Wright, John C. 1961- (John Charles Wright)

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Wright, John C. 1961- (John Charles Wright)

PERSONAL:

Born October 22, 1961, in Chula Vista, CA; son of Orville (an aviator) and Donna (a homemaker) Wright; married L. Jagi Lamplighter, June 21, 1989; children: Orville, Roland. Education: St. John's College, B.A., 1984; William & Mary Marshall Wythe School of Law, J.D., 1987. Politics: Conservative. Religion: Christian.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Centreville, VA. Agent—Jack Byrne, Sternig & Byrne Literary Agency, 3209 S. 55th St., Milwaukee, WI 532194433. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Attorney in New York, NY; freelance writer.

WRITINGS:

SCIENCE FICTION

The Golden Age: A Romance of the Far Future (first novel in the "Golden Age" trilogy), Tor (New York, NY), 2002.

The Phoenix Exultant (second novel in the "Golden Age" trilogy), Tor (New York, NY), 2003.

The Golden Transcendence (third novel in the "Golden Age" trilogy), Tor (New York, NY), 2003.

The Last Guardian of Everness: Being the First Part of the Dreaming, Tor (New York, NY), 2004.

Mists of Everness: Being the Second Part of the War of the Dreaming, Tor (New York, NY), 2005.

Orphans of Chaos, Tor (New York, NY), 2005.

Fugitives of Chaos, Tor (New York, NY), 2006.

Titans of Chaos, Tor (New York, NY), 2007.

OTHER

Editor for Connection. Author of weekly column in St. Mary's Today.

SIDELIGHTS:

John C. Wright began writing science fiction at the age of nine. He wrote several short science-fiction stories before writing his first novel, The Golden Age: A Romance of the Far Future. The Golden Age takes place ten thousand years into the future in a very different solar system in which humans, immortals, and machines coexist. While at a party Phaethon meets a Neptunian who swears that they are old friends, but Phaethon does not recognize him. Phaethon becomes concerned about his memory loss and investigates further. He learns that he gave up his memory to the government for three months, and in exchange he will inherit his father's estate. If he wants his memories back he will have to leave and give up his immortality. He is torn between receiving his father's estate and keeping his immortality and the fact that his loss of memory could be dangerous for all inhabitants in the solar system. In reaction to this debut, a Publishers Weekly contributor predicted that "Wright may be this fledgling century's most important new SF talent." Book Browser contributor Harriet Klausner praised The Golden Age as "a great futuristic science fiction that genre fans will absolutely love."

Wright continues his "Golden Age" trilogy with The Phoenix Exultant and The Golden Transcendence. Phoenix Exultant is the name of a spacecraft, and the second volume of the trilogy continues to trace the adventures of Phaethon, an exile on a quest to reclaim the ship and his rightful place of wealth and privilege. "Witty, inventive, labyrinthine, with a life-sized cast, Wright's creation … grows steadily more addictive," remarked a Kirkus Reviews writer. Phaethon finally battles to regain control of the ship in the last volume of the trilogy, and also to halt the destruction of the Golden Oecumene, and with it his own way of life. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly complained of the excess of material crammed into Wright's work, noting: "The author is so excited by his ideas that he pours torrents of them onto the head of the unsuspecting reader." A contributor to Kirkus Reviews, however, remarked that the close of the trilogy is "tremendously flawed, certainly, but set forth with such effortless intelligence and confident verisimilitude that the author might be a denizen of the remote future."

In his next effort, The Last Guardian of Everness: Being the First Part of the Dreaming, Wright begins a new series. The book introduces readers to Watchman Galen Waylock, whose duty it is to guard the dreamgate, a job held by his family for a thousand years. When Waylock is forced to choose between the forces of good and evil, he startles both sides by finding a third alternative. Wright continues Waylock's adventures in the next book: Mists of Everness: Being the Second Part of the War of the Dreaming. Waylock struggles between the physical world and the dream world as the powers of light and dark battle around him. A Publishers Weekly contributor remarked on Wright's tendency toward parody, but concluded that "a little forgiveness and disbelief-suspending make this a highly enjoyable ride."

Orphans of Chaos marks the start of Wright's next series. In this introductory volume, five students at an English boarding school struggle to keep their supernatural gifts a secret from the other students and the world at large while also attempting to escape the school that serves as their prison. A Publishers Weekly critic wrote of the book: "Those who like sophisticated fantasy with a mild erotic charge will be most rewarded." The orphans' adventures continue in Fugitives of Chaos, which resumes immediately following the cliffhanger with which the first volume ends. Having failed to escape the school in the last volume, the orphans continue their struggle while revealing more of their true natures to readers. Rob H. Bedford, reviewing the work in SFFworld.com, found the book's momentum lagging at times, and ultimately labeled it "a frustrating novel that promised much but failed to deliver fully on what could have been a much more enjoyable novel." However, Jackie Cassada, writing for Library Journal, called Wright's effort an "intricate tale of devious plots and counterplots."

Wright once told CA: "I cannot say why I write: as well ask why I breathe, or why Spring is bright. Partly, I am inspired by a muse who will not let me rest; partly I am inspired by Mammon, and unwholesome love of fame; partly it is fitting that each man do what he does best; partly, I mean to do more than entertain.

"Jack Vance, Gene Wolfe, A.E. van Vogt, Cordwainer Smith, Milton, Lucretius are the men my writings imitate, and would imitate more aptly, if they could.

"My writing process is (1) to imagine some striking image, (2) deduce what scene would logically be needed to support that image, (3) to connect several scenes into a rough skeleton of a plot, so that one event must lead logically to the next, (4) to find words fitting to express this same, and write them down in order. Each villain is given coherent philosophy by which he excuses his villainy. Each character and situation is presumed to have a past and a purpose in life. After that, the rest is pertinacious artistic pride not to be overcome by time or wisdom: pure doggedness that will not yield or quail before the silent intimidation of blank paper.

"What inspired the writing? Cleo, Urania, Polyhumnia, Calliope, Melpomene, Erato, and Thalia. The other two have not yet seen fit to visit me, though I revere them nonetheless.

"I write science fiction and fantasy because these fields allow for the widest play of the imaginative force of the human mind. No other genres aside from science fiction can question fundamental assumptions, ask deep questions of nature, or talk about the magnitude of the universe as it is; no other genres aside from the fantastic can investigate the dreams of men."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2002, review of The Golden Age: A Romance of the Far Future, p. 149; February 15, 2003, review of The Phoenix Exultant, p. 277; September 1, 2003, review of The Golden Transcendence, p. 1106.

Library Journal, April 15, 2002, Jackie Cassada, review of The Golden Age, p. 127; November 15, 2006, Jackie Cassada, review of Fugitives of Chaos, p. 63.

Locus, June, 2002, Russell Letson, review of The Golden Age, p. 27.

New York Times Book Review, July 28, 2002, Gerald Jonas, "Science Fiction," review of The Golden Transcendence.

Publishers Weekly, March 4, 2002, review of The Golden Age, p. 62; October 27, 2003, review of The Golden Transcendence, p. 48; February 21, 2005, review of Mists of Everness: Being the Second Part of the War of the Dreaming, p. 162; September 19, 2005, review of Orphans of Chaos, p. 47.