Christopher Priest
Christopher McKenzie Priest (born July 14, 1943 in Cheadle , Cheshire , now Greater Manchester ) is an English science fiction writer.
Life
Priest is the son of Walter Priest and Millicent Priest, née Haslock. Before Priest decided to become a freelance writer in 1968, he had made a living as an accountant for nine years. In 1966, his first SF story The Run appeared in Impulse magazine , and other stories followed, mostly in the British SF magazine New Worlds . In 1970 his debut novel Indoctrinaire was published . A collection of unpublished stories from the years 1963 to 1968 appeared in 2008 under the title Ersatz Wines - Instructive Short Stories , a collection of the early publications first appeared in 1973 in German as Transplantationen, in English 1974 as Real-Time World .
His first novels were more traditional science fiction, padded with unusual ideas. Inverted World (1974), for example, describes a city that has to keep moving like a gigantic train, because physical constants around the city are constantly changing. The novel Ein Traum von Wessex (1977) deals with a topic that is to be of central importance in all of the following novels: the question of reality, of how different people perceive reality and the connection between memory and reality.
Under the pseudonyms John Luther Novak and Colin Wedgelock , Priest also wrote novel versions based on film scripts, such as eXistenZ , Mona Lisa and Short Circuit .
His first wife Christine Merchant came from Germany. From 1981 to 1987 he was married to the American SF writer Lisa Tuttle . In his third marriage he was married to the author Leigh Kennedy until 2011 and lives in Hastings . His current partner is SF writer Nina Allan .
Awards
- 1975: British Science Fiction Association Award for the novel Inverted World
- 1977: Ditmar Award for the novel The Space Machine
- 1980: British Science Fiction Association Award for Palely Loitering Spa History
- 1982: Ditmar Award for the novel The Affirmation
- 1988: Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for The Glamor (German Der Schöne Schein ) as the best foreign novel
- 1996: World Fantasy Award for the novel The Prestige
- 1999: British Science Fiction Association Award for the novel The Extremes
- 2001: Prix Utopia for life's work
- 2002: Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire for The Discharge (French: Retour au foyer ) as the best translated short story
- 2003: Arthur C. Clarke Award for the novel The Separation
- 2003: British Science Fiction Association Award for the novel The Separation
- 2005: Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire for The Separation as best translated novel
- 2012: British Science Fiction Association Award for the novel The Islanders
- 2012: John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the novel The Islanders
bibliography
- Dream Archipelago
-
An Infinite Summer (1976, short story)
- German: An endless summer. In: Wolfgang Jeschke (Ed.): Spinnenmusik. Heyne SF&F # 3646, 1979, ISBN 3-453-30559-0 .
-
The Cremation (1978, short story)
- German: Cremation. In: The dream archipelago. 1987.
-
The Negation (1978, short story)
- German: The negation. In: The dream archipelago. 1987.
-
The Watched (1978, short story)
- German: The observed. In: Wolfgang Jeschke (Ed.): Venice 2. Heyne SF&F # 4199, 1985, ISBN 3-453-31174-4 .
- Whores (1978, short story)
-
The Miraculous Cairn (1980, short story)
- English: The wonderful stone mound. In: The dream archipelago. 1987.
-
The Affirmation (1981, novel)
- German: The white room. Heyne SF&F # 4073, 1984, ISBN 3-453-31037-3 .
-
The Glamor (1984, novel)
- German: The beautiful appearance. Heyne SF&F # 4413, 1987, ISBN 3-453-00427-2 .
- The Equatorial Moment (1999, short story)
-
The Dream Archipelago (1999, collection)
- German: The dream archipelago. Luchterhand Collection # 706, 1987, ISBN 3-472-61706-3 .
- The Discharge (2001, short story)
- The Trace of Him (2008, short story)
- Fireflies (2008, short story)
- The Islanders (2011, novel)
- The Gradual (2016, novel)
- Novels
-
Indoctrinaire (1970)
- German: Back to the future. Goldmann's Space Paperback # 0133, 1971, ISBN 3-442-23133-7 .
