF writers’ Vector
| Paperback - Gollancz Millenium (2001) |
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First British Edition Gollancz Millenium (2000) |
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New York Nights
Volume One of the Virex Trilogy
2040. New York is crowded with the lost. Refugees from the radioactive eastern seaboard, the splintered remains of a society in freefall, the lonely souls looking for salvation from reality, crowd the streets between buildings that hide their drabness behind gaudy hologram facades.
It's a good time to be working in Missing Persons and for Hal Halliday and Barney Kluger business for their agency has never been better. It's certainly busy enough for them to be able to forget their pasts and hide from the uncomfortable reality of their present lives. For most of the time.
But when Hal is asked to find a missing computer tech called Sissi Nigeria he is pulled into a bizarre world of countercultures intertwined with exotic virtual reality domains. It is a world haunted by ghosts of the past and, more terrifyingly, of the future. And soon Hal must face up to the memory of his two sisters; one he hasn't seen for five years, the other dead in a childhood accident.
Are we all better off leaving the real world behind and seeking a perfect virtual world where we are in control?
Eric Brown has written a fast-moving yet thought-provoking SF thriller. It is a novel that examines the real human costs of isolation and escapism in a future that offers wild possibilities.
Visit Eric Brown’s Web Site at: http://www.ericbrown.co.uk
About The Author
Eric Brown lives in Haworth, Yorkshire and is a full-time writer. He is the author of The Time Lapsed Man (1992), Meridian Days (1993), Blue Shifting (1995), Engineman (1994) and Penumbra (1999) as well as two novels for children: Untouchable and Walkabout. He is one of the most popular writers of Science Fiction short stories in the UK. He has been voted as one of the ten best writers of Science Fiction by Vector magazine (the critical journal of the British Science Fiction Association). He is a regular contributor to Interzone magazine.
Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.
The Fall of Tartarus
Short Stories
(Gollancz Pbk,
2005)
Pbk Apr 05
New York Dreams
(Gollancz Pbk,
2004)
A Writer's Life
(Gollancz,
2002)
Gollancz Millenium Pbk Feb 03
New York Blues
(Gollancz,
2002)
Gollancz Pbk Sep 02
New York Nights
(Gollancz Millenium,
2000)
Gollancz Millenium Pbk Apr 01
Penumbra
(Gollancz Millenium Pbk,
1999)
Untouchable
(
1997)
Dolphin Pbk 1997
The Fall of Tartarus
WebPage: 
by Eric Brown
