Georges-Jean Arnaud (July 3, 1928 – April 26, 2020) was a French author.
Biography
Arnaud was born in
Saint-Gilles-du-Gard,
Camargue
Camargue (, also , , ; oc, label= Provençal, Camarga) is a region of France located south of Arles, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône delta. The eastern arm is called the ''Grand Rhône''; the western one is the '' ...
, Gard. He was first published in 1971 in the science fiction magazine ''
Anticipation
Anticipation is an emotion involving pleasure or anxiety in considering or awaiting an expected event. Anticipatory emotions include fear, anxiety, hope and trust. When the anticipated event fails to occur, it results in disappointment (if posit ...
'' from the French publisher Fleuve Noir with his story ''Les Croisés de Mara''
he Crusaders Of Mara This is the first volume of a trilogy entitled ''Chroniques de la Longue Séparation''
hronicles of the Long Separation in which a group of characters from the lost human colony of Mara, which had reverted to feudalism, rediscovered their origins and then embarked on a quest through space to find Earth.
Arnaud is the author of more than three hundred novels of different genres, including espionage thrillers, detective fiction, science fiction, horror, erotic fiction, and mainstream literature. His espionage fiction includes two series of note: ''Luc Ferran'' (16 novels), written under the pseudonym of "Gil Darcy" for the publisher L'Arabesque between 1963 and 1969; and ''Le Commander'' for Fleuve Noir's magazine ''Espionnage'', with about thirty novels written between 1967 and 1980. Arnaud also wrote non-series espionage novels under the pseudonyms of "Saint-Gilles" and "Georges Murey" for Ferenczi (1958–60) and L'Arabesque (1957–65), and another fifty-odd novels under his own name for Fleuve Noir's ''Espionnage'' (1961–86).
Arnaud's best known work is ''
La Compagnie des glaces'' ("The Ice Company"), a
post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...
science fiction novel series set in a new
ice age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...
where railway companies rule the world. ''La Compagnie des glaces'' was adapted during 2007 into a Canadian television series entitled ''
Grand Star
''Grand Star'' (''La Compagnie des Glaces'' in France) is a 2007 Canadian / French / Belgian co-production science fiction television series loosely based on the novel series '' La Compagnie des glaces'' by the French writer Georges-Jean Arnau ...
'', and inspired the Japanese
anime
is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
and
manga series ''
Overman King Gainer
is an anime television series, created by Yoshiyuki Tomino, written by Ichirō Ōkouchi, and featuring character designs by Yoshihiro Nakamura, Kinu Nishimura and Ken'ichi Yoshida. The series ran from September 7, 2002 to March 22, 2003 on ...
'',
which was distributed for 26 episodes from 2002 to 2003. The series also served as the basis for the computer game
Transarctica (North American title: Arctic Baron). The first novel was translated into English in 2010 as ''The Ice Company'' ().
Awards
His work earned a number of awards, including:
* 1952 :
Prix du Quai des Orfèvres
The Prix du Quai des Orfèvres is an annual French literature award created in 1946 by Jacques Catineau. It goes to an unpublished manuscript for a French-language police novel. The selected novel is then published by a major French publishing hous ...
for ''Ne tirez pas sur l'inspecteur''
* 1966 :
Palme d'Or du roman d'espionnage for ''Les égarés''
* 1977 :
Prix Mystère de la critique
The Prix Mystère de la critique was established in 1972 by ', published by from 1948 to 1976, and is one of the oldest French awards for a detective novel. It continues to be awarded each year by its founder, Georges Rieben and his team, and ha ...
for ''Enfantasme''
* 1988 :
Prix Apollo for ''La Compagnie des glaces''
References
External links
Website and multiplayer game based on the universe of ''la compagnie des glaces''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnaud, Georges-Jean
1928 births
2020 deaths
People from Saint-Gilles, Gard
French science fiction writers
French male novelists