Geoffrey Charles Ryman (born 1951) is a Canadian 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 ...

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, ...

slipstream A slipstream is a region behind a moving object in which a wake of fluid (typically air or water) is moving at velocities comparable to that of the moving object, relative to the ambient fluid through which the object is moving. The term slips ...

and

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the Setting (narrative), setting of particular real past events, historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literatur ...

. Ryman has written and published seven novels, including an early example of a hypertext novel, '' 253''. He has won multiple awards, including the

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...

Biography

Ryman was born in Canada and moved to the United States at age 11. He earned degrees in History and English at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, then moved to England in 1973, where he has lived most of his life. He is gay. In addition to being an author, Ryman started a web design team for the

UK government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

at the Central Office of Information in 1994. He also led the teams that designed the first official

British Monarchy The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers Constitutional monarchy, regula ...

and

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London is the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom. Colloquially known as Number 10, the building is located in Downing Street, off Whitehall in th ...

websites, and worked on the UK government's flagship website, www.direct.gov.uk.

Works

Ryman says he knew he was a writer "before ecould talk", with his first work published in his mother's newspaper column at six years of age. He is best known for his science fiction; however, his first novel was the fantasy '' The Warrior Who Carried Life'' (1985), and his revisionist fantasy of '' The Wizard of Oz'', '' Was...'' (1992), has been called "his most accomplished work".Ency fantasy In 1996, Ryman began publishing instalments of ''253: A Novel for the Internet in Seven Cars and a Crash'' on the web. The work deals with the interconnected lives of 253 people on a Bakerloo line train in London, hurtling towards death, and is an early example of a hypertext novel. It was deeply personal to Ryman. '253 happens on January 11th, 1995,' he writes, 'which is the day I learned my best friend was dying of Aids.' The project was intricate and lengthy, and took up a great deal of time, but in the 2000s, when Ryman was suffering from cancer, he accidentally failed to renew the URL, which was sold on, resulting in the loss of the project. In 2023, however, Ryman was able to restore it, and it became available online again. Much of Ryman's work is based on travels to

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

. The first of these, '' The Unconquered Country'' (1986), was winner of the

and BSFA Award. His novel '' The King's Last Song'' (2006) was set both in the

Angkor Wat Angkor Wat (; , "City/Capital of Wat, Temples") is a Buddhism and Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhist temple complex in Cambodia. Located on a site measuring within the ancient Khmer Empire, Khmer capital city of Angkor, it was originally constructed ...

era and the time after

Pol Pot Pol Pot (born Saloth Sâr; 19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998) was a Cambodian politician, revolutionary, and dictator who ruled the communist state of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976 until Cambodian–Vietnamese War, his overthrow in 1979. During ...

and the

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...

. In 2023, after a significant hiatus between novels, Ryman published ''Him'', an alternative history of Jesus Christ, in which Jesus is born biologically female, but identifies as male. ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organ ...

'' called it 'provocative,' while Lisa Tuttle commented in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'': 'It will offend those determined to be offended, but it is a serious, heartfelt exploration of profound human questions by one of our best writers.' Ryman has written, directed and performed in several plays based on works by other writers. He was guest of honour at Novacon in 1989 and has twice been a guest speaker at

Microcon MicroCon is a biennial w:summit (meeting), summit or conference of micronation, micronationalists held in every other year since April 11, 2015. The event was created by Kevin Baugh of the Republic of Molossia, and every summit since has been h ...

, in 1994 and in 2004. He was also the guest of honour at the national Swedish science fiction convention Swecon in 2006, at Gaylaxicon 2008, at Wiscon 2009, and at Åcon 2010. An article by Wendy Gay Pearson on Ryman's novel ''The Child Garden'' won the British Science Fiction Foundation's graduate essay award and was published in a special issue of ''Foundation'' on LGBT science fiction edited by Andrew M. Butler in 2002. Ryman's works were also the subject of a special issue of ''Extrapolation'' in 2008, with articles dealing with ''Air, The Child Garden, Lust,'' and ''Was,'' in particular. Neil Easterbrook's article in this special issue, "'Giving An Account of Oneself': Ethics, Alterity, Air" won the 2009 Science Fiction Research Association Pioneer Award for best published article on science fiction (this award has since been renamed the SFRA Innovative Research Award). The issue includes an interview with Geoff Ryman by Canadian speculative fiction writer Hiromi Goto. The introduction to the special issue, by Susan Knabe and Wendy Gay Pearson, also responds to Ryman's call for Mundane science fiction. The Mundane SF movement was founded in 2002 during the

Clarion Workshop The Clarion Workshop is an American six-week workshop for aspiring science fiction and fantasy writers. Originally an outgrowth of Damon Knight's and Kate Wilhelm's Milford Writer's Workshop, Milford Writer's Conference, held at their home in Milfo ...

by Ryman and other Clarion West Workshop instructors. In a 2004 manifesto on the subject, Ryman writes of the Mundane science fiction movement: 'This movement proposes "mundane science fiction" as its own subgenre science fiction, typically characterized by its setting on Earth and a believable use of technology and science as it exists at the time the story is written or a plausible extension of existing technology.' In 2008 a Mundane SF issue of '' Interzone'' magazine was published, guest-edited by Ryman, Julian Todd and Trent Walters. Ryman has lectured at the University of Manchester since at least 2007; as of 2022 he is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in

Creative Writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

for

University of Manchester 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 ...

's English Department, where in 2011 he won the Faculty Students' Teaching Award for the School of Arts, History and Culture.

Partial bibliography

Novels

* '' The Unconquered Country: A Life History'' (1984) * '' The Warrior Who Carried Life'' (1985) * '' The Child Garden'' (1989) * '' Was'' (1992) * '' 253'' (1996 online, 1998 print) * '' Lust'' (2001) * '' Air: Or, Have Not Have'' (2005) * '' The King's Last Song'' (2006 UK, 2008 US) * ''Him'' (2023)

Collections

* '' Unconquered Countries: Four Novellas'' (1994) * '' Paradise Tales'' (July 2011, Small Beer Press)

Awards

, - , valign=top , ; British Science Fiction Award * ''The Unconquered Country'' for Best Short (1984) * ''Air'' for Best Novel (2005) ;

* ''The Unconquered Country'' Best Novella (1985) ; Arthur C. Clarke Award * ''The Child Garden'' for Best Novel (1990) * ''Air'' (2005) , valign=top , ; Campbell Award * ''The Child Garden'' for Best Novel (1990) ; Philip K. Dick Award * ''253: The Print Remix'', 1998 ; James Tiptree, Jr. Award * ''Air'' (2005) ;

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 ...

for Best Novelette * '' What We Found'' (2012)

References

External links

*
Author page at Small Beer Press

Comment on the victims of the 7 July 2005 London bombings

conducted by Kit Reed at Infinity Plus, discussing his novel ''Air'' and the Mundane SF movement.
Compilation of reviews of Ryman's book ''The King's Last Song''

Biog page at the University of ManchesterRyman special issue of ''Extrapolation'' at Liverpool University Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryman, Geoff 1951 births Living people British science fiction writers Canadian science fiction writers Canadian gay writers English LGBTQ writers The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction people University of California, Los Angeles alumni World Fantasy Award–winning writers Nebula Award winners British male novelists 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people