-
Fugue for a Darkening Island (1972)
- German: Black Explosion. Goldmann's Space Paperback # 0154, 1973, ISBN 3-442-23154-X .
-
(The) Inverted World (1974)
- German: The city. Heyne SF&F # 3465, 1976, ISBN 3-453-30368-7 . Also as: The steep horizon. Heyne (Library of Science Fiction Literature # 41), 1984, ISBN 3-453-31090-X . Revised and supplemented new edition: Inversion. Heyne (Science Fiction Masterpieces), 2020, ISBN 978-3-453-32065-9 .
-
The Space Machine (1976)
- English: Sir Williams machine. Heyne SF&F # 3540, 1977, ISBN 3-453-30433-0 .
- The Perfect Lover (1977)
-
A Dream of Wessex (1977)
- German: A dream from Wessex. Heyne SF&F # 3631, 1979, ISBN 3-453-30543-4 .
- Mona Lisa (1986, as John Luther Novak)
- Short Circuit (1986, as Colin Wedgelock)
-
The Quiet Woman (1990)
- German: The silent woman. Heyne SF&F ## 4833, 1991, ISBN 3-453-05019-3 .
-
The Prestige (1995)
- English: The Magician's Cabinet . Translated by Michael Morgental . Weitbrecht, 1997, ISBN 3-453-52211-7 . Also as: Prestige: The Masters of Magic. Revised new edition, Heyne, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-453-52211-4 .
-
The Extremes (1998)
- German: The Amok Loop. Translated by Usch Kiausch. Heyne SF&F # 6387, 2002, ISBN 3-453-19663-5 .
-
Existence (1999, based on the David Cronenberg film eXistenZ , as John Luther Novak)
- German: EXistenZ. Translated by Almuth Heuner. Ullstein TB # 24746, 1999, ISBN 3-548-24746-6 .
- The Separation (2002)
- The Adjacent (2013)
- Short story collections
-
Real-Time World (1974)
- German: Transplantationen. Translated by Tony Westermayr. Goldmann Science Fiction # 165, 1973, ISBN 3-442-23165-5 .
- Substitute Wines - Instructive Short Stories (2008)
- Anthologies (as editor)
- Anticipations (1978)
- Stars of Albion (1979, with Robert Holdstock )
- Non-fiction
- The Book on the Edge of Forever: An Inquiry into the Non-Appearance of Harlan Ellison's the Last Dangerous Visions (1985, also as The Last Deadloss Visions , 1987)
- Seize the Moment: Autobiography of Helen Sharman (1993, with Helen Sharman)
- Running Tall (1994, with Sally Gunnell)
- The Song of the Book (2000)
- The Magic - The Story of a Film (2008)
- "It" Came from Outer Space (2009)
- Short stories
- Going Native (1963)
- Stranglehold (1964)
- Star Child (1964)
- The Witch Burners (1965)
- Nicholson's Repentances (1965)
- Combined Operation (1965)
- The Ostrich Seed (1965)
- The Run (1966)
- Variant: The Run (1966)
- Conjugation (1966)
- Impasse (1967)
- The Substitute Wine (1967)
- Chance (1967)
- The Interrogator (1968)
- The Perihelion Man (1969)
- Double Consummation (1970)
- Breeding Ground (1970)
- Nothing Like the Sun (1970)
- Fire Storm (1970)
- Real-Time World (1971)
- Sentence in Binary Code (1971)
- The Head and the Hand (1972)
- The Inverted World (1973)
- A Woman Naked (1974)
- Transplant (1974)
- The Invisible Men (1974)
- Men of Good Value (1975)
-
The Agent (1979, with David Redd)
- German: The agent. In: Herbert W. Franke (Ed.): SF international III. Goldmann Science Fiction # 23412, 1982, ISBN 3-442-23412-3 .
-
Palely Loitering (1979)
- German: Grenzstreifzüge. In: Manfred Kluge (Hrsg.): Grenzstreifzüge. Heyne SF&F # 3792, 1981, ISBN 3-453-30694-5 .
