Brown, Eric 1960-

PERSONAL:

Born May 24, 1960, in Keighley, West Yorkshire, England. Ethnicity: "British." Education: "Left school at fourteen." Politics: Liberal. Religion: "None." Hobbies and other interests: Reading, gardening, collecting books, soccer.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Keighley, West Yorkshire, England. Agent—Anthony Harwood, Office 109, Riverbank House, 1 Putney Bridge Approach, London SW6 3JD, England. E-mail—eric@mytholmes.freeserve.co.uk.

CAREER:

Writer.

MEMBER:

British Science Fiction Association.

AWARDS, HONORS:

British Science Fiction Association short story award, 2000, for "Hunting the Slarque."

WRITINGS:

SCIENCE FICTION NOVELS

Meridian Days, Pan (London, England), 1992.

Engineman, Pan (London, England), 1994.

Penumbra, Orion (London, England), 1999.

New York Nights, Gollancz (London, England), 2000.

New York Blues, Gollancz (London, England), 2002.

New York Dreams, Gollancz (London, England), 2003.

Bengal Station, Five Star (Waterville, ME), 2004.

SCIENCE FICTION NOVELLAS

A Writer's Life, PS Publishing (Harrogate, England), 2001.

Approaching Omega, Telos Publishing (Tolworth, Surrey, England), 2005.

The Extraordinary Voyage of Jules Verner, PS Publishing (Harrogate, England), 2005.

SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS

The Time-Lapsed Man, Drunken Dragon (Birmingham, England), 1990.

Blue Shifting, Pan (London, England), 1995.

(With Keith Brooke) Parallax View, Sarob Press (Mountain Ash, Wales), 2001.

Deep Future, Cosmos Books (Canton, OH), 2001.

The Fall of Tartarus, Gollancz (London, England), 2004.

Threshold Shift, Golden Gryphon Press (Urbana, IL), 2006.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS

Untouchable, Orion (London, England), 1998.

Walkabout, Orion (London, England), 1999.

Twocking, Barrington Stoke (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2002.

Fire Bug, Barrington Stoke (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2003.

British Front, Barrington Stoke (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2005.

Space Ace, Barrington Stoke (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2005.

Crazy Love, Barrington Stoke (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2006.

An Alien Ate Me for Breakfast, Barrington Stoke (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2007.

OTHER

(Editor, with Mike Ashley) The Mammoth Book of New Jules Verne Adventures, Robinson (London, England), 2005.

Also author of George and the Red Giant, a radio play, adapted from "George and the Comet," by Stephen Baxter; and Noel's Ark, a play for children, 1982. Contributor of short stories to periodicals, including Interzone, Zenith, and Other Edens.

SIDELIGHTS:

Eric Brown is a British science fiction writer. His story collection The Time-Lapsed Man contains eight stories, five of which were previously published in the British magazine Interzone. In a review in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, Tom Easton noted that the stories were good but were not very inventive, remarking that most of them "do not transcend the flash of drugs, plugged-in brains … and other standard paraphernalia" of modern science fiction. However, he did praise two stories, both of which were new to the book: "The Inheritors of Earth" and "The Girl Who Died for Art and Lived." These stories, according to Easton, "suggest that Brown may before long produce something truly noteworthy."

According to reviewer Dan Chow in Locus, Brown is "a new kid on the block," but his stories have gained enough positive attention to be collected in The Time-Lapsed Man. In the collection, according to Chow, "decadence and strangeness meet," and Brown shows great potential as a writer. David Barrett wrote in the New Scientist that The Time-Lapsed Man is "an extremely impressive debut and, overall, it is [a] satisfying read."

In Meridian Days, according to Gary K. Wolfe in a Locus review, Brown "has created a convincingly forbidding world where part of the human population has reshaped itself through genetic alterations or computer implants." The author, according to Wolfe, "combines romance with a tale of inhuman cruelty … [and] writes with unusual clarity and grace." Wolfe summed up the book by describing it as "a deftly plotted and suspenseful adventure which never loses its strangely elegiac and haunting tone.’

Untouchable is part of a series of books known as "The Web," all set in the near future and with the same background. In the books, all communication is dominated by the Internet, and people wear "websuits" that allow them to experience virtual reality. In Untouchable, a criminal attempts to kidnap poor street children in New Delhi, India, into the Web by promising them that he will give them eternal life.

One of Brown's few American publications came in 2006 with Threshold Shift, a collection of ten tales that "make for most satisfying reading," according to Booklist contributor Regina Schroeder. Several of the short stories in the collection deal with Brown's Kethani, aliens who have arrived on Earth and offer to humans the possibility of living forever. Each of the stories deals in one way or another with ordinary people caught in extraordinary situations. Gregg Thurlbeck, writing in Rambles.net, noted: "These stories tend to be filled, not with space battles and ray guns, but with people dealing with the sorts of quiet human conflicts that will inevitably arise from the development of new technologies or from encounters with extraterrestrials." For Thurlbeck, the collection was "a tranquil, intelligent treat." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly felt that "two of the best" tales in the collection were "The Children of Winter" and "Hunting the Slarque." The same reviewer praised the "graceful writing" evident in the collection. Jackie Cassada, writing in Library Journal, also had praise for Threshold Shift, noting that the tales showcase Brown's "unique vision."

Brown once told CA: "I write science fiction, but a SF more concerned with human characters, aspects of psychological motivation, than the scientific or techno- logical ideas common to so much SF. My main concern when writing is to entertain the reader with believable characters whom they care about."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, November, 1991, Tom Easton, review of The Time-Lapsed Man, p. 162.

Booklist, September 15, 2006, Regina Schroeder, review of Threshold Shift, p. 33.

Library Journal, September 15, 2006, Jackie Cassada, review of Threshold Shift, p. 54.

Locus, December, 1990, Dan Chow, review of The Time-Lapsed Man, p. 58; August, 1993, Gary Wolfe, review of Meridian Days, p. 23.

New Scientist, September 1, 1990, David Barrett, review of The Time-Lapsed Man, p. 55.

Publishers Weekly, August 7, 2006, review of Threshold Shift, p. 38.

School Librarian, spring, 1998, Sandra Bennett, review of Untouchable, p. 46.

SF Chronicle, March, 1991, review of The Time-Lapsed Man, p. 34; April, 1998, review of Untouchable, p. 53.

ONLINE

Eric Brown Home Page,http://www.ericbrown.co.uk (January 22, 2007)

Infinity Plus,http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/ (January 22, 2007), "Eric Brown."

Rambles.net,http://www.rambles.net/ (January 6, 2007), Gregg Thurlbeck, review of Threshold Shift.

SFSite.com,http://www.sfsite.com/ (January 22, 2007), Paul Kincaid, review of Threshold Shift; George T. Dodds, review of Approaching Omega.