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British writer of speculative fiction From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nina Allan (born 27 May 1966) is a British writer of speculative fiction. She has published five collections of short stories, multiple novella-sized works, and five novels. Her stories have appeared in the magazines Interzone, Black Static and Crimewave and have been nominated for or won a number of awards, including the Grand prix de l'Imaginaire and the BSFA Award.
Nina Allan | |
|---|---|
Allan in 2016 | |
| Born | 27 May 1966 Whitechapel, London, England |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Exeter Corpus Christi College, Oxford |
| Genre | Speculative fiction |
| Notable works | The Silver Wind The Harlequin |
| Notable awards | Aeon Award (2007) BSFA Best Short Fiction (2013) Grand Prix de L'Imaginaire (2014) Novella Award (2015) |
| Partner | Christopher Priest |
| Website | |
| The Spider's House | |
Allan was born in Whitechapel, in the East End of London, and grew up in the Midlands and in West Sussex. She studied Russian language and literature at the University of Reading and the University of Exeter, and then did an MLitt at Corpus Christi College, Oxford.
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.[1] Her first published story appeared in the British Fantasy Society journal Dark Horizons in 2002. She lived in the Taw Valley area of North Devon but now lives on Isle of Bute.
Her column "Nina Allan's Time Pieces" appears in Interzone.
Allan's story Darkroom appeared in Subtle Edens: An Anthology of Slipstream Fiction edited by Allen Ashley Elastic Press in 2008.[2] 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."[3]
Paul Kincaid 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.[4] 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."[5]
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."[6] Sofia Samatar agrees that "The Race guards its secrets." She writes that, this is "a distancing novel about drawing in, a science fiction novel aware of its own artifice, a literary fiction impatient with mimesis."[7]
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."[8]
In Ian Sansom's review of Conquest he wrote "Nina Allan belongs to that small set of writers whom you probably haven’t heard of, but who is really famous among certain readers and also really good."[9]
Allan's story Angelus won the Aeon Award in 2007. It was announced at the European Science Fiction Convention in Copenhagen, Denmark in September 2007. The Grand Judge Ian Watson commented that it was “beautifully written and paced and enigmatic yet in an entirely lucid way."[10]
| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | "Angelus" | Aeon Award | — | Won | [10] |
| 2010 | Flying in the Face of God | BSFA Award | Short Fiction | Shortlisted | |
| 2013 | The Gateway | Shirley Jackson Award | Novella | Shortlisted | [11] |
| Spin | BSFA Award | Short Fiction | Won | [12] | |
| 2014 | British Fantasy Award | Novella | Shortlisted | [13] | |
| The Race | BSFA Award | Novel | Shortlisted | [13] | |
| Kitschies | Red Tentacle (Novel) | Shortlisted | |||
| 2015 | John W. Campbell Memorial Award | — | Shortlisted | [14] | |
| The Harlequin | Novella Award | — | Won | ||
| 2017 | "The Art of Space Travel" | Hugo Award | Novelette | Shortlisted | [15] |
| Locus Award | Novelette | Shortlisted | [16] | ||
| Theodore Sturgeon Award | — | Shortlisted | [17] | ||
| The Rift | BSFA Award | Novel | Won | [18] | |
| Kitschies | Red Tentacle (Novel) | Won | [19] | ||
| 2018 | John W. Campbell Memorial Award | — | Shortlisted | [14] | |
| Locus Award | Science Fiction Novel | Nominated–17th | |||
| The Gift of Angels | BSFA Award | Short Fiction | Shortlisted | [20] |
Allan's stories have appeared in various publications and six "Best of" collections:
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Allan 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 for its landscape, where she was living for most of the time she was writing it.[27]
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