Nina Allan (born 27 May 1966) is a British writer of speculative fiction. She has published four collections of short stories, a novella and two novels. Her stories have appeared in the magazines '' Interzone'', ''

Black Static ''Black Static'', formerly ''The 3rd Alternative'', is a British horror magazine edited by Andy Cox. The magazine has won the British Fantasy Award for "Best Magazine" while individual stories have won other awards. In addition, numerous stories ...

'' and ''

Crimewave ''Crimewave'' is a 1985 American comedy film directed by Sam Raimi, from a screenplay he co-wrote with the Coen brothers. It stars Reed Birney, Sheree J. Wilson, Paul L. Smith, Brion James, Louise Lasser and Bruce Campbell, with the latter a ...

'' and have been nominated for or won a number of awards, including the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire and the

British Science Fiction Association Award The BSFA Awards are literary awards presented annually since 1970 by the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) to honour works in the genre of science fiction. Nominees and winners are chosen based on a vote of BSFA members. More recently, m ...

. Allan was born in

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

, in the East End of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and grew up in

the Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the In ...

and in

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

. She studied Russian language and literature at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

and the

University of Exeter , mottoeng = "We Follow the Light" , established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter) , type = Public , ...

, and then did an

MLitt The Master of Letters degree (MLitt or LittM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. Ireland Trinity College Dublin and Maynooth University offer MLitt degrees. Trinity has offered them the longest, owing largely to its tradition as Ireland ...

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12t ...

. After leaving Oxford she worked as a buyer for an independent chain of record stores based in Exeter, and then as a bookseller in London. Her first published story appeared in 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. ...

journal ''

Dark Horizons ''Dark Horizons'' is an Australian website focused on film, television and videogames. The site was launched on 10 January 1997 and was nominated for a Webby Award for film in 1999. ''Dark Horizons'' is owned and written by Garth Franklin of ...

'' in 2002. She lived in the Taw Valley area of North Devon but now lives on

Isle of Bute The Isle of Bute ( sco, Buit; gd, Eilean Bhòid or '), known as Bute (), is an island in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault. Formerly a constituent is ...

. Her column "Nina Allan's Time Pieces" appears in ''Interzone''.

Short stories

Nina Allan's stories have appeared in various publications and six "Best of" collections: #Allan's story ''The Lammas Worm'' appeared in ''Strange Tales 3'' edited by

Rosalie Parker Rosalie Parker is an author, scriptwriter and editor who runs the Tartarus Press with R. B. Russell. Parker jointly won the World Fantasy Award "Special Award: Non-Professional" for publishing in 2002, 2004 and 2012. The Horror Writers Associat ...

Tartarus Press Tartarus Press is an independent book publisher based near Leyburn, Yorkshire, UK.

in 2010. It was then selected by

Ellen Datlow Ellen Datlow (born December 31, 1949) is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror editor and anthologist. She is a winner of the World Fantasy Award and the Bram Stoker Award (Horror Writers Association). Career Datlow began her career ...

for The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Two. The story was re-printed as part of ''Stardust:The Ruby Castle Stories''. #Her story ''Flying in the Face of God'' appeared in issue 227 of Interzone in 2010. It was then selected by

Gardner Dozois Gardner Raymond Dozois ( ; July 23, 1947 – May 27, 2018) was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the founding editor of ''The Year's Best Science Fiction'' anthologies (1984–2018) and was editor of '' Asimov's Science Fictio ...

to appear in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Eighth Annual Collection. #The story ''The Silver Wind'' originally appeared in issue 233 of Interzone in 2011. It was reprinted in ''The Silver Wind'' and ''The Year’s Best Fantasy and Science Fiction 2012'' edited by Rich Horton

Prime Books Sean Wallace (born January 1, 1976) is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologist, editor, and publisher best known for founding the publishing house Prime Books and for co-editing three magazines, '' Clarkesworld Magazine'', '' ...

