Liz Williams (born 1965) is a British

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 ...

writer, historian and occultist. ''The Ghost Sister,'' her first novel, was published in 2001. Both this novel and her next, ''Empire of Bones'' (2002) were nominated for the

Philip K. Dick Award The Philip K. Dick Award is an American science fiction award given annually at Norwescon and sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and (since 2005) the Philip K. Dick Trust. Named after science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, ...

. She is also the author of the Inspector Chen series, and of the historical survey of magic in the British Isles and beyond ''Miracles of Our Own Making: A History of Paganism'' (2020). Williams is the daughter of a

stage magician Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It ...

and a

Gothic novelist Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

. She holds a PhD in Philosophy of Science from

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

(for which her supervisor was

Peter Lipton Peter Lipton (October 9, 1954 – November 25, 2007) was the Hans Rausing Professor and Head of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University, and a fellow of King's College, Cambridge, King's College, until his ...

). She has had short stories published in ''

Asimov's ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publication ...

'', ''Interzone'', '' The Third Alternative ''and '' Visionary Tongue''. From the mid-nineties until 2000, she lived and worked in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

.Liz Williams' website
/ref> Her experiences there are reflected in her 2003 novel ''Nine Layers of Sky''. This novel brings into the modern era the

Bogatyr A bogatyr ( rus, богатырь, p=bəɡɐˈtɨrʲ, a=Ru-богатырь.ogg) or vityaz ( rus, витязь, p=ˈvʲitʲɪsʲ) is a stock character in medieval East Slavic legends, akin to a Western European knight-errant. Bogatyrs appear ma ...

Ilya Muromets Ilya Muromets (russian: Илья Муромец), or Ilya of Murom, sometimes Ilya Murometz, is one of the ''bogatyrs'' (epic knights) in Bylinas of Kievan Rus. He is often featured alongside fellow bogatyrs Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Pop ...

and Manas the hero of the

Epic of Manas The Epic of Manas ( ky, Манас дастаны, Manas dastanı, ماناس دستانی), is a traditional epic poem dating to the 18th century but claimed by Kyrgyz tradition to be much older. Manas is said to be based on Bars Bek who was t ...

. Her novels have been published in the US and the UK, while her third novel ''The Poison Master'' (2003) has been translated into

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Bibliography

Novels

*''The Ghost Sister'' (June 2001) - Philip K. Dick Award nominee *''Empire of Bones'' (March 2002) - Philip K. Dick Award nominee *''The Poison Master'' (January 2003) *''Nine Layers of Sky'' (August 2003) *''Worldsoul'' (June 2012)

Banner of Souls

*''Banner of Souls'' (September 2004) - Shortlisted for the 20th Arthur C. Clarke Award, Philip K. Dick Award nominee *''Winterstrike'' (September 2008) *''Phosphorus'' (February 2018)

Comet Weather

*''Comet Weather'' (2020) *''Blackthorn Winter'' (January 2021)

Darkland

*''Darkland'' (February 2006) *''Bloodmind'' (February 2007)

Detective Inspector Chen

*''Snake Agent'' (September 2005) - Published in French as ''La traite des âmes'' (2014) *''The Demon and the City'' (August 2006) *''Precious Dragon'' (June 2007) *''The Shadow Pavilion'' (August 2009) *''The Iron Khan'' (December 2010) *''Morningstar'' (January 2015, self-published)

Short stories

*"Tycho and the Stargazer" (December 2003) in ''

Asimov's Science Fiction ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publication ...

'' Vol 27, No 12 *"Out of Scarlight" (2013) in ''

Old Mars ''Old Mars'' is a "retro Mars science fiction"-themed anthology edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, published on October 8, 2013. According to the publisher Tor Books, the collection celebrates the "Golden Age of Science Fiction", a ...

'' (anthology)

Collections

*''The Banquet of the Lords of Night and Other Stories'' (2004) *''A Glass of Shadow'' (2011) *''Vodyanoy/Loosestrife'' (2015) *''The Light Warden'' (2015)

Nonfiction

*''Miracles of Our Own Making'' (2020) *''Modern Handfasting'' (2021)

Diary of a Witchcraft Shop (with Trevor Jones)

*''Diary of a Witchcraft Shop'' (2011) *''Diary of a Witchcraft Shop 2'' (2013)

References

External links

Liz Williams's LiveJournal
*
Night Shade Books
publisher of the Detective Inspector Chen series and ''The Banquet of the Lords of Night and Other Stories''

English science fiction writers Living people 1965 births Place of birth missing (living people) British science fiction writers British speculative fiction writers Women science fiction and fantasy writers British women novelists Weird fiction writers {{sf-writer-stub