About

Filed under • 09-09-2008 •

“At the forefront of science fiction.” - SF Book Reviews

Gareth L. Powell is the author of the novels Ack-Ack Macaque, The Recollection and Silversands, all of which were favourably reviewed in The Guardian, and the short story collection The Last Reef, which Morpheus Tales described as “One of the finest collections of SF short stories I have had the privilege of reading”.

Solaris Books will publish his next novel, Hive Monkey, in January 2014.

Gareth regularly contributes short stories to anthologies and magazines and, in 2007, one of his stories came top of the Interzone annual readers’ poll for best short story of the year. He has also co-written stories with Paul Graham Raven and Aliette de Bodard.

He studied English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Glamorgan, where he was fortunate to list the poet and novelist Helen Dunmore as one of his tutors. After university, he spent ten years working in marketing for a European business software company, and holds a qualification from the Institute of Direct Marketing in London. He left full-time employment in 2008 to concentrate on writing, and hasn’t looked back. He has given guest lectures on creative writing at Bath Spa University, and has written for The Irish Times, SFX Magazine, Futurismic, Acoustic Magazine, 2000AD, and the Bristol Review of Books.

When asked why he writes science fiction, Gareth replies: “I’ve always been fascinated by science fiction because it’s storytelling with all the knobs turned up to eleven. As the Only Ones sang on their 1977 punk masterpiece, Another Girl, Another Planet: ‘Space travel’s in my blood, and there ain’t nothing I can do about it’.”

As a teenager, he was once fortunate enough to have coffee with Diana Wynne Jones, and still has the handwritten notes she made on one of his early short stories.

Gareth has been interviewed by numerous magazines, websites, and podcasts, and has appeared on BBC Radio 4′s Today Programme. He is a regular attendee at British genre conventions, and was a guest of honour at BristolCon in 2012.

He lives near Bristol with his wife and two children.

***