Allen James Stroud (born 1976/1977) is a researcher and university lecturer at

Coventry University Coventry University is a Public university, public research university in Coventry, England. The origins of Coventry University can be linked to the Coventry School of Art and Design, Coventry School of Design in 1843. It was known as Lancheste ...

. He is currently leading the Creative Futures project, a funded research partnership between Coventry University and the

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is an executive agency of the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is "to maximise the impact of science and technology for the defence and security of the UK". The a ...

(DSTL). Previously, he was Course Leader for the BA Media (Hons) Top Up and BA (Hons) Media and Communications. Before that, he was the course leader for Film and Television Production and the Creative Writing for Publication degrees at

Bucks New University Buckinghamshire New University (BNU) is a public university in Buckinghamshire, England, with campuses in High Wycombe, Aylesbury, Uxbridge and Great Missenden. The institution dates from 1891, when it was founded as the School of Science and A ...

. Up until the end of 2019, he was the editor of the '' British Fantasy Society Journal.'' He also composes instrumental music; however, Stroud is best known for his sci-fi

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 and video game writing. He was the 2017 and 2018 chair of Fantasycon, the annual convention of the British Fantasy Society, which hosts the '' British Fantasy Awards.'' In June 2019, Allen Stroud became Chair of the

British Science Fiction Association The British Science Fiction Association Limited is an organisation founded in 1958 by a group of British person, British academics, science fiction fandom, science fiction fans, authors, publishers and booksellers in order to promote the writing, ...

, taking over from Donna Bond.

Early life and education

Stroud was born in

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

and grew up in

Andover, Hampshire Andover ( ) is a town in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England. The town is on the River Anton, a major tributary of the River Test, Test, and lies alongside the major A303 road, A303 trunk road at the eastern end of Salisbury Plain, ...

. Stroud graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(BA) in Theatre and Television Studies from the

University of Winchester The University of Winchester is a public research university based in the city of Winchester, Hampshire, England. The university has origins tracing back to 1840 as a teacher training college, but was established in 2005. Winchester University ...

in 1999 and then a

Master of Research A Master of Research ( abbr. MRes, MARes, MScRes, or MScR) degree is an internationally recognised advanced postgraduate research degree in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong. In most cases, the degree is designed to prepare s ...

(MRes) in Creative Writing from the

University of Bedfordshire The University of Bedfordshire is a Public university, public research university with campuses in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England. The university has roots in further and higher education from 1882: it gained university status in 19 ...

in 2005. He also pursued a Postgraduate Diploma and Certificate at

Buckinghamshire New University Buckinghamshire New University (BNU) is a public university in Buckinghamshire, England, with campuses in High Wycombe, Aylesbury, Uxbridge and Great Missenden. The institution dates from 1891, when it was founded as the School of Science and A ...

. Stroud later returned to Winchester, completing a Ph.D. in 2017 titled ''An Investigation and Application of Writing Structures and World Development Techniques in Science Fiction and Fantasy.''

Video games

Stroud first became known for his video game writing with his work on world-building and novelisation of

Video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s such as '' Elite: Dangerous''. For ''Elite: Dangerous,'' he wrote six guidebooks that inform the fictional narrative within the game and also serve to help other writers with the novelisation of their stories within the game's world. He also became a founding and continuing host of ''Lave Radio,'' a free podcast related to '' Elite: Dangerous'' that started in February 2013. His novelisation of the ''Elite: Dangerous'' game world began after he completed a successful

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign for the novel, ''Elite: Lave Revolution.'' Stroud is now working on a team which is developing a

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

set in the ''Elite: Dangerous'' game world. Stroud's next video game world-building and novelisation work occurred with the development of '' Chaos Reborn''. For ''Chaos Reborn,'' he worked collaboratively with the game's designer,

Julian Gollop Julian Gollop is a British video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the rules and content of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, st ...

, to devise history and lore for the game world. In 2017, Stroud worked with Gollop and Jonas Kyratzes to develop the

dystopia A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmen ...

n world in the game ''

Phoenix Point ''Phoenix Point'' is a strategy video game featuring a turn-based tactics system that is developed by Bulgaria-based independent developer Snapshot Games. It was released on December 3, 2019, for macOS and Microsoft Windows, for Google Stadia, St ...

''. Many of Stroud's short stories for ''Phoenix Point'' have been made available to readers for free.

Books and stories

Stroud has written for a variety of different short story anthologies. In 2016, his story "The Last Tank Commander" appeared in ''Crises and Conflicts'' from Newcon Press.

Baen Books Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher an ...

Editor David Afshariad selected this for the 2017 edition of ''The Year's Best Military & Adventure SF''. Stroud's story "Reader" appears in Alice Macklin's 2017 anthology ''Read This First''. In 2018, Stroud's story "Dancers" was included in ''2001: An Odyssey in Words'' published by Newcon Press. This is an anthology published to commemorate the 100th birthday of the late

Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. Clarke co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A ...

and features work by

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

China Miéville China Tom Miéville ( , born 6 September 1972) is a British speculative fiction writer and Literary criticism, literary critic. He often describes his work as "weird fiction", and is allied to the loosely associated movement of writers called ...

, Peter Hamilton,

Stephen Baxter (author) Stephen Baxter (born 13 November 1957) is an English hard science fiction author. He has degrees in mathematics and engineering. Writing style Strongly influenced by science fiction pioneer H. G. Wells, Baxter has been vice-president of the ...

Alastair Reynolds Alastair Preston Reynolds (born 13 March 1966) is a Welsh science fiction author. He specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. Early life Reynolds was born in Wales and spent his early years in Cornwall before moving back to Wales, ...

and

Pat Cadigan Patricia Oren Kearney Cadigan (born September 10, 1953) is a British-American science fiction author, whose work is most often identified with the cyberpunk movement. Her novels and short stories often explore the relationship between the human ...

amongst others. In 2020, Grimbold Books published''Forgotten Sidekicks'' which features Stroud's short story, "Saving Simon" - a spiritual successor to

John Wagner John Wagner (born 1949) is an American-born British comics writer. Alongside Pat Mills, he helped revitalise British comics in the 1970s, and continues to be active in the British comics industry, occasionally also working in American comics. ...

's 1981 short story "Sinful Simon".

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stroud, Allen Living people 1970s births 21st-century British male musicians 21st-century British writers 21st-century composers Academics of Buckinghamshire New University Academics of Coventry University Alumni of Buckinghamshire New University Alumni of the University of Bedfordshire Alumni of the University of Winchester British fantasy writers British magazine editors British male writers British male composers British science fiction writers People from Andover, Hampshire Video game writers Writers from Hampshire Year of birth uncertain