Josiah Bancroft is a writer of
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
, known for his initially self-published debut novel ''Senlin Ascends'' (2013).
Works
''Senlin Ascends'' and its sequels, the ''Books of Babel'' series, deal with the adventures of the schoolteacher Thomas Senlin, who is separated from his wife Marya at the foot of the immense Tower of Babel, and spends the rest of the narrative searching for her. The novel was uncommonly successful for a self-published work, due in large part to notice gained during the 2016
SPFBO competition, praise on social media from author
Mark Lawrence, and a positive review by Emily May, a popular reviewer on
Goodreads
Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and read ...
. As a result, it was republished, together with the sequel ''Arm of the Sphinx'', by
Orbit Books
Orbit Books is an international publisher that specialises in science fiction and fantasy books. It is a division of Lagardère Publishing.
History
It was founded in 1974 as part of the Macdonald Futura publishing company. In 1992, its parent ...
in 2018. The third book in the series, ''The Hod King'', came out in 2019. The finale of the series, ''The Fall of Babel'', was published in 2021. Bancroft's inspirations for the story are numerous and include ''
Invisible Cities
''Invisible Cities'' ( it, Le città invisibili) is a novel by Italian writer Italo Calvino. It was published in Italy in 1972 by Giulio Einaudi Editore.
Description
The book explores imagination and the imaginable through the descriptions of ...
'' by
Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the '' Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the ''Cosmicomi ...
, ''
Midnight's Children
''Midnight's Children'' is a 1981 novel by Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie, published by Jonathan Cape with cover design by Bill Botten, about India's transition from British colonial rule to independence and partition. It is a postc ...
'' by
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and We ...
, ''
The Castle'' by
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...
, and ''
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a 1978 radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, it ...
'' by
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), BBC radio comedy, ''The H ...
.
The Tower of Babel in the books is not intended to be the
tower of biblical fame. Bancroft has explained that the setting is "more of an alternate universe than an alternate history. The Tower is not part of our timeline or this reality".
Bancroft took the name Senlin from the 1920 poem "Morning Song of Senlin" by
Conrad Aiken
Conrad Potter Aiken (August 5, 1889 – August 17, 1973) was an American writer and poet, honored with a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, and was United States Poet Laureate from 1950 to 1952. His published works include poetry, short ...
. The cover art for the three published books was created by Ian Leino, a childhood friend of Bancroft.
''Senlin Ascends'' was well appreciated by critics. ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
''s starred review described the "brilliant debut fantasy" as "steampunk and epic, surreal and yet grounded in believable logistics". ''
Tor.com
''Tor.com'' is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on speculative fiction.
From 20 ...
'' likewise praised the imaginative setting, and called the novel "incredibly creative in its conception and no less confident in its crafting".
''The'' ''Washington Post'' included it in its five best science fiction and fantasy novels of 2018, describing it as "a classic hero's quest, elevated by creative world building and memorable characters". However, ''
Strange Horizons
''Strange Horizons'' is an online speculative fiction magazine. It also features speculative poetry and nonfiction in every issue, including reviews, essays, interviews, and roundtables.
History and profile
It was launched in September 2000, and ...
'' wrote that "the fact that a woman's sexuality is the root cause of the conflict (...) and that the woman is immediately removed from the narrative" are indicative of the novel's problems with the portrayal of women.
The scope of Senlin's saga and the cast of characters expand in ''Arm of the Sphinx''. ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
s starred review claimed that the second installment "not only matches but adds to the notable achievements of the first". A review on
Barnes & Noble's Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog compared Bancroft to "a master craftsman building a workshop around himself".
In the third book, ''The Hod King'', Senlin carries out a mission for the enigmatic Sphinx while he and his friends continue the search for Marya. The
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
praised the book as "an easy, joyful read; the author's vibrant prose, simply incredible".
''The Fall of Babel'', the final book in the series, was originally scheduled for release in 2020, but Bancroft asked his publisher for an extension because, among other reasons, he "suffered some setbacks with the draft, including the deletion of a hundred pages or so."
On December 3, 2021, Orbit Books announced the acquisition of a new three book series from Josiah Bancroft entitled ''The Hexologists''.
"The Hexologists introduces us to a new world and the dynamic duo of Hexologists Iz and Warren Wilby: two private investigators who solve magical problems with magical solutions."
Bibliography
;The Books of Babel
# ''Senlin Ascends'' (self-published 2013, Orbit 2018),
# ''Arm of the Sphinx'' (self-published 2014, Orbit 2018),
# ''The Hod King'' (Hachette UK 2019),
#''The Fall of Babel'' (Hachette 2021),
References
External links
*
*
Dirt Dirton
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bancroft, Josiah
Living people
Writers from Philadelphia
American fantasy writers
American bass guitarists
American male singers
Year of birth missing (living people)