Stephen Hunt (author)

Stephen Hunt
Born	(1966-05-05) May 5, 1966 Canada
Occupation	Writer, computer programmer, publisher
Nationality	British
Genre	Historical fantasy, alternate history, science fiction, fantasy
Subject	Fantasy adventure set on a far-future Earth
Literary movement	Flintlock fantasy, steampunk, space opera
Website
stephenhunt.net

Stephen Hunt (born May 5, 1966) is a Canadian-born British writer known for his fantasy novels. Hunt's Jackelian series contains elements of steampunk and is set in a nation resembling Victorian England, named the Kingdom of Jackals. Influences on his work include Jack Williamson, Stephen Goldin, David Gemmell, Bruce Sterling, Larry Niven and Michael Moorcock.

Hunt's short fiction has appeared in various magazines, mainly in the US and UK. Some of his earliest works were written in the cyberpunk style. One of these was The Hollow Duelists, a short story that was one of the winners of the 1992 ProtoStellar Prize for Best Short Fiction Story.

In 2005, Hunt became the first client of the John Jarrold Literary Agency. His second novel, The Court of the Air, was acquired by Harper Collins through an auction among UK publishers, resulting in a multi-book deal that began with three books and was later extended to six.

International editions of the Jackelian series have been published by Tor Books in the United States, Albin Michel in France, Verlagsgruppe Random House in Germany, Enterbrain in Japan, Edições Saída de Emergência in Portugal and Brazil, Paidós in Spain, AST in Russia, and Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House in Nigeria.

Works

Hunt's first fantasy novel, For the Crown and the Dragon, was published in 1994. The protagonist is a young officer named Taliesin who fought for the Queen in a Napoleonic-period alternate reality, where the wars of Europe were fought with sorcery and steampunk weapons (airships, clockwork machine guns, and steam-driven trucks called kettle-blacks). The book reviewer Andrew Darlington used Hunt's novel to coin the phrase "Flintlock Fantasy" to describe the subgenre of fantasy set in a Regency or Napoleonic-era period.

Sliding Void series

The Sliding Void series, published under the Green Nebula imprint, is a space opera that explores the adventures of the crew aboard the Gravity Rose, a commercial tramp freighter. Led by Captain Lana Fiveworlds, the narrative follows the crew as they navigate a variety of challenges in an expansive universe. The series touches on themes such as teamwork, resilience, and the complexities of interstellar trade.

The series' first novel is Void All the Way Down, which originally debuted as three serialized novellas: Sliding Void, Transference Station, and Red Sun Bleeding. These novellas were later compiled into the complete novel.

The Sliding Void series' main polity is the Triple Alliance (often simply the 'Alliance' or 'TA'), a bureaucratic multi-world confederation of the three dominant species, of which humanity is one. Most of the books' events occur in The Edge, a lawless independent region of free worlds bordering the Alliance. While guest of honour at Toronto's Ad Astra convention, Hunt described how he had written the series as an homage to (and as a substitute for) his favourite TV science fiction series which had experienced cancellations: Star Trek, Stargate, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica and Farscape. The series' title alludes to both this filling of a "void" left in the genre as well as the phrase "Sliding Void", used by characters in space sci-fi as slang for sub-warp transit.

Far-called series

The Far-called series is set on the world of Pellas. The first book in the series, In Dark Service, was published by Gollancz on 15 May 2014.

Jackelian series

The Court of the Air (2007) is a fantasy steampunk novel set in a Victorian-esque world with the addition of magic and where steam power, rather than oil, drives the economy. The Court of the Air began Hunt's Jackelian fantasy series, and was the first of his works to be published by HarperCollins.

The Court of the Air was one of the ten books selected by the organisers of the Berlinale Film Festival/Co-Production Market for presentation to US and European film producers. HarperCollins' elevator pitch for The Court of the Air was summarised as "Charles Dickens meets Blade Runner".

Bibliography

Standalone novels

• Six Against the Stars (2020)
• The Pashtun Boy's Paradise (2020)

Triple Realm

1. —— (1994). For the Crown and the Dragon. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780952288503.
2. —— (2020). The Fortress in the Frost.

The Agatha Witchley Mysteries series

1. —— (2015). Secrets of the Moon. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 1514238411.

The Songs of Old Sol series

1. —— (2018). Empty Between the Stars. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 1983183989.

Jackelian series

1. —— (2007). The Court of the Air. HarperCollins. ISBN 0007232179.^[a]
2. —— (2008). The Kingdom Beyond the Waves. HarperCollins. ISBN 0007232209.^[b]
3. —— (2009). The Rise of the Iron Moon. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780007232222.^[c]

Far-called series

1. —— (2014). In Dark Service. Gollancz. ISBN 0575092068.

Sliding Void

1. —— (2014). Void All the Way Down. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 9781508922193.

Notes

^a Published in the US in Jun 2008, ISBN 9780765320421

^b Published in the US in July 2009, ISBN 9780765320438

^c Published in the US in Mar 2011, ISBN 9780765327666

Reviews

• The Fantasy Book Critic. "The Kingdom Beyond the Waves". The Fantasy Book Critic.
• Jeff VanderMeer. "The Court of the Air". Omnivoracious.

External links

• Stephen Hunt's official blog