Simon Morden is an English science fiction author, best known for his Philip K. Dick Award–winning ''Metrozone'' series of novels set in

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 ...

London.

Biography

Morden was educated as a scientist, attaining a BSc (Hons) in Geology from the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

and his PhD in

Geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' so ...

from Newcastle University. Morden has worked in a variety of roles including a school caretaker, an admin assistant, a

personal assistant A personal assistant, also referred to as personal aide (PA) or personal secretary (PS), is a job title describing a person who assists a specific person with their daily business or personal task,. it is a sub-specialty of secretarial duties ...

to a

financial advisor A financial adviser or financial advisor is a professional who provides financial services to clients based on their financial situation. In many countries, financial advisors must complete specific training and be registered with a regulatory ...

and is currently a

teaching assistant A teaching assistant or teacher's aide (TA) or education assistant (EA) or team teacher (TT) is an individual who assists a teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include ''graduate teaching assistants'' (GTAs), who are graduate stude ...

for a design technology class at a primary school in Gateshead. In terms of his writing career, Morden is the former editor of ''

Focus Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film *''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore * ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...

'' magazine; he has been on the

Arthur C. Clarke Award The Arthur C. Clarke Award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. It is named after British author Arthur C. Clarke, who gave a grant to establish the award i ...

judging panel; and he's a regular speaker on Christian matters in fiction at the

Greenbelt Festival Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown out of an evangelical Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young people into its current form, a more inclusive f ...

. Morden identifies as a Christian. Morden first achieved success as a writer when his novel ''Heart'' was published by Razorblade Press in 2002. His writing influences include

Charles Stross Charles David George "Charlie" Stross (born 18 October 1964) is a British writer of science fiction and fantasy. Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. Between 1994 and 2004, he was also an active writer for the magazine '' ...

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...

, Julian May, and

Michael Marshall Smith Michael Paul Marshall Smith (born 3 May 1965) is an English novelist, screenwriter and short story writer who also writes as Michael Marshall, M. M. Smith and Michael Rutger. Biography Born in Knutsford, Cheshire, Smith moved with his family a ...

Bibliography

The ''Metrozone'' series

* ''Equations of Life'' (2011,

Orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as ...

) * ''Theories of Flight'' (2011,

) * ''Degrees of Freedom'' (2011,

) * ''The Curve of the Earth'' (2013,

)

The ''Down'' series

* ''Down Station'' (February 2016) * ''The White City'' (2016, Gollancz)

The ''Frank Kittridge'' series

* ''One Way'' (April 2018, Orbit) * ''No Way'' (February 2019, Orbit)

Stand-alone works

* ''Heart'' (2002, Razorblade) * ''Another War'' (novella) (2005,

Telos Telos (; ) is a term used by philosopher Aristotle to refer to the final cause of a natural organ or entity, or of a work of human art. Intentional actualization of potential or inherent purpose,"Telos.''Philosophy Terms'' Retrieved 3 May 2020. ...

) * ''The Lost Art'' (2007, David Fickling) * ''Arcanum'' (19 November 2013,

) * ''At The Speed Of Light'' (January 2017, Newcon Press) * ''Bright Morning Star'' (2019) * ''Gallowglass'' (as S.J. Morden) (December 2020, Gollancz) * ''The Red Planet - a natural history of Mars'' (2021 Elliott and Thompson Ltd) * ''The Flight Of The Aphrodite'' (as S.J. Morden) (November 2022, Gollancz)

Collections

* ''Thy Kingdom Come'' (Multimedia disc) (2002, Lone Wolf Publications) ** ''Thy Kingdom Come'' (Limited edition hardback) (2013, Jurassic London) * ''Brilliant Things'' (2004, Subway)

Awards

* 2006

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...

, Best Novella

shortlist A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...

, ''Another War'' * 2009 Catalyst Book Award for teen fiction, shortlist, ''The Lost Art'' * 2012

, longlist, ''Equations of Life'' * 2012 Philip K. Dick Award, overall winner, ''The Samuil Petrovitch Trilogy'' * 2013 BSFA Award for Best Artwork, shortlist, ''Thy Kingdom Come''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morden, Simon English science fiction writers Living people 21st-century British novelists British male novelists Christian novelists People associated with the University of Sheffield People associated with Newcastle University 21st-century English male writers Year of birth missing (living people)