Georges-Jean Arnaud (July 3, 1928 – April 26, 2020) was a French author.
Biography
Arnaud was born in
Saint-Gilles-du-Gard
Saint-Gilles (; Provençal: ''Sant Geli''; en, St. Giles) or Saint-Gilles-du-Gard is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.
It is the second most populous commune in the Nîmes metropolitan area.
History
The abbey of Saint-Gilles ...
,
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'' 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 Arnaud ...
'', 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
Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...
series ''
Overman King Gainer'',
which was distributed for 26 episodes from 2002 to 2003. The series also served as the basis for the computer game
Transarctica
''Transarctica'' (or ''Arctic Baron'') is a 1993 video game made by the French company Silmarils for the Amiga and ported to IBM PC compatibles, Atari ST, Macintosh and Atari Falcon.
Plot
The story is based on the post-apocalyptic science fiction ...
(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 for ''Ne tirez pas sur l'inspecteur''
* 1966 :
Palme d'Or du roman d'espionnage
Palme may refer to:
Places
* Palme (Barcelos), a parish in the municipality of Barcelos, Portugal
* La Palme, Aude, a commune in southern France
* Palmanova, in Italy, known as ''Palme'' in the local Friulian language
People
* Palme (surname)
* S ...
for ''Les égarés''
* 1977 :
Prix Mystère de la critique for ''Enfantasme''
* 1988 :
Prix Apollo The Prix Tour-Apollo was an annual French juried award established in 1972 by Jacques Sadoul with the assistance of Jacques Goimard. Its name was chosen in reference to the Apollo 11 rocket. The award was given to the best science fiction novel pu ...
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