John Meaney at Tangled Web UK

Page Updated: 13/07/2007

John Meaney

WebPage: http://www.johnmeaney.com

About the Author (Photo (c) Yvonne Meaney)

Bibliography

First British Edition Gollancz (2007)

Bone Song
Tristopolis. Death’s City.
Countless dead lie in the miles of catacombs beneath Its streets. And in the necroflux generators that draw out the psychic energies from their bones to power the city. Thousands more pay for a life lived there.
But even a city built on death, a city of living gargoyles, a city haunted by wraiths, has people who make a living from crime.
Lieutenant Donal Riordan is a good cop. Good enough to find himself picked out for a job protecting a visiting Opera Diva. Not good enough to keep her alive.
And now the bones are speaking to Donal. They know him now. He can feel them. He can taste their song.
Donal needs to find out who wanted the Diva dead. More importantly he needs to find out who wants him dead.
John Meaney’s new novel is en extraordinary melding of visionary SF and dark horror. Here in a universe where our darkest dreams are cold fact, where death Is only the beginning.
Do You Hear The Bones?
‘John Meaney has re-wired SF. Everything is different now’ Stephen Baxter

First British Edition Bantam (2005)

Resolution
The sequel to Paradox and Context
The war against the Blight is over, and the subterranean realms of Nulapeiron have a chance for peace. But for Tom Corcorigan - revolutionary and war hero - there can be no respite. His association with Eemur’s Head, the flensed and bloody remains of a powerful Seer, is transforming him into something more than a poverty-stricken Lord and his growing understanding of the spacetime-warping science of Seers and Oracles brings new enemies and allies into his life.
And all the while, his story crystal, a gift from a mysterious Pilot so long ago, reveals more of the history and true nature of these strange Mu-space travellers - not least the existence of their home in a universe no ordinary human being can experience: the shifting, living fractal city that is Labyrinth.
But rising ominously above all this is the greater force that now threatens Tom’s world. It is called the Anomaly and it is all consuming - absorbing billions of beings, both human and alien, into itself.
As this new evil rips into Nulapeiron and begins to crush its human realms, only the forces commanded by Tom Corcorigan have the slightest chance of survival against such an overwhelming invader. For it has been foretold that only a warlord who is no longer quite human, who is willing to sacrifice everything, can deliver humanity from total darkness...
Revealing the shattering secret of the Oracles’ creation, Resolution concludes John Meaney’s trilogy of Nulapeiron tales featuring Tom Corcorigan and brings his story to a triumphant climax.
Acclaim for John Meaney
'John Meaney has rewired SF. Everything is different now' Stephen Baxter
‘Most impressive… Meaney’s creation amounts to an addictive appetizer; the reader is left hungry for more’ The Times
‘Meaney’s sustained inventiveness continues to dazzle… the rollercoaster plot is full of unexpected twists… Crackling tension continues to the very end. Nice one.’ David Langford, amazon.co.uk
‘Extraordinary. Unique. Challenging’ SFX

First British Edition Bantam (2002)

Context
Nulapeiron: a world isolated for twelve centuries. Its billions of inhabitants occupy subterranean strata, ruled by a logosophically trained aristocracy of Lords and Ladies whose power base is upheld by Oracles. But revolution has touched all of its many cultures - failing in its intent, yet changing everything.
Now Lord Tom Corcorigan - the commoner-turned-noble who renounced his power, the poet, logosopher and holder of the key to understanding the myriad wonders of mu-space, the legendary one-armed warrior, former revolutionary and would-be peacemaker - lies fatally wounded. His survival is dependent on his meeting with a mysterious Seer whose spacetime-warping talents transcend the merely Oracular. It is a confrontation that will result in bitter tragedy and loss. Can the woman he loves be truly dead, or can quantum mysteries lie beyond the grave? Turning his back on a society sliding once more into anarchy and chaos, a disillusioned and despairing Tom wanders this strange, stratified world in search of meaning, love and his own salvation. But it seems Nulapeiron is threatened by a vast, insidious and terrifying enemy whose origins may lie beyond their world, beyond their understanding. And now is the time for legends to be reborn . . .
Sequel to the acclaimed Paradox and the second book in the Nulapeiron Sequence, Context is a thrilling, daring and complex novel that confirms John Meaney as one of British science fiction’s most original and exciting practitioners.
'One of the best science fiction novels of the year… both ambitious and eerie, Context is a book that bravely reconciles the conventions of fantasy and classic SF themes.
Praise for To Hold Infinity
'Brilliant… a tour de force of inventiveness, lyricism and pizzazz.' Ian Watson, Daily Telegraph 'Books of the Year’
‘Groundbreakingly good . . . a high-tech fusion of the serial killer tale and an overdue fresh take on cyberpunk . . . An exceptional piece of work.’ SFX
'Daring and ambitious… a shocking first novel – in the best sense of the term.' Interzone
'Has all the authentic flash and dazzle of cutting-edge SF… glows with biological and nanotechnological wonders, strange weapons and surprising perspectives.' David Langford
'Excellent… does my heart good to see a new writer prepared to take as many risks and play with as many ideas as Meaney does.' Vector
'Ambitious and daring.’ Irish Times

Paperback - Bantam (2001)

First British Edition Bantam (2000)

Paradox
Centuries of self-imposed isolation have transformed Nulapeiron into a world unlike any other - a world of vast subterranean cities maintained by extraordinary organic technologies. For the majority of its peoples, however such wonders have little meaning. Denied their democratic rights and restricted to the impoverished lower levels, they are subjected to the brutal law of the Logic Lords and the Oracles, supra-human beings whose ability to truecast the future maintains the status quo.
But all this is about to change.
In a crowded marketplace a mysterious, beautiful woman is brutally cut down by a militia squad's graser fire. Amongst the horrified onlookers is young Tom Corcorigan. He recognizes her. Only the previous day she had presented him with a small, seemingly insignificant infocrystal. And only now, as the fire in the dying stranger's obsidian eyes fades, does he comprehend who - or what - she really was: a figure from legend, one of the fabled Pilots.
What Tom has still to discover is that his crystal holds the key to understanding mu-space, and so to freedom itself. He doesn't know it yet, but he has been given a destiny to fulfil - nothing less than the rewriting of his future, and that of his world…
Spectacularly staged, thrillingly written and set in a visionary future, Paradox places John Meaney at the forefront of science fiction in this new century.
‘In the brave new worlds of their unfettered imaginations, British writers are at the forefront of expanding the universe. lain M. Banks . . . led the way in the Eighties, and Peter F. Hamilton followed on admirably . . . Now enter John Meaney . . . ‘ The Times
‘Echoes of science fantasy, hard SF and post cyberpunk abound in Paradox. With some good writing, John Meaney subverts what might easily have become clichéd . . . this is pulp SF with class.’ Guardian

About The Author
John Meaney has a degree in physics and computer science, is a black belt in Shotokan karate and works in IT. He has been hooked on science fiction since the age of eight, and his short fiction has appeared in Interzone and in a number of anthologies. His debut novel, To Hold Infinity was published to great acclaim in 1998, shortlisted for the BSFA Award and subsequently selected as one of the Daily Telegraph’s ‘Books of the Year’.

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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.

Bone Song (Gollancz, 2007)

Resolution (Bantam, 2005)

Context (Bantam, 2002)

Paradox (Bantam, 2000) Bantam Pbk Mar 01

To Hold Infinity ( 1998) Shortlisted for the BSFA Award