Garry Douglas Kilworth (born 5 July 1941 in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

) is a British science fiction, fantasy and historical novelist, and a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

cryptographer Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...

Early life

Kilworth was raised partly in Aden, South Arabia, the son of an airman. Having an itinerant father, he travelled widely, both in Britain and abroad, and attended over 20 different schools before the age of 15. Kilworth is a graduate of King's College London.

Career

Kilworth went to military school and served in the

for 18 years as a

. On demobilisation he joined Cable & Wireless, an international telecommunications company, leaving them to become a full-time writer in 1981. His science fiction and fantasy does not fit any set formula, being more interested in the enigmatic and strange, with roots in folk lore. He states that his one great passion is the short story, at which he is most adept. However, as an eclectic writer he has produced novels in several genres including science fiction, fantasy, horror, historical, children's fiction, war and literary novels (his ''Witchwater Country'' was longlisted for the Booker Prize). He has also written several books of short stories and two volumes of poetry (the second with the novelist and short story writer,

Robert Holdstock Robert Paul Holdstock (2 August 1948 – 29 November 2009) was an English novelist and author best known for his works of Celtic, Nordic, Gothic and Pictish fantasy literature, predominantly in the fantasy subgenre of mythic fiction. Holds ...

, with whom he shared a lifelong friendship and collaboration). Kilworth continues to produce novels and short stories, and released an autobiography, ''On My Way To Samarkan'', detailing, among other things, his vast travelling experiences over the globe. He has published one hundred and seventy four short stories and over eighty novels. His most recent books are ''Dragoons'', a historical war novel set in South Africa, and ''Attica'', a dark quest set in an attic the size of a continent which was purchased by Johnny Depp's film company, Adfinitum Nihil. A new collection of stories came out under the title ''Blood Moon''. His latest novel is ''The Wild Hunt'' an Anglo-Saxon Saga.

Awards

Kilworth has twice been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal for children's fiction and won the Lancashire Children's Book of the Year Award for his short novel ''The Electric Kid''. Kilworth's novel ''Rogue Officer'' won the 2008 Charles Whiting Award for Historical War Literature. ''The Ragthorn'', a novella co-authored with

, won the

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 ...

in 1992.

Personal life

In 1962 he married Annette Bailey, the daughter of an R.A.F. Catalina aircraft pilot.

Bibliography

Non-fiction

# ''On My Way To Samarkand – Memoirs of a Travelling Writer'' (2012) # ''Rookie Biker in the Outback'' (2014)

Poetry

# ''Poems, Peoms and Other Atrocities'' (with Robert Holdstock) (2013) # ''Alchemy in Reverse'' (2017) # ''A Rural 1950's Boyhood'' (2017) # ''Poems from my Youth'' (2017)

Novels

Zulu War novels

# ''Scarlet Sash'' (2010) # ''Dragoons'' (2011)

Angel

# ''Angel'' (1993) # ''Archangel'' (1994)

Navigator Kings

# ''The Roof of Voyaging'' (1996) # ''The Princely Flower'' (1997) # ''Land-of-Mists'' (1998)

Welkin Weasels

# '' Thunder Oak'' (1997) # '' Castle Storm'' (1998) # ''Windjammer Run'' (1999) # ''Gaslight Geezers'' (2001) # ''Vampire Voles'' (2002) # ''Heastward Ho!'' (2003)

Knights of Liöfwende

# ''Spiggot's Quest'' (2002) # ''Mallmoc's Castle'' (2003) # ''Boggart and Fen'' (2004)

'Fancy Jack' Crossman

* ''The Devil's Own'' (1997) * ''The Valley of Death: Sergeant Jack Crossman and the Battle of Balaclava'' (1998) * ''Soldiers in the Mist'' (1999) * ''The Winter Soldiers'' (2002) * ''Attack on the Redan'' (2003) * ''Brothers of the Blade'' (2004) * ''Rogue Officer'' (2007) * ''Kiwi Wars'' (2008)

