Peter Crowther

Page Updated: 10/05/02

Peter Crowther

Infinities

16 May 02

Futures

Foursight

and

Books By Peter Crowther

About the Author

Bibliography

First British Edition Gollancz (2002)

Infinities
The third Foursight anthology, edited and introduced by Peter Crowther
Four new novellas from the very best of British SF writers
Following on from last year’s Futures, award-winning editor arid author Peter Crowther has assembled a new quartet of cutting edge fiction from four of today’s top SF writers. This is the very best of British SF in microcosm.
Here are Eric Brown’s writer obsessed with the life and work of a Victorian novelist who disappeared under mysterious circumstances; Ken MacLeod’s alternate Earth ravaged by a third World War in which the icon of resistance is the martyred guerrilla leader, Joseph Stalin; Alastair Reynolds’s group of adventurer mercenaries trying to unravel the mystery of a particularly inhospitable alien tower on a distant world; and Adam Roberts’s closer-than-you-think future where animals are genetically engineered in the frozen wastelands of the two polar regions.
As with Futures and its predecessor, the darkly fantastic Foursight, Infinities is the perfect book for those needing a little more from their fiction. It is further proof positive that British SF deserves its pre-eminent place in the genre.
A Writer’s Life by Eric Brown
‘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 a 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 The Human Front by Ken MacLeod
`Ken MacLeod has the ability to bring about a seamless transition from the recognisably conventional as is to the most outrageous science fictional, what if?, without appearing to break the creative equivalent of a sweat. The Human Front his pretty much everything you could ask from a great story: character, insight, plot, that quality of description that transports a feeling, sensation, incident or a landscape seemingly direct from world to mind, and revelation. It has substance. It should make your mind reel and work’ Iain M. Banks
Diamond Dogs by Alastair Reynolds
‘Bearing comparison with science fiction classics like Budrys’ Rogue Moon and Silverberg’s Book of Skulls, I sense that it is Alastair Reynolds’ handling of his people in this piece that will win it the acclaim it deserves. Of course it also helps that, as in much of his work, as the relentless tale unfolds, the pages seem to turn themselves. Relish what this work tells us of what we can expect of Al Reynolds in the years to come’ Stephen Baxter
Park Polar by Adam Roberts
`He seizes upon a grand concept, some abstract opposition which can materially infect or affect reality, and which accordingly may proceed to govern his characters’ lives with sovereign remorselessness; and he gives it free reign. He is a purveyor of illusions that underscore the real, a beguiling dispenser of cruel instruction. Heed him. Harsh medicine is not often so entertainingly administered.’ Nick Gevers, SFSite.com
Eric Brown is the critically acclaimed author of Penumbra and New York Nights, the gripping and thought-provoking opening novel of his Virex trilogy. An accomplished short story writer, he is a regular and popular contributor to Interzone Magazine. He lives in Yorkshire.
Ken MacLeod has been one of SF’s compelling writers since his debut, The Star Fraction, in 1995. His subsequent books have consistently received great praise both at home and abroad. He has been a regular finalist for the Clarke Award and The Cassini Division was shortlisted for a Nebula Award following its publication in the US. He lives in West Lothian.
Alastair Reynolds, is one of British SF’s bestselling new stars. His first two novels; Revelation Space and Chasm City have received widespread acclaim. Revelation Space was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2001; Chasm City won the, BSFA Award. He works as an astrophysicist for the European Space Agency and lives in Holland.
Adam Roberts’s debut novel, SALT, was shortlisted for the 2000 Arthur C. Clarke Award. His second novel, ON, has just been published to a universally enthusiastic critical response and has established him as one of SF’s most inventive and exciting new voices. He lives in South London.

First British Edition Gollancz (2001)