. It was also short-listed for

BSFA Awards The BSFA Awards are literary awards presented annually since 1970 by the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) to honour works in the genre of science fiction. Nominees and winners are chosen based on a vote of BSFA members. More recently, m ...

for (short fiction) 2012. Hastings (6598976867)

# Her story ''Wilkolak'' appeared in issue 11 of ''Crimewave'' edited by Andy Cox in 2011. It was selected by

Maxim Jakubowski Maxim Jakubowski (born 1944) is a crime, erotic, science fiction and rock music writer and critic. Jakubowski was born in 1944 in England to Russian-British and Polish parents, but raised in France. Jakubowski has also lived in Italy and has tr ...

for The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 10.

Constable & Robinson Constable & Robinson Ltd. is an imprint of Little, Brown which publishes fiction and non-fiction books and ebooks. Founded in Edinburgh in 1795 by Archibald Constable as Constable & Co., and by Nick Robinson as Robinson Publishing Ltd in 1983 ...

2013. #''Sunshine'' appeared in issue 29 of

edited by Andy Cox in 2012. It was selected by Rich Horton for ''The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2013''

. #Her story ''The Tiger'' appeared in ''Terror Tales of London'' edited by

Paul Finch Paul Finch is an English author and scriptwriter. He began his writing career on the British television programme ''The Bill''. His early scripts were for children's animation. He has written over 300 short stories which have appeared in magazine ...

(Gray Friar Press) in 2013. It was then selected by

for The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Six. She has said that all her short fiction to date has been, "a kind of apprenticeship in novel-writing". Her first novel is '' The Race'', which uses the town of

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

for its landscape, where she was living for most of the time she was writing it.

Nominations and awards

Allan's story ''Angelus'' won the Aeon Award in 2007. It was announced at the European Science Fiction Convention in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

in September 2007. The Grand Judge Ian Watson commented that it was “beautifully written and paced and enigmatic yet in an entirely lucid way." Her novella ''Spin'' won the

for Best Short Fiction for 2013. ''The Silver Wind'' retitled ''Complications'' won the French Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire for Foreign Short Fiction in 2014. Her works were short-listed for the

British Fantasy Award The British Fantasy Awards (BFA) are awarded annually by the British Fantasy Society (BFS), first in 1976. Prior to that they were known as The August Derleth Fantasy Awards (see August Derleth Award). First awarded in 1972 (to ''The Knight of ...

four times, and her novella ''The Gateway'' from ''Stardust'' was a finalist for Best Novella in the 2013

Shirley Jackson Awards The Shirley Jackson Awards are literary awards named after Shirley Jackson in recognition of her legacy in writing. These awards for outstanding achievement in the literature of Psychological thriller, psychological Thriller (genre), suspense, Horr ...

. ''The Race'' was nominated for the Red Tentacle Award for Best Novel of 2014 at the

Kitschies The Kitschies are British literary prizes presented annually for "the year's most progressive, intelligent and entertaining works that contain elements of the speculative or fantastic" published in the United Kingdom. Awards and criteria The Ki ...

. It was nominated for the

for best novel of 2014. It was also nominated for the 2014 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science-fiction novel. ''The Harlequin'' won the 2015 Novella Award. ''The Rift'' won two awards, the 2017 British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel, and the 2017 Red Tentacle Award for Best Novel. ''The Art of Space Travel'' was a finalist for the 2017

Hugo Award for Best Novelette The Hugo Award for Best Novelette is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novelette award is available for works of fiction of ...

