Green, Simon R(ichard) 1955-

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GREEN, Simon R(ichard) 1955-

PERSONAL: Born August 25, 1955, in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, England. Education: Thames Polytechnic, B.A. (humanities), 1976; Leicester University, M.A. (modern English and American literature), 1978. Hobbies and other interests: "Avoiding being abducted by aliens."

ADDRESSES: Home—40 St. Laurence Rd., Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire BA15 IJQ, England. Agent— Joshua Bilmes, Scott Meredith Literary Agency, 845 Third Ave., New York, NY 10022.

CAREER: Writer. Has worked as a shop assistant, actor, and freelance writer.

WRITINGS:

"hawk and fisher" series

Hawk and Fisher, Ace (New York, NY), 1990, published as No Haven for the Guilty, Headline (London, England), 1990.

Winner Takes All, Ace (New York, NY), 1991, published as Devil Take the Hindmost, Headline (London, England), 1991.

The God Killer, Ace (New York, NY), 1991.

Wolf in the Fold, Ace (New York, NY), 1991, published as Vengeance for a Lonely Man, Headline (London, England), 1992.

Guard against Dishonor, Ace (New York, NY), 1991.

The Bones of Haven, Ace (New York, NY), 1992, published as Two Kings in Haven, Headline (London, England), 1992.

Haven of Lost Souls, Millennium (London, England), 1999.

Swords of Haven, Millennium (London, England), 1999.

Fear and Loathing in Haven, Millennium (London, England), 2000.

"forest kingdom" series

Blue Moon Rising, Roc (New York, NY), 1991.

Blood and Honour, Gollancz (London, England), 1992.

Down among the Dead Men, Gollancz (London, England), 1993.

Beyond the Blue Moon, Roc (New York, NY), 2000.

"deathstalker" series

Deathstalker, Gollancz (London, England), 1995.

Deathstalker Rebellion, Roc (New York, NY), 1996.

Deathstalker War, Roc (New York, NY), 1997.

Deathstalker Honor, Vista (London, England), 1998.

Deathstalker Prelude, Vista (London, England), 1999.

Deathstalker Destiny, Millennium (London, England), 1999.

"twilight of the empire" series

Mistworld, Ace (New York, NY), 1992.

Ghostworld, Ace (New York, NY), 1993.

Hellworld, Ace (New York, NY), 1993.

other

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (novelization of screenplay), Berkeley (New York, NY), 1991.

Shadows Fall, Gollancz (London, England), 1994.

Drinking Midnight Wine, Roc (New York, NY), 2002.

ADAPTATIONS: An audiocassette recording of Death-stalker, Episode 1: The Man Who Had Everything (abridged) was released in 2002; subsequent audiocassette recordings of Deathstalker: Episodes 2-5 are forthcoming.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A television series with a British production company.

SIDELIGHTS: Having previously worked as a shop assistant, actor, and freelance writer, Simon R. Green churned out fifteen novels from 1990 to 1995. The Englishman was first published in the United States with his fantasy novel Hawk and Fisher, before being signed to issue a British edition. In addition to penning a novelization of the Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, he has created two fantasy series and several stand-alone novels. In all of his original work, critics have noted that Green melds genres—frequently mixing fantasy, science fiction, and mystery elements—to create quirky, often amusing scenarios. The author commented in the St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers that his work shows "a general willingness to go tearing off in any direction that looks like fun."

Hawk and Fisher inaugurated a series that is nominally fantasy fiction. The title characters are a husband and wife who police the city of Haven, which is hard work in the most corrupt corner of Green's "Low Kingdom." The setting is populated with gods, vampires, sorcerers, and other familiar fantasy types, but the plots resemble those of television crime dramas. Politics and the difficulty of enforcing fair play in a magical world are common themes. Don D'Ammassa, writing in Science Fiction Chronicle, perceived the combination of mystery and magic to be problematic but considered the work "an interesting and well-conceived blend of genres." D'Ammassa continued to praise the series, including Winner Takes All and The God Killer, calling the first "topnotch" and the second the "best yet."

