Mary Rosalyn Gentle (born 29 March 1956) is a UK

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 ...

and

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 ...

author.

Literary career

Mary Gentle's first published novel was ''Hawk in Silver'' (1977), a young-adult fantasy. She came to prominence with the '' Orthe'' duology, which consists of ''

Golden Witchbreed ''Golden Witchbreed'' is a novel by Mary Gentle published in 1983. Plot summary ''Golden Witchbreed'' is a novel in which Christie is on the planet Orthe as an envoy of Earth. Reception Dave Langford reviewed ''Golden Witchbreed'' for ''White Dw ...

'' (1983) and ''Ancient Light'' (1987). The novels ''Rats and Gargoyles'' (1990), ''The Architecture of Desire'' (1991), and ''Left to His Own Devices'' (1994), together with several short stories, form a loosely linked series (collected in ''White Crow'' in 2003). As with

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worke ...

's series about his

antihero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions ...

Jerry Cornelius, Gentle's sequence retains some basic facts about her two protagonists Valentine (also known as the White Crow) and Casaubon while changing much else about them, including what world they inhabit. Several take place in an alternate history version of 17th century and later England, where a form of

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

Hermetic Hermetic or related forms may refer to: * of or related to the ancient Greek Olympian god Hermes * of or related to Hermes Trismegistus, a legendary Hellenistic figure based on the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth ** , the ancient and m ...

magic has taken over the role of

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

. Another, ''Left To His Own Devices'', takes place in a

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and c ...

-tinged version of our own near future. The sequence is informed by historically existing ideas about esotericism and

alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

and is rife with obscure allusions to real history and literature. ''

Grunts! ''Grunts!'' (1992) is a satiric fantasy novel by British writer Mary Gentle. It is set in a basic fantasy world taken from the usual ''The Lord of the Rings'' mould, with orcs and elves using magic and typical medieval weaponry, but it plays ...

'' (1992) is a ''

grand guignol ''Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol'' (: "The Theatre of the Great Puppet")—known as the Grand Guignol–was a theatre in the Pigalle district of Paris (7, cité Chaptal). From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it specialised in natura ...

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

of mass-market

high fantasy High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot.Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, ...

novels, with

orc An Orc (or Ork) is a fictional humanoid monster like a goblin. Orcs were brought into modern usage by the fantasy writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially '' The Lord of the Rings''. In Tolkien's works, Orcs are a brutish, aggressive, ugl ...

s as heroes, murderous

halfling Halflings are a fictional race found in some fantasy novels and games. They are often depicted as similar to humans except about half as tall, and are not quite as stocky as the similarly-sized dwarves. Similar to the depiction of hobbits in the ...

s, and racist

elves An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes " ...

. Gentle formed part of the Midnight Rose collective in the early 1990s. '' Ash: A Secret History'' (published in four volumes in the US) was a long science fantasy epic that won the

Sidewise Award for Alternate History The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were established in 1995 to recognize the best alternate history stories and novels of the year. Overview The awards take their name from the 1934 short story " Sidewise in Time" by Murray Leinster, in ...

in 2000. Gentle has since published ''Ilario'', set in the same timeline. She has also written a number of erotic novels under the name Roxanne Morgan.

Bibliography

Novels

*''A Hawk in Silver''. London: Gollancz, 1977. *''

''. London: Bantam, 1992. *'' 1610: A Sundial in a Grave'' (vt US ''A Sundial in a Grave: 1610''). London: Gollancz, 2003. *''The Black Opera'' (vt UK ''Black Opera''). San Francisco: Night Shade Books, 2012 (paper). ; Orthe series *''

''. London: Gollancz, 1984. *''Ancient Light''. London: Gollancz, 1987. *''Orthe'' (omnibus edition). London: Gollancz, 2002 (paper). ;White Crow sequence *''Rats and Gargoyles''. London: Bantam, 1990. *''The Architecture of Desire''. London: Bantam, 1991. *''Left to His Own Devices''. London: Orbit, 1994 (paper). *''White Crow'' (omnibus edition). London: Gollancz, 2003 (paper). ;First History sequence *'' Ash: A Secret History'' ( vt US). London: Gollancz, 2000. ; Ilario, A Story of the First History *''Ilario: The Lion's Eye''. London: Gollancz, 2006. **''Ilario: The Lion's Eye''. New York: EOS, 2007. **''Ilario: The Stone Golem''. New York: EOS, 2007. ;As Roxanne Morgan *''Dares''. London: X Libris, 1995 (paper). *''Bets''. London: X Libris, 1997 (paper). *''A Game of Masks''. London: X Libris, 1999 (paper). *''Who Dares, Sins''. London: X Libris, 1999 (paper). *''Sinner Takes All''. London: X Libris, 2000 (paper). *''Degrees of Desire''. London: X Libris, 2001 (paper). *''Maximum Exposure''. London: X Libris, 2004 (paper).

Short fiction

;Collections *''Scholars and Soldiers'' London: Macdonald, 1989. *''Left to His Own Devices''. London: Orbit, 1994 (paper). *''Cartomancy''. London: Gollancz, 2004 (paper). ;StoriesShort stories unless otherwise noted.

Critical studies and reviews of Gentle's work

;Lost Burgundy * ;The wild machines *

Notes

*'' Ash: A Secret History'' was published in the US in four paperback volumes: **''A Secret History: The Book of Ash, #1'' **''Carthage Ascendant: The Book of Ash, #2'' **''The Wild Machines: The Book of Ash, #3'' **''Lost Burgundy: The Book of Ash, #4'' *The novella ''Under the Penitence'' was incorporated into ''Ilario: The Lion's Eye''. The two Ilario novels were also published (UK 2006) as a single narrative, also called ''Ilario: The Lion's Eye'' . *''Left to His Own Devices'' includes both the novel of the same name, printed for the first time, which forms part of the White Crow sequence, and also a few related and unrelated stories, some of which take place in the Weerde

shared universe A shared universe or shared world is a fictional universe from a set of creative works where more than one writer (or other artist) independently contributes a work that can stand alone but fits into the joint development of the storyline, chara ...

created by the collective Gentle belonged to, Midnight Rose. *''Cartomancy'' puts together Gentle's short fiction unrelated to the White Crow sequence, which she included in the ''White Crow'' omnibus which also included all of the novels.

References

External links

*
Mary Gentle
at ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo, Locus and British SF Awards. Two print editions appeared in 1979 and 1993. A third, continu ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Gentle, Mary 1956 births 20th-century British novelists 20th-century British women writers 21st-century British novelists 21st-century British women writers British alternative history writers British fantasy writers British science fiction writers British women novelists Living people Sidewise Award winners Women historical novelists Women science fiction and fantasy writers