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Charles David George "Charlie" Stross (born 18 October 1964) is a British writer of
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 ...
and
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, ...
. Stross specialises in
hard science fiction Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's ''Islands of Space'' in the Novemb ...
and
space opera Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes Space warfare in science fiction, space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, i ...
. Between 1994 and 2004, he was also an active writer for the magazine '' Computer Shopper'' and was responsible for its monthly
Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
column. He stopped writing for the magazine to devote more time to novels. However, he continues to publish
freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
articles on the Internet.


Early life and education

Stross was born in
Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
, England. He showed an early interest in writing and wrote his first science fiction story at age 12. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Pharmacy in 1986 and qualified as a pharmacist in 1987. In 1989, he enrolled at
University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...
for a post-graduate degree in computer science. In 1990, he went to work as a technical author and programmer. In 2000, he began working as a writer full-time, as a technical writer at first, but then became successful as a fiction writer.Charles Stross
, Tor.com (accessed 29 May 2013)


Career

In the 1970s and 1980s, Stross published some
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 ...
articles about ''
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Several different editions of the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game have been produced since 1974. The current publisher of ''D&D'', Wizards of the Coast, produces new materials only for the most current edition of the ...
'' in ''
White Dwarf A white dwarf is a Compact star, stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very density, dense: in an Earth sized volume, it packs a mass that is comparable to the Sun. No nuclear fusion takes place i ...
'' magazine. Some of his creatures, such as the death knight, githyanki (the name borrowed from
George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948) also known by the initials G.R.R.M. is an American author, television writer, and television producer. He is best known as the author of the unfinished series of Hi ...
's 1977 novel, '' Dying of the Light''),
githzerai This is a list of ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' 2nd-edition Monsters in Dungeons & Dragons, monsters, an important element of that role-playing game. This list only includes monsters from official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition, ''Adv ...
, and slaad (a chaotic race of frog-like humanoids) were later published in the ''
Fiend Folio ''Fiend Folio'' is the name of three separate products published for successive editions of the fantasy role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). All three are collections of monsters. The bulk of the material in the first edition c ...
'' monster compendium. His first published short story, ''The Boys'', appeared in '' Interzone'' in 1987. A collection of his short stories, '' Toast: And Other Rusted Futures'', was released in 2002; subsequent short stories have been nominated for the Hugo Award,
Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA), a nonprofit association of pr ...
, and other awards. His first novel, '' Singularity Sky'', was published by
Ace Books Ace Books is a publisher of science fiction (SF) and fantasy books founded in New York City in 1952 by A. A. Wyn, Aaron A. Wyn. It began as a genre publisher of mystery fiction, mysteries and western (genre), westerns, and soon branched out int ...
in 2003 and was also nominated for the
Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...
. His novella ''The Concrete Jungle'' (published in ''
The Atrocity Archives ''The Laundry Files'' is a series of novels by British writer Charles Stross. They mix the genres of Lovecraftian horror, spy thriller, science fiction, and workplace humour. Their main character for the first five novels is "Bob Howard" (a pse ...
'') won the Hugo award for its category in 2005. His novel ''
Accelerando ''Accelerando'' is a 2005 science fiction novel consisting of a series of interconnected short stories written by British author Charles Stross. As well as normal hardback and paperback editions, it was released as a free e-book under the CC ...
'' won the 2006
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 ...
for Best Science Fiction Novel, was a finalist for the
