Alex Pheby (born 1970) is a British author and academic. He is currently a professor at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

and lives in Scotland. He studied at

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Education ...

, Goldsmiths. and UEA.

Career

Pheby's second novel, ''Playthings'', was described as "the best neuro-novel ever written" in ''

Literary Review ''Literary Review'' is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at the University of Edinburgh. Its offices are on Lexington Street in Soho. The magazine was edited for fourteen years b ...

''. The novel deals with the true case of

Daniel Paul Schreber Daniel Paul Schreber (; 25 July 1842 – 14 April 1911) was a German judge who was famous for his personal account of his own experience with schizophrenia. Schreber experienced three distinct periods of acute mental illness. The first of these ...

, a 19th-century German judge affected by

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

, who was committed to an asylum. In 2016, ''Playthings'' was shortlisted for the £30,000 Wellcome Book Prize. His third novel, ''Lucia'', concerning the suspected schizophrenic daughter of James Joyce, released in 2018 was joint winner of the

Republic of Consciousness Prize The Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses is an annual British literary prize founded by the author Neil Griffiths. It rewards fiction published by UK and Irish small presses, defined as those with fewer than five full-time employee ...

. He is also the author of ''Grace'', published by Two Ravens Press. ''

Mordew The ''Cities of the Weft'' trilogy is a series of fantasy novels by Alex Pheby. The series is set in a world where the fabric of reality is woven from a material called "weft". The first book, '' Mordew'', was published in 2020, followed by ''Ma ...

'', published in 2020 by

Galley Beggar Press A galley is a type of ship optimised for propulsion by oars. Galleys were historically used for naval warfare, warfare, Maritime transport, trade, and piracy mostly in the seas surrounding Europe. It developed in the Mediterranean world during ...

, is the first book in the

Cities of the Weft The ''Cities of the Weft'' trilogy is a series of fantasy novels by Alex Pheby. The series is set in a world where the fabric of reality is woven from a material called "weft". The first book, '' Mordew'', was published in 2020, followed by ''Ma ...

trilogy of

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, ...

novels. Critics have praised the world building, the balance between "invention and familiarity", and described the novel as "dizzying". It was followed by

Malarkoi The ''Cities of the Weft'' trilogy is a series of fantasy novels by Alex Pheby. The series is set in a world where the fabric of reality is woven from a material called "weft". The first book, '' Mordew'', was published in 2020, followed by ''Ma ...

in 2022 and

Waterblack The ''Cities of the Weft'' trilogy is a series of fantasy novels by Alex Pheby. The series is set in a world where the fabric of reality is woven from a material called "weft". The first book, '' Mordew'', was published in 2020, followed by ''Ma ...

in 2025.

Bibliography

*2014: ''Afterimages of Schreber'' *2015: ''Playthings'' *2018: ''Lucia'' *2020: ''

'' (

#1) *2022: ''

'' (

#2) *2025: ''

'' (

#3)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pheby, Alex 1970 births Living people 21st-century British novelists Academics of the University of Greenwich Alumni of the University of East Anglia British postmodern writers British fantasy writers