Jon Courtenay Grimwood

Infobox writer


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name = Jon Courtenay Grimwood
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birthplace = Valletta, Malta
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occupation = Writer
nationality = British
period = 1990s-present
genre = Science fiction
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website = http://www.j-cg.co.uk/

Jon Courtenay Grimwood is a British science fiction author.

He was born in Valletta, Malta, grew up in Britain, Southeast Asia and Norway in the 1960s and 1970s. He studied at Kingston College, then worked in publishing and as a freelance writer for magazines and newspapers including "The Guardian". He now lives in London and Winchester and is married to the journalist and novelist Sam Baker, with a son, Jamie, from a previous marriage.

Much of his early work can be described as post-cyberpunk. He won a British Science Fiction Association award for "Felaheen" in 2003, was shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award for "Pashazade" the year before and won the 2006 BSFA award for Best Novel with "End of the World Blues" [http://www.bsfa.co.uk/index.cfm/section.shortlist2006] . He has also been shortlisted for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award . His fourth book is loosely based on Stanley Weyman's Victorian novel "Under the Red Robe" (ISBN 5-552-05128-9).

End of the World Blues is also shortlisted for the 2007 Arthur C Clarke Award.

Grimwood's work tends to be of a quasi-alternate history genre that could be dubbed "alternate future"; whilst set in an alternate universe, they are still set in the future. In the first four novels, set in the 22nd century, the point of divergence is the Franco–Prussian War of 1870, where Grimwood posits a reality where Napoléon III's France defeats Otto von Bismarck's Prussia, causing the German Empire never to form and the Second French Empire never to collapse. In the "Arabesk" trilogy, the point of divergence is in 1915, with Woodrow Wilson brokering an earlier peace so that World War I barely expanded outside of the Balkans; the books are set in a liberal Islamic Ottoman North Africa in the 21st century, mainly centering around El Iskandryia (Alexandria). By contrast, there is little in "Stamping Butterflies", "9tail Fox" or "End of the World Blues" to suggest that the books are not set in our reality.

Grimwood was guest of honour at Novacon in 2003. He is scheduled to appear at Kontext (Sweden), in 2008, and at Eastercon LX, the 60th British National Science Fiction Convention, in 2009.

Writing style

Grimwood's style has two main features. Firstly, his central characters often have a somewhat unusual form of (often artificial) inner monologue; the lead character of the "Arabesk" trilogy has an internal AI generally referred to as "the fox" or (Inuktitut for Arctic fox), which acts as a pseudo-conscience to some extent, in addition to giving him often flawed and self-evident advice; another character talks to his ever-present military commander; and most notably, in "redRobe", the lead character (an assassin) talks to his gun. In "Stamping Butterflies", as well as some of the protagonists having a mental link (across several centuries), one character has conversations with an alien AI known as "the Library".

Secondly, he frequently alternates the main narrative with either a continuous story or a series of discontinuous flashbacks, often to the childhood of a central character. He uses this to explain events in the past in such a way that their connection to the plot only becomes evident later in the book, at around the point its effects are felt in the main storyline.

Novels

* "neoAddix" (1997) ISBN 0-340-67472-5
* "Lucifer's Dragon" (1998) ISBN 0-7434-7827-4
* "reMix" (1999) ISBN 0-671-02222-9
* "redRobe" (2000) ISBN 0-671-02260-1
* "Arabesk" trilogy:
** "Pashazade" (2001) ISBN 0-7434-6833-3
** "Effendi" (2002) ISBN 0-671-77369-0
** "Felaheen" (2003) ISBN 0-671-77370-4
* "Stamping Butterflies" (2004) ISBN 0-575-07613-5
* "9tail Fox" (2005) ISBN 0-575-07615-1
* "End of the World Blues" (2006) ISBN 0-575-07616-X

External links and references

* [http://www.myspace.com/joncg Official myspace page]
* [http://www.sfsite.com/04b/jcg126.htm Interview with the author] on "SFsite.com", April 2002
* [http://www.strangehorizons.com/2002/20020812/grimwood.shtml Interview with the author] on Strange Horizons.com", August 12, 2002
* [http://www.thealienonline.net/interviews/jcgrimwood_jun03.asp?tid=3&scid=24&iid=1724 Interview with the author] on "The Alien Online.net", July 2003
* [http://www.computercrowsnest.com/sfnews2/03_aug/news0803_5.shtml Interview with the author] on "Computer Crows Nest.com", August 2003
* [http://www.matrix-magazine.co.uk/articles.asp?articleID=15 Interview with the author] on "Matrix Magazine", July 2004
* [http://www.matrix-magazine.co.uk/articles.asp?articleID=44 Interview with the author] on "Matrix Magazine", October 2005
* [http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/intjcg.htm Interview with the author] on "Infinity Plus", August 2006
* [http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/misc/jcg.htm Profile] on InfinityPlus.co.uk
* [http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/11401-3/Author-Jon-Courtenay-Grimwood.htm Profile] on Orion Books' website, November 2004
* [http://www.thealienonline.net/ao_030.asp?tid=2&scid=14&iid=2615 Review of "Stamping Butterflies"] from "The Alien Online.net", November 7, 2004
* [http://www.futurefire.net/2005.04/review/j-grimwood.html Review of "9tail Fox"] from "The Future Fire", December 2005