The author behind the worlds
Stephen Hunt is a British SF and fantasy author whose books range across steampunk, space opera, epic fantasy, mystery and horror. He is best known for the seven-book Jackelian sequence (HarperCollins), the Far-called trilogy (Gollancz) and the indie Sliding Void space-opera series. Whatever the genre, his trademark is the page-turning thriller — high imagination, real adventure and a streak of sly humour.
Stephen Hunt is a British author of science fiction and fantasy — creator of the Jackelian, Sliding Void and Far-called series — and the founder of SFcrowsnest.
Stephen Hunt is a British SF and fantasy author whose books range across steampunk, space opera, epic fantasy, mystery and horror. He is best known for the seven-book Jackelian sequence (HarperCollins), the Far-called trilogy (Gollancz) and the indie Sliding Void space-opera series. Whatever the genre, his trademark is the page-turning thriller — high imagination, real adventure and a streak of sly humour.
Founded in 1991, SFcrowsnest is one of the first and longest-running science-fiction, fantasy and horror websites — genre news, reviews and interviews, and the mothership for this microsite.
The long version
Born in Canada in 1966 and educated in the United Kingdom, Stephen Hunt began in the cyberpunk short-fiction scene of the early 1990s — his story The Hollow Duelists won the 1992 ProtoStellar Prize for Best Short Fiction. His first novel, For the Crown and the Dragon (1994), won WH Smith's New Talent Award and prompted reviewer Andrew Darlington to coin the term “flintlock fantasy” for fantasy set in a Regency or Napoleonic-era world.
In 2005 he became the first client of the John Jarrold Literary Agency. His second novel, The Court of the Air (HarperCollins, 2007), launched the Jackelian series and was one of ten books selected by the Berlinale Film Festival's Co-Production Market for presentation to film producers. The Jackelian sequence ran to seven novels and helped put rocket-boosters under the steampunk genre.
Later work includes the Sliding Void space-opera series, published under his own Green Nebula imprint, and the Far-called epic-fantasy trilogy, begun with In Dark Service (Gollancz, 2014). He also writes the Agatha Witchley spy-fi mysteries, the Songs of Old Sol science fiction, the Triple Realm fantasy, and the Vigil supernatural thrillers for younger readers. His novels are published around the world by Gollancz/Hachette, HarperCollins, Tor/Macmillan and Green Nebula, with translations across China, Russia, Japan, Germany, Spain, Portugal, France and Brazil.
In 2011 he was among 85 authors — alongside Iain M. Banks, Elizabeth Moon and Michael Moorcock — who challenged the BBC over its coverage of genre fiction, after which the broadcaster reaffirmed its commitment to the field. Stephen founded and still runs SFcrowsnest, set up in 1991 as one of the first online science-fiction magazines. When he isn't writing he can be found cooking, gardening, and adding to his collections of comic-books and SF & fantasy novels.
Publishing history
Praise for Stephen Hunt
“Hunt's imagination is probably visible from space.”
Tom Holt
“Mr. Hunt takes off at racing speed.”
The Wall Street Journal
“An inventive, ambitious work, full of wonders and marvels.”
The Times
“Compulsive reading for all ages.”
The Guardian