- The Making of the Lesbian Horse (1979)
- The Affirmation (excerpt) (1981)
- I, Haruspex (1998)
- The Cage of Chrome (2000)
- A Dying Fall (2006)
- Widow's Weeds (2011)
- The Stooge (2013)
- Shooting an Episode (2017)
filming
His novel Das Kabinett des Magiers was filmed under the title Prestige - Masters of Magic in 2006 under the direction of Christopher Nolan with actors Hugh Jackman , Christian Bale , Michael Caine and David Bowie among others .
literature
- biography
- Nicholas Ruddick: Christopher Priest. Starmont House, Mercer Island, Washington 1990. New edition: Borgo Press, San Bernadino 1991, ISBN 1-55742-109-9 .
- items
- Frank Borsch : A conversation with Christopher Priest. In: Wolfgang Jeschke (Ed.): Das Science Fiction Jahr 1996. Heyne, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-453-09445-X , pp. 484-497.
- Walter Udo Everlien: The beautiful appearance. In: Wolfgang Jeschke (Ed.): Das Science Fiction Jahr 1990. Heyne, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-453-03905-X , pp. 646–649.
- Usch Kiausch, Sascha Mamczak: Science fiction as “literature of visionary realism”. A conversation with Christopher Priest. In: Wolfgang Jeschke (Ed.): The Science Fiction Year 2002. Heyne, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-453-19674-0 , pp. 497-512.
- Karsten Kruschel : The amok loop. In: Wolfgang Jeschke, Sascha Mamczak (Hrsg.): Das Science Fiction Jahr 2003. Heyne, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-453-87049-2 , pp. 684-686.
- Christian Lautenschlag: The white room. In: Wolfgang Jeschke (Ed.): The Science Fiction Year 1986. Heyne, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-453-31233-3 , pp. 577-579.
- Nicholas Ruddick: Out of the Gernsbackian Slime: Christopher Priest's Abandonment of Science Fiction. In: Modern Fiction Studies Vol. 32, No. 1 (1986), pp. 43-52.
- Lexicons
- Hans Joachim Alpers , Werner Fuchs , Ronald M. Hahn : Reclam's science fiction guide. Reclam, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-15-010312-6 , pp. 332-334.
- Hans Joachim Alpers, Werner Fuchs, Ronald M. Hahn, Wolfgang Jeschke : Lexicon of Science Fiction Literature. Heyne, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-453-02453-2 , pp. 801-803.
- John Clute , Peter Nicholls , David Langford : Priest, Christopher. In: John Clute, Peter Nicholls: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction . 3rd edition (online edition), version dated May 19, 2018.
- Don D'Ammassa : Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Facts On File, New York 2005, ISBN 0-8160-5924-1 , pp. 294-296.
- Don D'Ammassa: Priest, Christopher . In: Noelle Watson, Paul E. Schellinger: Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers. St. James Press, Chicago 1991, ISBN 1-55862-111-3 , pp. 639-641.
- Stephen H. Goldman: Priest, Christopher . In: James Gunn : The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Viking, New York et al. a. 1988, ISBN 0-670-81041-X , p. 367 f.
- George Mann : The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Robinson, London 2001, ISBN 1-8411-9177-9 , pp. 243-245.
- Robert Reginald : Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature. A Checklist, 1700-1974 with Contemporary Science Fiction Authors II. Gale, Detroit 1979, ISBN 0-8103-1051-1 , p. 1039.
- Donald H. Tuck : The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy through 1968. Advent, Chicago 1974, ISBN 0-911682-20-1 , pp.
Web links
- Literature by and about Christopher Priest in the catalog of the German National Library
- Christopher Priest in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (English)
- Christopher Priest in the Science Fiction Awards + Database (English)
- Works by and about Christopher Priest at Open Library
- Christopher Priest Homepage (accessed June 28, 2018)
- Christopher Priest in Fantastic Fiction (English)
- Christopher Priest in Fancyclopedia 3 (English)
Individual evidence
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Priest, Christopher |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Priest, Christopher McKenzie (full name); Priest, Chris (alternative spelling); Novak, John Luther (pseudonym); Wedgelock, Colin (pseudonym) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English writer |
DATE OF BIRTH | July 14, 1943 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Cheadle , Cheshire, England |