John Meaney (born 1957 in London) is a British science fiction author.

Biography

Meaney grew up in London and Slough, England with his brother Colm (who is not the same as the Star Trek actor

Colm Meaney Colm J. Meaney (; ; born 30 May 1953) is an Irish actor. Known for his performances across screen and stage, he has received seven nominations from the Irish Film & Television Academy, winning twice for 2001's '' How Harry Became a Tree'', and ...

). He has studied martial arts since childhood and has a black belt in

shotokan karate is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" thr ...

. Meaney originally studied at

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

and holds a combined degree in

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

from the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

. He has done postgraduate work at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

and is a part-time IT consultant.

Writing career

Meaney's science fiction began appearing in 1992 with "Spring Rain" in the July 1992 issue of '' Interzone''. His novelette "Sharp Tang" was shortlisted for the

British Science Fiction Association Award The BSFA Awards are literary awards presented annually since 1970 by the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) to honour works in the genre of science fiction. Nominees and winners are chosen based on a vote of BSFA members. More recently, ...

in 1995. His first novel, ''To Hold Infinity'', was published to critical acclaim in 1998. Along with his second novel, ''Paradox'', it was on the BSFA shortlists for Best Novel in 2001 and 1999 respectively. ''To Hold Infinity'' was also selected as one of the ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

s "Books of the Year". ''Bone Song'' represented a change from his first four novels, being a blend of crime and fantasy rather than science fiction. By 2006, he had published over a dozen short pieces. His works have been considered to be influenced by

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting said to focus on a combination of "low-life and high tech". It features futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyberwa ...

. He was described by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' as "the first important new SF writer of the 21st Century".

Works

* ''To Hold Infinity'' (Bantam/Transworld, 1998) * ''The Whisper of Disks'' ( Interzone, October 2002)

Nulapeiron Sequence

Source: # ''Paradox'' (Bantam/Transworld, 2000) # ''Context'' (Bantam/Transworld, 2002) # ''Resolution'' (Bantam/Transworld, 2005)

Tristopolis

# '' Bone Song'' (Gollancz/Orion, 2007) # ''Dark Blood'' (Gollancz/Orion, 2008) - released as ''Black Blood'' in the US in 2009 # ''Tristopolis Requiem'' (Self published, 2018)

Ragnarok

# ''Absorption'' (Gollancz/Orion, 2010) # ''Transmission'' (Gollancz/Orion, 2012) # ''Resonance'' (Gollancz/Orion, 2013)

Writing as Thomas Blackthorne

# ''Edge'' (Angry Robot, 2010) # ''Point'' (Angry Robot, 2011)

References

External links

* *
2002 Sfsite.com interview with John Meaney

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meaney, John 1957 births Living people British science fiction writers English science fiction writers Alumni of the Open University English male novelists English male non-fiction writers