Gary Gibson (born in 1965) is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

from

Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Life

After studying

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and

Politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

at the

Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University ( gd, Oilthigh Chailleannach Ghlaschu, ), informally GCU, Caledonian or Caley, is a public university in Glasgow, Scotland. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of The Queen's College, Glasgow (founded in 1875) and G ...

, Gary Gibson worked as a "

small press A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. Independent press is general ...

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

before following courses in

desktop publishing Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online c ...

and

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

and subsequently

freelancing ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

as a graphic designer. After marrying Emma, Gibson relocated to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

before moving back to Glasgow in 2010.

Writing

Gary Gibson has been writing since the age of fourteen and has published eight novels to date, four of which linked to each other to form the "Shoal Sequence". He is a member of the Glasgow Science Fiction Writers Circle.

Publishing history

After publishing some

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

Gary Gibson saw his first novel, ''Angel Stations'', released in 2004 by

Tor Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia Sc ...

, that was

nominated A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * t ...

in 2005 by the

British Fantasy Society The British Fantasy Society (BFS) was founded in 1971 as the British Weird Fantasy Society, an offshoot of the British Science Fiction Association. The society is dedicated to promoting the best in the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres. ...

for the award for best novel of the year, which was eventually won by

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

with '' The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower''. He followed up the following year with ''Against Gravity'', also nominated by the British Fantasy Society for the award for best novel of the year, won that year by

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...

's ''

Anansi Boys ''Anansi Boys'' is a fantasy novel by English writer Neil Gaiman. In the novel, "Mr. Nancy"—an incarnation of the West African trickster god Anansi—dies, leaving twin sons, who in turn discover one another's existence after being separated ...

''. In 2007 Gibson published ''Stealing Light'', the first novel of the

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...

''The Shoal Sequence''. The series introduced the

characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

of Dakota Merrick, Lucas Corso and the

alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

Trader-in- Faecal-Matter-of-Animals, a fish-like member of the Shoal race, who rule all inhabited space through their exclusive knowledge of the secret of faster-than-light travel. The novels involve a discovery regarding the origins of this technology. ''Stealing Light'' was followed in 2009 by ''Nova War'', in 2010 by ''Empire of Light'', and in 2013 by ''Marauder''. In 2011 Gibson published ''Final Days'', the first installment of "The Final Days" series. And in 2012 Gibson published ''The Thousand Emperors'', the second book in "The Final Days" series In 2014 Gibson published ''Extinction Game'', the first installment of a new series.

Other activities

Gary Gibson plays

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

. He also keeps a

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

called
White Screen of Despair
' and
profile
on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Bibliography

Gibson has published the following novels: * ''Angel Stations''. London: Tor, 2004 (paper). * ''Against Gravity''. London: Tor, 2005 (paper). ;The Shoal Sequence * ''Stealing Light''. London: Tor, 2007. * ''Nova War''. London: Tor, 2009. * ''Empire of Light''. London: Tor, 2010. * ''Marauder''. London: Tor, 2013. ;The Final Days * ''Final Days''. London: Tor, 2011. * ''The Thousand Emperors''. London: Tor, 2012. ;The Apocalypse Trilogy * ''Extinction Game''. London: Tor, 2014. * ''Survival Game''. London: Tor, 2016. * ''Doomsday Game''. Glasgow: Gary Gibson, 2019. ;Other * ''Scienceville and Other Lost Worlds''. Brain in a Jar Books, 2018. * ''Ghost Frequencies''. NewCon Press, 2018. * ''Devil's Road''. Gary Gibson, 2020. * ''Echogenesis''. Brain in a Jar Books, 2021.

External links

Personal homepage

REVIEW : Angel Stations

REVIEW : Marauder

Story behind The Shoal Sequence - Online Essay by Gary Gibson

Audio Interview with Gary Gibson about his career and writing

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Gary 1965 births Living people Members of the Glasgow Science Fiction Writers' Circle Scottish science fiction writers Alumni of Glasgow Caledonian University