Publications

Collections

*''A Thread of Truth'', Eibonvale Press (2007),
Contains the stories "Amethyst", "Ryman's Suitcase", "Bird Songs at Eventide", "Queen South", "The Vicar with Seven Rigs", "Heroes", "Terminus" and "A Thread of Truth". *''The Silver Wind'', Eibonvale Press (2011),
Contains the stories "Time's Chariot", "My Brother's Keeper", "The Silver Wind", "Rewind" and "Timelines: An Afterword". "Darkroom" added as the opening story, "Chambre noire", in the French edition of the collection, ''Complications''. The Spanish edition, ''Máquinas del Tiempo'' keeps the original contents. *''Microcosmos'' (Imaginings 5), NewCon Press (2013),
Contains the stories ''Microcosmos'', ''The Phoney War'', ''Chaconne'', ''A. H.'', ''Orinoco'', ''Flying in the Face of God'' and ''Higher Up''. *''Stardust: The Ruby Castle Stories'',

PS Publishing PS Publishing is an independent book publisher based in Hornsea, UK. Background PS Publishing was founded in 1999 by Peter Crowther. The stories ''Angelus'', ''Flying in the Face of God'' and ''Stardust'' are connected as they all involve a Russian astrophysicist called Valery Kushnev.
Re-issued as ''Ruby'', Titan Books (2020).

Novellas

*''Spin'', The Third Alternative (TTA) Press, (2013) Arachne

This is a modern re-imagining of the

Arachne Arachne (; from , cognate with Latin ) is the protagonist of a tale in Greek mythology known primarily from the version told by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE–17 CE), which is the earliest extant source for the story. In Book Six of his ...

myth *''The Harlequin'' Sandstone Press, (2015), . *''The Art of Space Travel'', Tor Books (e-book, 2016).

Novels

*'' The Race'', NewCon Press (2014), Reissued by

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and c ...

(2016), . *'' The Rift'', Titan Books (2017). *''The Dollmaker'', Riverrun (2019).

Short stories

*"A Storm in Kingstown" in ''Out of the Ruins'', edited by Preston Grassmann, Titan Books, (2021),

Critical reception

Allan's story ''Darkroom'' appeared in ''Subtle Edens: An Anthology of

Slipstream A slipstream is a region behind a moving object in which a wake of fluid (typically air or mustard) is moving at velocities comparable to that of the moving fluid, relative to the ambient fluid through which the object is churning. The term sli ...

Fiction'' edited by Allen Ashley Elastic Press in 2008. In a review of the collection Andy Hedgecock wrote that Nina Allan is developing into, "one of the finest stylists of modern genre fiction." He went on to say that very few writers had her talent to uncover, "the strange within the ordinary with such clarity and precision."

Paul Kincaid Paul Kincaid (born 22 September 1952 in Oldham, Lancashire) is a British science fiction critic. Career Kincaid's writing has appeared in a wide range of publications including New Scientist, Times Literary Supplement, Literary Review, New York ...

in reviewing ''The Silver Wind'' asks when a series of stories can turn into a novel. He wrote that this was when, "the congeries of stories tell us more than any individual stories can." He suggests that this has been achieved and outlines the links between the stories before concluding that the sum of the parts is greater than the individual stories. One of the links is the viewpoint character Martin who appears in different parallel realities. Sofia Samatar however in her review questioned whether or not there is a danger in Allan's experiment of the emotional force being, "more likely to be lost than gained in the leaps between parallel realities." In Peter Tennant's 2014 review of ''The Race'' he wrote that this was "one of the finest books" he had read that year, but also wrote that he did not know what it was about and could "only hazard guesses." Although a novel, it is, "four self-contained sections that form a greater whole." Sofia Samatar agrees that "''The Race'' guards its secrets." She writes that, this is "a distancing novel about drawing in, 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 uni ...

novel aware of its own artifice, a

literary fiction Literary fiction, mainstream fiction, non-genre fiction or serious fiction is a label that, in the book trade, refers to market novels that do not fit neatly into an established genre (see genre fiction); or, otherwise, refers to novels that are ch ...

impatient with mimesis." In Stuart Conover’s 2017 review of ''The Rift'' he stated "There are a lot of fun concepts here and a fully crafted alien world which could easily have a completely separate tale told in. Actually, I'd love to Nina revisit this world without even mentioning Selena, Julie, or the events from this book and just have it as connective tissue."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allan, Nina British science fiction writers Living people 1966 births People from Whitechapel British women novelists