Stand-alone novels

* ''In Solitary'' (1977) * '' The Night of Kadar'' (1978) * ''Split Second'' (1979) * ''Gemini God'' (1981) * '' A Theatre of Timesmiths'' (1984) * ''Tree Messiah'' (1985) * ''Highlander'' (1986) (as Garry Douglas) * ''Witchwater Country'' (1986) * ''Spiral Winds'' (1987) * ''The Wizard of Woodworld'' (1987) * ''Cloudrock'' (1988) * ''The Street'' (1988) * ''Abandonati'' (1988) * ''The Voyage of the Vigilance'' (1988) * ''The Rain Ghost'' (1989) * '' Hunter's Moon'' (1989), published in the US in 1990 as '' The Foxes of Firstdark'' * ''Midnight's Sun'' (1990) * ''Standing on Shamsan'' (1991) * '' The Drowners'' (1991) * ''The Third Dragon'' (1991) * ''Frost Dancers: A Story of Hares'' (1992) * ''The Raiders'' (1996) * ''Billy Pink's Private Detective Agency'' (1993) * ''The Electric Kid'' (1994) * ''The Phantom Piper'' (1994) * ''The Bronte Girls'' (1995) * ''House of Tribes'' (1995) * ''Cybercats'' (1996) * '' A Midsummer's Nightmare'' (1996) * ''The Gargoyle'' (1997) * ''The Drummer Boy'' (1998) * ''Epix: Heavenly Hosts v. Hell United'' (1998) * ''The Lantern Fox'' (1998) * ''Monster School'' (1999) * ''Hey, New Kid!'' (1999) * ''Shadow-Hawk'' (1999) * ''The Icehouse Boy'' (2001) * ''Soldier's Son'' (2001) * ''Comix: Monster School'' (2002) * ''Nightdancer'' (2002) * ''The Silver Claw'' (2005) * ''

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean S ...

'' (2006) * ''Jigsaw'' (2007) * ''The Hundred-Towered City'' (2008) * ''The Iron Wire'' (2014) * ''The Sometimes Spurious Travels Through Time and Space of James Ovit'' (2017)

Short story collections

* ''

Let's Go to Golgotha! "Let's Go to Golgotha!" is a 1975 science fiction story by Garry Kilworth. Plot summary Time-travelling tourists go on a "Crucifixion Tour". The tour operator warns the tourists that they must not do anything to disrupt history: specifically, w ...

'' (1975) * ''Hogfoot Right and Bird-Hands'' (1984) * ''

The Songbirds of Pain ''The Songbirds of Pain'' is a story collection by Garry Kilworth published in 1984. Plot summary ''The Songbirds of Pain'' is a collection of 13 science fiction short stories. Reception Dave Langford reviewed ''The Songbirds of Pain'' for ''Whit ...

'' (1984) * ''In the Hollow of the Deep-Sea Wave'' (1989) * ''Dark Hills, Hollow Clocks'' (1990) * ''In the Country of Tattooed Men'' (1993) * ''Moby Jack and Other Tall Tales'' (2005) * ''Tales From A Fragrant Harbour'' (2010) * ''The Fabulous Beast'' (2013) * ''Elemetal Tales '' (2019) * ''The Best Short Stories of Garry Kilworth'' (2019)

Novels as FK Salwood

* ''The Oystercatcher's Cry'' (1993) * ''The Saffron Fields'' (1994) * ''The Ragged School'' (1995)

Novels as Kim Hunter

* ''Knight's Dawn'' (2000) * ''Wizard's Funeral'' (2002) * ''Scabbard's Song'' (2003)

Novels as Richard Argent

* ''Winter's Knight'' (2012)

References

External links

*
Author's web site

Story behind The Fabulous Beast by Garry Kilworth – Online Essay
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilworth, Garry 1941 births Living people 20th-century British short story writers 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel Alumni of King's College London British cryptographers British fantasy writers British historical novelists British male novelists World Fantasy Award-winning writers