Green's second series, beginning with Blue Moon Rising, is a more loosely connected group of fantasy novels set in his quasi-medieval "Forest Kingdom." While these works use more traditional fantasy elements, such as dragons, princes, and evil forces trying to gain control, Green again opts to turn the familiar upside-down. For example, in Blue Moon Rising the crusading Prince Rupert happens upon a dragon who needs to be rescued from a princess, rather than the other way around. Eleanor Klopp, writing in Voice of Youth Advocates, compared Green's writing to that of H. P. Lovecraft and commended him on his cast of characters. A Locus reviewer noted a preference for the second installment in the series, Blood and Honor, calling it "a delightfully warped, charmingly dark take on an old plot." In this story, an actor is enlisted to play the part of Prince Victor, who is too ill to compete against his brothers for an empty throne. The actor, who is far more honorable and brave than the real prince, eventually becomes the new king. The third Forest Kingdom entry by Green is Down among the Dead Men, a story set a decade after the first set of tales. In this offering, the good Forest people are again threatened by the "Darkwood," an evil force that is stubbornly attempting to once again envelop Green's mythic kingdom. A reviewer in Library Journal described Hawk and Fisher as "charmingly roguish and intensely honorable heroes."

In addition to his fantasy-based Forest Kingdom, Green has also created a science-fiction world with his "Twilight of the Empire" series. With Mistworld he offers readers a science-fiction novel with a familiar premise: a husband-and-wife team who are sergeants in the city guard. As Paul Brazier noted in St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers, "Green uses second-hand material quite shamelessly, but it is never a problem because he always makes it over into something new." In this story, the author does this by violating the expectation that lead characters will survive their adventures. In Mistworld, Green kills off the husband early in the book and proceeds with the story of the wife's search for his killer.

Ghostworld is set in the same futuristic universe found in Mistworld and tells the story of a seemingly smothered rebellion, where the ghosts of the rebels continue to do battle. In his next science-fiction work, Hell-world, Green created a planet where each of the indigenous life forms presents a physical danger to a team of explorers who are trying to make contact with its inhabitants.

After Hellworld Green's science-fiction efforts became increasingly more complex and sophisticated. Death-stalker is an epic work beginning as a series set in the same universe as the "Twilight of the Empire" novels. Brazier deemed it "a sprawling galaxy-spanning space opera of the first order, with plots, counterplots, subplots, and lots and lots of inscrutable aliens, space ships, space pirates, and space battles." The action of the novel centers around Lord Owen Deathstalker, who is preparing to lead a rebellion against the evil empress who has made him an outlaw. Green followed the novel with several other "Deathstalker" titles, including Deathstalker Rebellion and Deathstalker War.

Departing from the now-familiar settings in his fantasy and science fiction, Green's most idiosyncratic work is Shadows Fall. This work of fantasy takes place in the twentieth century in the remarkable town of Shadows Fall. Peopled by cartoon characters, rock stars, dinosaurs, and others, it is a place where fallen legends go when no one believes in them anymore. The book received critical acclaim in England and America. For example, a reviewer in Publishers Weekly stated that "Green invokes some powerful mythologies." Reviewer Sherry S. Hoy noted in Kliatt that "the complex, multi-faceted fantasy … will require a sophisticated reader."

Green once told CA: "My latest book contains an order of warrior nuns with leprosy. If it wasn't for bad taste, I'd have no taste at all."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

books

St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1996.

periodicals

Booklist, January 15, 1995, Dennis Winters, review of Deathstalker, p. 900.

British Book News, April, 1987, p. 210.

Kliatt, September, 1991, p. 23; September, 1993, p. 16; September 1994, p. 18.

Library Journal, November 15, 2000, review of Beyond the Blue Moon, p. 100.

Locus, August 1990, p. 51; October, 1990, p. 52; February, 1991, p. 56; June, 1991, p. 48; July, 1991,p. 46; October, 1991, p. 46; January, 1992, p. 57; April, 1992, p. 46; October, 1992, p. 50; June, 1993, p. 31; February, 1994, p. 75; May, 1994,p. 31; July, 1994, p. 58; December, 1994, p. 29; February, 1995, p. 39.

Publishers Weekly, May 16, 1994, review of Shadows Fall, p. 62.

Science-Fiction Chronicle, October, 1990, p. 34; March, 1991, p. 30; June, 1991, p. 34; August, 1991, p. 34; September, 1991, p. 34; November, 1991, p. 32; November, 1992, p. 35; May, 1993,p. 43; October, 1993, p. 36; January, 1994, p. 32; February, 1994, p. 28.

Voice of Youth Advocates, October 1991, pp. 242-243.