John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel The John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, or Campbell Memorial Award, was an annual award presented to the author of the best science fiction novel published in English in the preceding calendar year. It was given by s ...
, and was on the final ballot for the Hugo Award in the best novel category. '' Glasshouse'' won the 2007
Prometheus Award The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activist L. Neil Smith established the Best Novel category for the award in 1979; however, it was not award ...
and was on the final ballot for the Hugo Award in the best novel category; the German translation ''Glashaus'' won the 2009 Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis. His novella ''
Missile Gap In the United States, during the Cold War, the missile gap was the perceived superiority of the number and power of the USSR's missiles in comparison with those of the U.S., causing a lack of military parity. The gap in the ballistic missile arsen ...
'' won the 2007 Locus Award for best novella, and he was awarded the Edward E. Smith Memorial Award or Skylark at
Boskone Boskone is an annual science fiction convention ("con") run by the New England Science Fiction Association (NESFA) in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. In the words of the convention organizers, "Boskone is a regional Science Fiction co ...
2008. His novel ''
The Atrocity Archives ''The Laundry Files'' is a series of novels by British writer Charles Stross. They mix the genres of Lovecraftian horror, spy thriller, science fiction, and workplace humour. Their main character for the first five novels is "Bob Howard" (a pse ...
'' (2004) detailed a British intelligence agency tasked with investigating otherworldly horrors; using ideas similar to those in the RPG book ''
Delta Green ''Delta Green'' is a contemporary era setting for the ''Call of Cthulhu'' role-playing game created by Adam Scott Glancy, Dennis Detwiller, and John Scott Tynes, a.k.a. the Delta Green Partnership, of the Seattle gaming house Pagan Publishi ...
'' (1996), Stross wrote in the afterword to the book: "All I can say in my defence is... I hadn't heard of ''Delta Green'' when I wrote ''The Atrocity Archive''... I'll leave it at that except to say that ''Delta Green'' has come dangerously close to making me pick up the dice again." ''
Rogue Farm Rogue Farm is a 2003 science fiction short story by British author Charles Stross. It takes place in a bizarre future sometime after the technological singularity. In a world of biological fabricators, eight-legged cows, talking dogs, microscopic s ...
'', his 2003 short story, was adapted into an eponymous animated film that debuted in August 2004. Stross was one of the Guests of Honour at Orbital 2008, the British National Science Fiction convention (
Eastercon Eastercon is the common name for the annual British national science fiction convention. The convention is organised by voluntary self-organising committees, rather than a permanent entity. Overview Eastercon attracts 800-1200 fans of scien ...
), in March 2008. He was the Author Guest of Honour at the Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention ( Balticon) in May 2009. He was Author Guest of Honour at Fantasticon (
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
) in August 2009. He was the Guest of Honor at Boskone 48 in Feb 2011.
Cubicle 7 Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd is an Ireland, Irish games company that creates and publishes tabletop games. Best known for its ''Doctor Who'' and ''Lord of the Rings'' games, Cubicle 7 offers titles covering a range of licensed and self-developed p ...
used their ''
Basic Role-Playing ''Basic Role-Playing'' (''BRP'') is a tabletop role-playing game which originated in the ''RuneQuest'' fantasy role-playing game. Chaosium released the ''BRP'' standalone booklet in 1980 in the boxed set release of the second edition of ''RuneQ ...
'' license to create '' The Laundry'' (2010), based on Stross' writings, wherein agents must contend with both the outer gods and the bureaucracy of the United Kingdom. In September 2012, Stross released '' The Rapture of the Nerds'', a novel written in collaboration with
Cory Doctorow Cory Efram Doctorow (; born 17 July 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of th ...
. The two have also together been involved in the
Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...
licensing and copyright movement. In December 2017 he gave a talk at
34C3 The Chaos Communication Congress is an annual hacker conference organized by the Chaos Computer Club. The congress features a variety of lectures and workshops on technical and political issues related to security, cryptography, privacy and ...
.


