Ben Peek

Ben Michael Peek
Ben Peek at the 2007 World Fantasy Convention
Born	12 October 1976 Sydney, New South Wales
Genres	Speculative fiction
benpeek.livejournal.com

Ben Peek (12 October 1976, Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian author. His middle name is Michael.^{[citation needed]}

Peek's short stories have been published in a variety of genre magazines, including Fantasy Magazine and Aurealis. His fiction has been reprinted in various Year's Best volumes. In 2000, he created a zine called The Urban Sprawl Project, a black and white pamphlet of photography and prose, and this remains the name of his online journal. In 2006 his autobiography, Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth, was published by Wheatland Press with artwork from Andrew Macrae and Anna Brown. In 2007, Black Sheep, a dystopian novel, was published by Prime Books. In 2007, Peek also began collaborating with artist Anna Brown on Nowhere Near Savannah, an online comic that in part follows on from their original collaboration on Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth. Peek has claimed that every incident described in Nowhere near Savannah is true.^[1]

Peek holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Western Sydney, and a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of New South Wales, during which he wrote the novel A Year in the City. His reviews have appeared on several websites including, PopImage, Sequential Tart, and Strange Horizons. In 2005 he interviewed over forty Australian speculative fiction writers, editors and publishers as part of the The 2005 Snapshot: Australian Speculative Fiction.

Peek's writing is best described as speculative fiction. However, he often takes fundamental elements of the genre and combines them into other styles. Recurring themes in Peek's work include the representation of race and multiculturalism. Peek has also written a number of works that play with story form, including Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth and Johnny Cash.

Published Fiction

Novels and Longer Works

• Dead Americans (2013), short story collection, ChiZine Publications.
• Below in Above/Below with Stephanie Campisi, (2011), Twelfth Planet Press.
• Black Sheep, a dystopian novel (2007), Prime Books.
• Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth (2006), Wheatland Press.
• The Enigma Variant (1999), with Chris Mowbray. MirrorDanse Books.

Short Fiction

• There is Something so Quiet and Empty Inside of You That it Must be Precious. In Polyphony Seven, ed. Deborah Layne and Forrest Aguirre, Wheatland Press. Forthcoming.
• White Crocodile Jazz (2010). In Sprawl, ed. Alisa Krasnostein, Twelfth Planet Press.

Reprinted in "The Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror, Volume One", eds. Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene, Ticonderoga Publications.

• Last Drink Bird Head (2009). In Last Drink Bird Head, eds. Ann Vandermeer and Jeff Vandermeer, Ministry of Whimsy.
• The Nabakov (2009), co-written with Stephanie Campisi. In The Surreal Botany Guide, ed. Janet Cho and Jason Lundaberg, Two Crane Press.
• David Bowie (2008). In 2012, ed. Alisa Krasnostein and Ben Payne.
• The Funeral, Ruined (2008). In Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy, ed. Ekaterina Sedia, Senses Five.
• Possession (2007). Fantasy Magazine.
• John Wayne (As Written by a Non-American) (2007), Aurealis, #37, Chimaera Press.

Reprinted in "The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy", 2008, eds. Bill Congreve and Michelle Marquardt, MirrorDanse Books.

• Excerpts from Novels Fifty Years From Now (2007). Overland, #188
• Black Betty (2007). Lone Star Stories
• theleeharveyoswaldband (2006). In Polyphony Six, ed. Deborah Layne and Jay Lake, Wheatland Press.
• The Souls of Dead Soldiers are for Blackbirds, Not Little Boys (2006). In Agog! Ripping Reads, ed. Cat Sparks, Agog! Press.

Reprinted in "The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy", 2008, eds. Bill Congreve and Michelle Marquardt, Mirrordanse Books.

• Under the Red Sun (2006). Fantasy Magazine, #4.

Recorded as a podcast at Terra Incognita SF, #17, 2010.

• Mono (2006). In Phantom, ed. Nick Mamatas, Prime Books.
• The Night of the Dead King (2006), Potato Monkey, #4.
• An Investigation into the Chinese Made Roman Toga (2005), Full Unit Hookup, #7.
• The Elephant's Glass Prison (2005). In Magistria, ed. G.W. Thomas, RageMachineBooks.
• Johnny Cash (A Tale in Questionnaire Results) (2005), Shadowed Realms #4.

Reprinted in The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2006, eds. Bill Congreve and Michelle Marquardt, MirrorDanse Books.

• The Dream of a Russian Princess (2005), TiconderogaOnline #3.
• The Dreaming City (2004). In Leviathan Four: Cities, ed. Forrest Aguirre, The Ministry of Whimsy Press.

Reprinted in The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2005, eds. Bill Congreve and Michelle Marquardt, MirrorDanse Books.
Reprinted in The Best of Leviathan, eds. Jeff VanderMeer and Ann Kennedy. Forthcoming, 2007.

• R (2004). In Agog! Smashing Stories, ed. Cat Sparks, Agog! Press.
• The Lost World of the Stranger (2004). In Amazing Heroes II, ed. G.W. Thomas, RageMachineBooks.
• Black Sunday Month (2004), Antipodean Sci-Fi #81.
• Adala's Memory: A March Collection (2004). In The Spiny Babbler, ed. Brian Thompson.
• Dr Who? (Or the Day I Learnt to Love Tom Baker) (2003). In Forever Shores, eds. Peter McNamara and Margaret Winch, Wakefield Press.
• The Recipe (2003). In Elsewhere (Anthology), Michael Barry, Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild.
• Cigarettes and Roses (2002). In Passing Strange, ed. Bill Congreve, MirrorDanse Books.
• Scratches in the Sky (2002). In Agog! Fantastic Fiction, ed. Cat Sparks, Agog! Press.
• Camel (2002), AurealisXpress, December Issue, p 3.
• Antique Spaceman (2002), Antipodean Sci-Fi, #68.
• Killing the French Fry Girl (2001), Voiceworks, #45.
• With the Lights On (1998), Under Magellanic Clouds, #5.
• The Edge of the Universe (1998), Under Magellanic Clouds, #5.
• The Owner of Ankou's Sword (1996), Dragon Soup, #11.
• Seeing Black and White (1996), The Mentor, #92.
• The One Race, One World Conspiracy (1995), The Mentor, #89.

Poetry

• Changeling (1997). In The Goblin Market, ed. Raechel Henderson, Eggplant Productions.

Awards

Peek has been nominated for the Ditmar Awards (Australian SF Award) nine times. He is the second most nominated individual not to win a Ditmar.^[2] He has twice been nominated for the Aurealis Award.^[3]

References

1. ^ Peek, Ben (October 2007). "Nowhere Near Savannah"
2. ^ http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/DitmarTallies.html
3. ^ http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit102.html#4069

External links

• Ben Peek's livejournal
• Prime Books
• Wheatland Press
• The 2005 Snapshot: Australian Speculative Fiction
• ASiF! 2007 Snapshot Interview
• 2011 Interview with Ben Peek
• Ben Peek at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Persondata
Name	Peek, Ben
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	12 October 1976
Place of birth	Sydney, New South Wales
Date of death
Place of death