Futures
The second Foursight anthology, edited and introduced by Peter Crowther
Four new novellas from the very best of British SF writers
Futures brings together new fiction from four of the very best SF writers working today. It is a snapshot look at why British SF is dominating the world market at the moment.
Whether describing a far future of alien domination, a very different present ruled by Imperial Roman families, the distant moons of the solar system brutally subjugated by Earth or an Africa changed out of all recognition by alien life, Futures presents four crystal clear examples of just why home-grown SF is going through such a boom.
Whether you are looking for the perfect introduction to the genre as a whole or want to pick up a brand new novella from your own personal favourite author Futures is the place to look.
Brought together by leading anthologist and editor Peter Crowther, Futures is an essential showcase of what makes British SF the dominant force in the genre as we enter the third millennium.
Reality Dust by Stephen Baxter
`Space Opera - the grind and the glorious, the truly operatic and infinite, worthy successor to tales of Greek gods and the Norse Sagas - is alive and well, and in very good hands. In short, Stephen Baxter is hard at work keeping and advancing the necessary forms and traditions, expanding the discourse in a way that both gladdens the heart and sends chills up the spines of his fellow writers’ Greg Bear
Watching Trees Grow by Peter F. Hamilton
`Peter Hamilton has written a murder story covering several centuries, in which the solution depends upon the sociology of immortal families evolved during the Roman Empire and upon forensic techniques that change massively during the course of the story. But Watching Trees Grow is a mystery and the surest way to really tell you what Hamilton has accomplished is to blow away all his secrets. You may want to read the story first’ Larry Niven
Making History by Paul McAuley
‘I find it surprisingly difficult to articulate why I so intensely admire Paul McAuley’s work. Perhaps the problem is simply that it is so uniformly excellent. Once I say that I admire his fine, clean, prose, the clarity of his plotting, the originality of his ideas, his understanding of science, and the quality of his characterisation, what else is there to say? To list his good qualities is the same as to list those things I like about science fiction’ Michael Swanwick Tendeleo’s Story by Ian McDonald
‘Ian McDonald’s Chaga stories remind me of J.G.Ballard’s ‘Vermillion Sands’ stories in the way they return repeatedly to a single vividly imagined background but approach it from a different point of view in each visit. What McDonald seems to be doing is reinventing for the new century a whole host of existing science-fictional concepts, transforming them through the power of his prose and the intensity of his vision just as the mysterious Chaga invaders have transformed the Africa of his stories. He leaves us much the richer for his efforts.
Stephen Baxter has established a reputation as one of the key authors in SF today. His is translated around the world and has won numerous international awards. His books include The Time Ships, Voyage and Space. He is also the Author of the Mammoth trilogy, two books for children and Deep Future a non-fiction title. He lives in Buckinghamshire.
Peter F Hamilton is the author of the Greg Mandel novels. However it is with the epic, 3,500 page space opera, The Night’s Dawn Trilogy, that he secured his place on the world SF scene. He lives in Rutland.
Paul McAuley is the author of, amongst others, the celebrated Books Of Confluence. One of the most critically lauded of the current generation of SF writers, he too is published around the world. His novel Fairyland won the Arthur C. Clarke Award. He lives in North London.
Ian McDonald is the author of the critically acclaimed Chaga novels. Always noted for the beauty and brilliance of his prose style he won the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award for King of Morning, Queen of Day. He lives in Belfast.

First British Edition Gollancz (2000)

Foursight
See Review by Jay Russell - one of the greatest talents the horror industry has produced for some time… (Black Tears)
Four Novellas By Four Masters Of The Fantastic
Edited and with an introduction by Peter Crowther
Leningrad, London, New York, Key West and all points in and far between.
With four different visions of the highs and lows of modern life, Foursight will change forever the way you see your world.
Whether describing a desperate fight for survival during the siege of Leningrad, the excesses of a fabulously wealthy business man, a vampire prowling through Warhol's Factory or a surprise for a Key West criminal who thought there were no surprises left in life, Foursight will dazzle with you with a display of storytelling virtuosity.
Here are four varied visions of four corners of the world unified by the skill of four of the UK's internationally successful, critically acclaimed and award-winning authors.
Brought together by leading anthologist and editor Peter Crowther, Foursight is a showcase for new fiction from four of the world's most celebrated genre writers.

Leningrad Nights by Graham Joyce
‘Leningrad Nights is one of those works of fiction that seem to arrive unmediated from a space located at an oblique angle slightly above the earth's surface. Graham Joyce uses the novella's unique mixture of liberating length and liberating brevity to evoke a phantasmal, haunted version of Leningrad’ Peter Straub

How The Other Half Lives by James Lovegrove
'Like Lovegrove's novels The Hope and Days, How the Other Half Lives (and what a cunning title that turns out to be) describes a monstrous edifice founded on injustice. There is a stealth in its calm; there is a courage and anger in there that will make you blink and marvel.’ Colin Greenland

Andy Warhol’s Dracula by Kim Newman
'Moving like a wraith in an ever narrowing gyre around the very solid Andy Warhol is Ion Popescu, a vampire transplant from Romania, reborn here as Johnny Pop. Revelations leap at you from every page. You nod in recognition, you smile in wonder (in envy if you're a writer) at the marvels of interconnectedness and correspondence between Johnny Pop's '70s and the decade the rest of us survived.' F. Paul Wilson

The Vaccinator by Michael Marshall Smith
'Not quite a parody of Men in Black, but a gently sarcastic reminder of how that film could have been if it hadn't gone for the blurry option. By the end of the story, otherness both disguises and signalises identity. As usual, we're the aliens. As usual in Michael Marshall Smith's fiction, it's just not a convenient for us to acknowledge that. At the present time.' M. John Harrison
Graham Joyce is the author of, amongst others, The Tooth Fairy, Dark Sister and Requiem. He has won the British Fantasy Award and been nominated for the World Fantasy Award.
James Lovegrove’s novel Days was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award.
Kim Newman’s novels, including Jago, The Quorum and Anno Dracula, sell around the world. He also writes extensively for the British film press.
Michael Marshall Smith also sells around the world. His novel Spares is being made into a film by Stephen Spielberg.

About The Author
Peter Crowther is one of the most respected anthologists and editors working in the genre field today. He has had collections published on both sides of the Atlantic. A collection of his own short stories, Lonesome Roads, won the British Fantasy Award in 2000.

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

Infinities (Gollancz, 2002) May 02

Futures (Gollancz, 2001)

Foursight (Gollancz, 2000)