Ryman, Geoff 1951–

(Geoffrey Charles Ryman)

PERSONAL: Born May 9, 1951, in Guelph, Ontario, Canada; immigrated to England; son of Ivan George (a designer engineer) and Merle Phoebe (a computer accountant; maiden name, Pascoe) Ryman. Education: University of California, Los Angeles, A.B. Politics: "Confused." Religion: "Confused."

ADDRESSES: Home—18A Ridgmount Gardens, London WC1, England. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Fourth Estate Ltd., 77-85 Fulham Palace Rd., London W6 8JB, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer. Worked in publishing and civil service in England. Head of new media at Central Office of Information, England.

MEMBER: Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS: World Fantasy Award, best novella, 1985, for "The Unconquered Country"; Arthur C. Clarke Award, John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and nomination for British Science-Fiction Association Award, all 1990, all for The Child Garden; Philip K. Dick Award, 1998, for 253: The Print Remix; Philip K. Dick Award nomination, 2005, for Air; or, Have Not Have.

WRITINGS:

The Warrior Who Carried Life, Bantam (New York, NY), 1985.

The Unconquered Country, Bantam (New York, NY), 1986.

The Child Garden, Allen & Unwin (London, England), 1989, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1990.

Was, Knopf (New York, NY), 1992.

Unconquered Countries: Four Novellas (contains "A Fall of Angels, or On the Possibility of Life under Extreme Conditions," "Fan," "O Happy Day," and "The Unconquered Country"), St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1994.

253: The Print Remix (originally published online, 1996), St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Lust; or, No Harm Done, Flamingo (London, England), 2001, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Air; or, Have Not Have, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2003.

(Editor, with Nalo Hopkinson) Tesseracts Nine: New Canadian Speculative Fiction, EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), 2005.

The King's Last Song, Fourth Estate (New York, NY), 2006.

Also author of The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, a play based on the Philip K. Dick novel of the same name, 1984, and Disappearing Acts, a play based on the stories of Alfred Bester, 1987.

SIDELIGHTS: Science-fiction and fantasy writer Geoff Ryman "takes as his subject the often dangerous but ultimately redemptive qualities of fantasy itself," according to St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers contributor Kim Newman, "addressing narratives to such established but shifting texts as the Epic of Gilgamesh … and The Wizard of Oz." Ryman's works take hidden or suppressed elements of these works and emphasize them, explained Newman, "prob[ing] the pain and hurt which is at their root, creating novels whose spikiness and intensity cut against the grain of most contemporary fantasy." "This is the centre of all of Ryman's work," stated Paul Brazier in Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers: "the redemption human beings can achieve through love of other human beings. This central theme is played out against a background of other common themes … which are staggeringly different despite their commonality."

One of Ryman's most intriguing works, according to critics, is 253: The Print Remix. It is a collection of very short stories (253 of them), each of which has 253 words. The stories describe the 253 passengers (including a confused pigeon) on a London Underground train that is less than ten minutes from a dangerous crash. The stories began as an experiment in fiction on the Internet and saw print in 1998. "Narrative gimmick aside," reported Andrea Caron Kempf in the Library Journal, "Ryman's ability to sketch a whole person instantly and create a community of interrelationships eventually involves the reader in his wild ride." "In this low-tech paper-based format," noted a Publishers Weekly interviewer, "253 makes for ideal commuter reading and possibly the best subway ride readers will take."

More recent novels by Ryman that explore the edge of fantasy and science fiction include Lust; or, No Harm Done and Air; or, Have Not Have. In the former, homosexual scientist Michael Blasco discovers he has the ability to make anyone—even fictional characters, people who are no longer alive, and his own doppel-ganger—appear before him and indulge his sexual fantasies. After several adventures and misadventures, Blasco eventually discovers more about himself and comes to accept his life. While Library Journal contributor Devon Thomas felt that "Lust fails to rise above adolescent obsessions," a Publishers Weekly reviewer held that the "message is artfully packaged in this quirky, offbeat, entertaining novel."

Air, which was nominated for a Philip K. Dick award, has been described by several critics as a very challenging read. The premise involves a United Nations plan to connect the people of the world to a wireless information system that links directly to people's brains. The main character, Mae Chung, lives in an isolated and technologically backward village in Karzistan when something with the Air system goes awry. A tremendous surge of power blankets the world, killing Mae's elderly friend Mrs. Tung. An unusual side effect of the event is that Mae now possesses all of Mrs. Tung's ninety years of knowledge. Driven almost to the edge of insanity, Mae goes on a mission to help her people adapt to a new world in what the Library Journal critic Robert E. Brown described as "high-concept fiction." Roberta Johnson, writing in Booklist, commented that "only the smartest and hungriest [readers] can keep up" with this complex tale. Asserting that Air is a "superbly crafted tale," a Publishers Weekly concluded: "Besides being a treat for fans of highly literate SF, this intensely political book has important things to say about how developed nations take the Third World for granted."

Ryman once told CA: "By inclination a writer of fantasy and science fiction with a strong interest in character, I am now also becoming very interested in realism. A common thread running through most of my books is the early responsive vision of childhood and its subsequent muddying by education, authority, and the general need to survive. It is a theme I hope to outgrow. I also like adapting the work of other science fiction writers for the stage, and I like mounting amateur productions."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

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

Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers, 3rd edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1991.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 1, 2003, Roberta Johnson, review of Air; or, Have Not Have, p. 655.

Library Journal, September 15, 1998, Andrea Caron Kempf, review of 253: The Print Remix, p. 114; July, 2003, Devon Thomas, review of Lust, p. 126; January, 2004, Robert E. Brown, review of Air, p. 160.

Publishers Weekly, July 20, 1998, review of 253, p. 205; July 14, 2003, review of Lust, p. 55; November 10, 2003, review of Air, p. 47.