| Jo Walton | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | December 1, 1964 |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Genres | Fantasy/Science Fiction |
| Children | 1 |
| Official website | |
Jo Walton (born December 1, 1964) is a Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2002 and the World Fantasy award for her novel Tooth and Claw in 2004. Her novel Ha'penny was a co-winner of the 2008 Prometheus Award.
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Writing career
Walton's first novel was published in 2000. Before that, she was published in a number of role-playing game publications, such as Pyramid, mostly in collaboration with her husband at the time, Ken Walton.[1] Walton was also active in online fandom, especially in the Usenet groups rec.arts.sf.written and rec.arts.sf.fandom. Her poem "The Lurkers Support Me in E-Mail" is widely quoted on it and in other online arguments, often without her name attached.[2]
Her first three novels, The King's Peace (2000), The King's Name (2001), and The Prize in the Game (2002) were all fantasy and set in the same world, which is based on Arthurian Britain and the Táin Bó Cúailnge's Ireland. Her next novel, Tooth and Claw (2003) was intended as a novel Anthony Trollope could have written, but about dragons rather than humans.
Farthing was her first science fiction novel, placing the genre of the "cozy" mystery firmly inside an alternate history in which the United Kingdom made peace with Adolf Hitler before the involvement of the United States in World War II. It was nominated for a Nebula Award, a Quill Award,[3] the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science fiction novel,[4] and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History. A sequel, Ha'penny, was published in October 2007 by Tor Books,[5] with the final book in the trilogy, Half a Crown, published in September 2008. Ha'penny won the 2008 Prometheus Award (jointly with Harry Turtledove's novel The Gladiator) [6] and has been nominated for the Lambda Literary Award.[7]
In April 2007, Howard V. Hendrix stated that professional writers should never release their writings online for free, as this made them equivalent to scabs.[8] Walton responded to this by declaring 23 April as International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day, a day in which writers who disagreed with Hendrix could release their stories online en masse. In 2008 Walton celebrated this day by posting several chapters of an unfinished sequel to Tooth and Claw, Those Who Favor Fire.
In 2008, Walton began writing a column for Tor.com, mostly retrospective reviews of older books.[9]
Personal life
Walton moved to Montreal, Quebec, after her first novel was published. She is married to Dr. Emmet A. O'Brien.[10] She has one child, a son named Alexander.
Bibliography
Novels
- The King's Peace (October 2000, Tor Books, ISBN 0-312-87229-1)
- The King's Name (December 2001, Tor Books, ISBN 0-312-87653-X)
- The Prize in the Game (December 2002, Tor Books, ISBN 0-7653-0263-2)
- Tooth and Claw (November 2003, Tor Books, ISBN 0-7653-0264-0)
- Farthing (August 2006, Tor Books, ISBN 0-7653-1421-5)
- Ha'penny (October 2007, Tor Books, ISBN 0-7653-1853-9)
- Half a Crown (August 2008, Tor Books)
- Lifelode (February 2009, NESFA Press, ISBN 1-886778-82-5)
Other works
- GURPS Celtic Myth (with Ken Walton) (1995, roleplaying supplement)
- Muses and Lurkers (2001, poetry chapbook, edited by Eleanor Evans)
- Realms of Sorcery (with Ken Walton) (2002, roleplaying supplement)
References
- ^ Jo Walton :: Pen & Paper RPG Database
- ^ IRoSF: Login Required
- ^ Announcement of Quills nominees at The Beat, 2 June 2007
- ^ John W. Campbell Memorial Award Finalists, accessed 4 June 2007
- ^ Tor Books blurb page for Ha'penny.
- ^ [1], accessed 9 August 2008
- ^ [2] accessed 29 March 2008].
- ^ Hendrix's "webscabs" post on LiveJournal, April 2007
- ^ Conversations from bluejo at Tor.com
- ^ Langford, David, Ansible #169, August 2001
External links
- Jo Walton's Webpage
- Jo Walton's LiveJournal
- Jo Walton's page at Tor.com, with links to her reviews
- "Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction", short story
- Those Who Favor Fire
- Turner, Robin (2007-12-26). "Jo’s scientific approach to writing". Western Mail (Wales). http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/wales-news/2007/12/26/jo-s-scientific-approach-to-writing-91466-20286225/. Retrieved 2007-12-29.
- Jo Walton at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
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