Awards

''
Accelerando ''Accelerando'' is a 2005 science fiction novel consisting of a series of interconnected short stories written by British author Charles Stross. As well as normal hardback and paperback editions, it was released as a free e-book under the CC ...
'' won the 2006
Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel The Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel is one of the annual Locus Awards presented by the science fiction and fantasy magazine Locus (magazine), ''Locus''. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar ...
. ''
Missile Gap In the United States, during the Cold War, the missile gap was the perceived superiority of the number and power of the USSR's missiles in comparison with those of the U.S., causing a lack of military parity. The gap in the ballistic missile arsen ...
'' won the 2007 Locus Award for best novella. ''The Concrete Jungle'' (contained in ''
The Atrocity Archives ''The Laundry Files'' is a series of novels by British writer Charles Stross. They mix the genres of Lovecraftian horror, spy thriller, science fiction, and workplace humour. Their main character for the first five novels is "Bob Howard" (a pse ...
'') won the
Hugo Award for Best Novella The Hugo Award for Best Novella is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novella award is available for works of fiction of between ...
in 2005; ''
Palimpsest In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off in preparation for reuse in the form of another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid ski ...
'', included in ''Wireless'', won the same award in 2010, and '' Equoid'' in 2014. ''Glasshouse'' won the 2009 Prometheus Award for Best Novel; Stross was a Best Novel finalist in 2009 for '' Saturn's Children'' and has been nominated four other times for '' Iron Sunrise'' (in 2005), ''Accelerando'' (2006), ''The Revolution Business'' (2010) and ''Annihilation Score'' (2016). ''The Apocalypse Codex'' won the 2013
Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel The Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel is a literary award given annually by ''Locus Magazine'' as part of their Locus Awards. Winners References External links The Locus Award Index: FantasyThe Locus Award: 2011 winnersExcerpts and summaries ...
. Stross's work has also been nominated for a number of other awards, including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the
Hugo Award for Best Novel The Hugo Award for Best Novel is one of the Hugo Awards given each year by the World Science Fiction Society for science fiction or fantasy stories published in, or translated to, English during the previous calendar year. The novel award is ava ...
, as well as the Japanese
Seiun Award The is a Japanese speculative fiction award given each year for the best science fiction works and achievements during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by , the awards are given at the annual Nihon SF Taikai, Japan Science Fic ...
.


Personal life

Stross believes himself to be
autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...
, but does not intend to seek a professional diagnosis.


Selected bibliography


''The Merchant Princes'' series

* ''The Family Trade'' (2004) * ''The Hidden Family'' (2005) * ''The Clan Corporate'' (2006) * ''The Merchants' War'' (2007) * ''The Revolution Business'' (2009) * ''The Trade of Queens'' (2010) * ''Empire Games'' (2017) * ''Dark State'' (2018) * ''Invisible Sun'' (2021)


The Laundry Files universe


''The Laundry Files''

* ''The Atrocity Archives'' (2004) * ''The Jennifer Morgue'' (2006) * ''Down on the Farm'' (2008 novelette) * ''Equoid'' (2013 novelette) * ''The Fuller Memorandum'' (2010) * ''Overtime'' (2009 novelette) * ''The Apocalypse Codex'' (2012) * ''The Rhesus Chart'' (2014) * ''The Annihilation Score'' (2015) * ''The Nightmare Stacks'' (2016) * ''The Delirium Brief'' (2017) * ''The Labyrinth Index'' (2018) * ''Escape From Yokai Land'' (2022 novella) * ''A Conventional Boy'' (2025)


''Tales of the New Management''

* ''Dead Lies Dreaming'' (2020) * ''Quantum of Nightmares'' (2022) * ''Season of Skulls'' (2023)


''Halting State'' series

* '' Halting State'' (2007) * ''
Rule 34 Rule 34 is a "rule of the internet" which claims that some form of pornography exists concerning every possible topic. The concept is commonly depicted as fan art of normally non-erotic subjects engaging in sexual activity. It can also include ...
'' (2011)


Eschaton series

*'' Singularity Sky'' (2003) *'' Iron Sunrise'' (2004)


Standalone work

*'' A Colder War'' (2000) *''
Accelerando ''Accelerando'' is a 2005 science fiction novel consisting of a series of interconnected short stories written by British author Charles Stross. As well as normal hardback and paperback editions, it was released as a free e-book under the CC ...
'' (2005) *'' Glasshouse'' (2006) *''
Missile Gap In the United States, during the Cold War, the missile gap was the perceived superiority of the number and power of the USSR's missiles in comparison with those of the U.S., causing a lack of military parity. The gap in the ballistic missile arsen ...
'' (2006)


References


External links

* – featuring a blog with guest contributions *
Stross software releases
– latest, 2000 *

accessed 2 OCT 2022 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stross, Charles 1964 births Alumni of the University of Bradford British people of Polish-Jewish descent British science fiction writers British transhumanists British weird fiction writers Cthulhu Mythos writers Cyberpunk writers Dungeons & Dragons game designers English fantasy writers English male novelists English science fiction writers Hugo Award–winning writers Living people Sidewise Award winners Writers from Leeds