Michael Cobley

Michael Cobley
Born (1959-10-09) 9 October 1959 (age 65)
Leicester, England, United Kingdom
OccupationScience fiction writer
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Strathclyde
Notable worksShadowking trilogy, Humanity's Fire series
Website
www.michaelcobley.com

Michael Cobley (born 10 October 1959) is a British science fiction and fantasy author from Glasgow.[1][2]

Life

Michael Cobley was born in Leicester but moved to Glasgow at the age of seven.[2] While studying engineering at the University of Strathclyde, he used to work as a DJ; at the same time, he wrote rants for the university paper under the pen-name of "Phaedrus".[2]

He has published eight novels, a collection of short stories and several reviews and essays.[3]

Writing

Cobley, who is a member of the Glasgow Science Fiction Writers Circle,[4] said he was influenced by writers such as Frank Herbert, David Brin, Iain Banks, Ken MacLeod and Vernor Vinge, but also by music (Dmitri Shostakovich, Yes, Blue Öyster Cult, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Monster Magnet) and TV shows (Firefly, Babylon 5, the most recent series of Battlestar Galactica).[5]

Cobley published his first novel, Shadowkings, in 2001 for Earthlight, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. He completed the "Shadowkings" trilogy with Shadowgod (2003) and Shadowmasque (2005), which was nominated for the British Fantasy Society's best novel award.[2] Cobley then began writing a space opera series, "Humanity's Fire". It encompasses five novels as of 2018. The first volume, Seeds of Earth, was published in 2009 by Orbit Books.[6]

Bibliography

Novels

Shadowkings trilogy

  • Shadowkings. London: Earthlight, 2001 (paper). ISBN 0-7432-0717-3
  • Shadowgod. London: Earthlight, 2003 (paper). ISBN 0-7434-6114-2
  • Shadowmasque. London: Simon & Schuster, 2005 (paper). ISBN 0-7432-5682-4

Humanity's Fire

All published as paperbacks by Orbit Books in London.

  1. Seeds of Earth, 2009. ISBN 978-1-84149-632-0
  2. The Orphaned Worlds, 2010. ISBN 978-1-84149-631-3
  3. The Ascendant Stars, 2011. ISBN 978-1-84149-635-1
  4. Ancestral Machines, 2016. ISBN 978-0-31622-118-4
  5. Splintered Suns, 2018. ISBN 978-0-31651-522-1

Collections

References

  1. ^ "Author Bio". Michael Cobley. Archived from the original on 13 September 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d D.C. Wands & L.E. Dickinson (8 November 2010). "About Michael Cobley". Fantastic Fiction. Archived from the original on 4 September 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  3. ^ "Michael Cobley – Summary Bibliography". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  4. ^ Neil Williamson (30 July 2005). "An Interview with Michael Cobley, Gary Gibson and Hal Duncan". Infinity Plus. Archived from the original on 29 October 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  5. ^ Dave Bradley (31 May 2010). "Exclusive interview with SF author Michael Cobley". SFX. Archived from the original on 9 June 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  6. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 18 January 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)