Alexander Christian Irvine (born March 22, 1969) is an American
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures.
The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
and
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
author.
Education and early life
Irvine has a
B.A. from the
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
(1991), an M.A. from the
University of Maine
The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...
(1996), and a Ph.D. from the
University of Denver
The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...
(2003).
From 2005-11, he was an
assistant professor
Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea.
Overview
This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...
of English at the University of Maine.
He worked for a time as a
reporter
A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism.
Roles
Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
at
''The Phoenix''.
Career
Irvine has worked on
alternate reality games including ''
The Beast'' (2001) and ''
I Love Bees'', and is the writer of the
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
game ''
Marvel Avengers Alliance'' (2012).
He first gained notability with his
Locus Award
The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine '' Locus'', a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet.
Originally a poll ...
–winning 2002 novel ''A Scattering of Jades'' (which also won the
Crawford Award in 2003) and the stories that would form the 2003 collection ''Unintended Consequences''. He has also published
The Grail Quest novel ''One King, One Soldier'' (2004), and the
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
-era historical fantasy ''The Narrows'' (2005).
He released a
collection of thirteen short stories called ''Pictures from an Expedition'' in 2006.
He wrote
''The'' ''Vertigo Encyclopedia''.
[Alex Irvine talks us through our case of Vertigo](_blank)
Forbidden Planet
''Forbidden Planet'' is a 1956 American science fiction action film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack and directed by Fred M. Wilcox (director), Fred M. Wilcox from a script by Cyril Hume that was based on a film story by ...
blog, November 14, 2008 As well as writing about comics, he has written a number of comic book series, including one featuring
Daimon Hellstrom
Daimon Hellstrom, also known as the Son of Satan and Hellstorm, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Daimon made his live action debut in the television series ''Helstrom (TV series), Helstrom'', ...
for the
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
imprint
Max
Max or MAX may refer to:
Animals
* Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog
* Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE)
* Max (gorilla) ...
, ''
Daredevil Noir'', and ''
Iron Man: The Rapture''.
Personal life
He is married with twins, a boy and girl, and two younger children.
Irvine appeared on ''
Jeopardy!
''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...
'' in 2015. He was a one day champion, winning $26,000.
Bibliography
Novels
*''A Scattering of Jades'' (2002, )
*''One King, One Soldier'' (2004, )
*''The Narrows'' (2005, )
*''The Life of Riley'' (2005, )
*''Buyout'' (2009, )
*
*
;Licensed work
*''Have Robot, Will Travel'' (2004, )
*''Batman: Inferno'' (October 2006, )
*''
The Ultimates: Against All Enemies'' (2007, )
*''The
Supernatural
Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...
Book of Monsters, Spirits, Demons, and Ghouls'' (September 2007, )
*''Supernatural:
John Winchester's Journal'' (February 2009, )
*''Iron Man: Virus'' (January 2010)
*''
Iron Man 2 - The Novelization'' (April 2010, )
*''
Transformers: Exodus'' (June 2010, )
*''
Transformers: Exiles'' (2011)
*''The Seal of Karga Kul: A Dungeons & Dragons Novel'' (December 2010)
*''
Star Wars: Mandorla'' (Cancelled)
*''The Adventures of Tintin: A Novel (Movie Tie-In)'' (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (November 2011, )
*''The Secret Journal of Ichabod Crane'' (2014, )
*''
Pacific Rim - The Novelization'' (2013)
*''Phase One: Captain America: The First Avenger'' (2014, )
*''Phase One: Iron Man'' (2014, )
*''
Batman: Arkham Knight - The Riddler's Gambit'' (''Prequel to
Batman: Arkham Knight)'' (June 2015, )
*''
Marvel Superheroes: Secret Wars'' (2015, )
*''Phase One: Marvel's The Avengers'' (2015, )
*''Phase One: The Incredible Hulk'' (2015, )
*''Phase One: Thor'' (2015, )
*''Phase Two: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy'' (2015, )
*''
Independence Day: Resurgence: The Novelization'' (2016, )
*''
Tom Clancy's The Division: New York Collapse'' (2016, )
*''Phase Two: Marvel's Ant-Man'' (2016, )
*''
Power Rangers: The Official Movie Novelization'' (2017)
*''
Pacific Rim: Uprising - The Novelization'' (2018, )
*''Tom Clancy's The Division: Broken Dawn'' (2019, )
Short fiction
;Stories
Comics
*''
Hellstorm: Son of Satan -- Equinox'' #1-5 (art by
Russell Braun) (
Marvel
Marvel may refer to:
Business
* Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company
** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment
** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe
** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...
MAX
Max or MAX may refer to:
Animals
* Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog
* Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE)
* Max (gorilla) ...
, October 2006-February 2007)
*''
Daredevil Noir: Liar's Poker'' #1-4 (art by
Tomm Coker) (Marvel, April–July 2009)
*''The Murder of King Tut'' #1-5 (adapted from the novel by James Patterson, art by Christopher Mitten and
Ron Randall) (IDW, June–October 2010)
*''Iron Man: The Rapture'' #1-4 (art by Lan Medina) (Marvel Knights, November 2010-January 2011)
*
''Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Sun'' #1-5 (art by Peter Bergting) (IDW, January 2011-May 2011)
**''Dark Sun: Ianto's Tomb'' (August 14, 2012, )
*''Deus Ex: The Children's Crusade'' #1-5 (art by John Aggs) (Titan, February–June 2016)
*''Deus Ex Universe: The Dawning Darkness'' (art by John Aggs) (Titan, August 2016)
Non-fiction
*
*''The Comic Book Story of Baseball: The Heroes, Hustlers, and History-making Swings (and Misses) of America's National Pastime'' (art by
Tomm Coker and C.P. Smith) (Ten-Speed Press, 2019, )
Screenwriting
* ''
Transformers: Robots in Disguise'' (2015)
Awards and honors
As listed in ''
Contemporary Authors
''Contemporary Authors'' is a reference work that has been published by Gale since 1962. The work provides short biographies and bibliographies of contemporary and near-contemporary writers and is a major source of information on over 116,000 liv ...
''.
*Lennie Isaacs Memorial Award, Clarion Writer's Workshop, 1993
*Steve Grady Poetry Award,
University of Maine
The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...
, 1995
*Albert Morton Turner Essay Prize, University of Maine, 1995
*Technology in the First-Year English Classroom Award, University of Denver, 1999
*Travel and dissertation research grant, ColRoMorA Family Foundation, 1999
*Best Web site of the Year, ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'', for ''
The Beast'', 2001
*Best Ideas of the Year, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', for ''The Beast'', 2001
*Pushcart Prize nomination for "Snapdragons", 2002
*
Best First Novel, ''
Locus'', for ''A Scattering of Jades'', 2003
*Best First Novel, International Horror Guild, for ''A Scattering of Jades'', 2003
*Crawford Award for best first novel, for ''A Scattering of Jades'', 2003
*International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, for ''A Scattering of Jades'', 2003
*New England Press Award for investigative journalism, 2004
*
International Game Developers Association
The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is a nonprofit professional association whose stated mission is to "support and empower game developers around the world in achieving fulfilling and sustainable careers."
The IGDA is incorp ...
award for innovation, for ''
I Love Bees'', 2005
*Critic's choice award, 48-hour Film Project, for "Music Box", 2006
*The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, for "Wizard's Six", 2007
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irvine, Alexander C.
1969 births
Living people
21st-century American novelists
American comics writers
American fantasy writers
American male novelists
Contestants on American game shows
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction people
People from Ypsilanti, Michigan
Novelists from Maine
Novelists from Michigan
University of Michigan alumni
21st-century American male writers