CHRIS BECKETT

'Chris Beckett' is a British social worker, university lecturer, and science fiction author. He has written several textbooks, dozens of short stories, and two novels.

Contents

Background

Works

Bibliography

Novels

Short Stories (partial listing)

Textbooks

References

Background

Beckett holds a BSc (Honors) in Psychology, a Diploma in Advanced Social Work, and an MA in English Studies, and is a senior lecturer in social work at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. He has authored or co-authored several textbooks and scholarly articles on social work.^[1]

Works

Beckett began writing science fiction short stories in 1990, and had his first science fiction novel, ''The Holy Machine'', published in 2004, to strong reviews. He has finished a second novel, ''Marcher'', publication pending, based on a short story of the same name; and he is at work on a third novel, ''Eden''.^[2] Paul Di Filippo reviewed ''The Holy Machine'' for ''Asimov's'', calling it "One of the most accomplished novel debuts to attract my attention in some time...",^[3] and a review in ''Interzone'' by Tony Ballantyne declared, "Let’s waste no time: this book is incredible."^[4]
Beckett has written over 20 short stories, many of them originally published in ''Interzone'' and ''Asimov's''. Several of his short stories have appeared among the top three favorites in ''Interzone's'' annual readers' polls. Several have also been selected for republication, including in volumes 9, 19, 20, and 23 of ''The Year's Best Science Fiction''; volumes 5 and 6 of the ''Year's Best SF''; ''Robots'' and ''A.I.s'' in the Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois Ace anthology series; and other anthologies.^[5]
Beckett draws on his experience as a social worker in some of his fiction, and believes that science fiction is just a modern form of fantasy and that fantasy is the historically most mainstream and natural form of fiction. ^[6]

Bibliography

Novels

★ ''Eden'' (forthcoming)

★ ''Marcher'' (forthcoming)

★ ''The Holy Machine'', Wildside Press, 2004. ISBN 978-1592242085

Short Stories (partial listing)

★ "Karel's Prayer" - originally published in ''Interzone'' (2006)

★ "Dark Eden" - originally published in ''Asimov's'' (2006)

★ "The Perimeter" - originally published in ''Asimov's'' (2005)

★ "Picadilly Circus" - originally published in ''Interzone'' (2005); republished in ''Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Annual Collection'' (2006)

★ "The Turing Test" - originally published in ''Interzone'' (2002); republished in ''A.I.s'' (2004)

★ "To Become a Warrior" - originally published in ''Interzone'' (2002); republished in ''Year's Best Science Fiction: Twentieth Annual Collection'' (2003)

★ "Marcher" - originally published in ''Interzone'' (2001); republished in ''Year's Best Science Fiction: Nineteenth Annual Collection'' (2002); basis for novel of the same name

★ "The Marriage of Sky and Sea" - originally published in ''Interzone'' (2000): republished in ''Year's Best SF 6'' (2001)

★ "Valour" - originally published in ''Interzone'' (1999); republished in ''Year's Best SF 5'' (2000)

★ "La Macchina" - originally published in ''Interzone'' (1991); republished in ''Year's Best Science Fiction: Ninth Annual Collection'' (1992); republished in ''Gedanken Fictions: Stories on Themes in Science, Technology and Society'' (2000); republished in ''Robots'' (2005)

Textbooks

★ ''Essential Theory for Social Work Practice'', Sage, 2006

★ ''Values and Ethics in Social Work: An Introduction'', Sage, 2005 (co-written with Andrew Maynard)

★ ''Assessment and Intervention in Social Work'', Russell House, 2003 (co-written with Steven Walker)

★ ''Child Protection: An Introduction'', Sage, 2003; 2nd Edition, 2007

★ ''Human Growth and Development'', Sage, 2002

References

1. http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/faculties/ihsc/staff/social_work_and_social/chris_beckett.html
2. http://www.johnjarrold.co.uk/clients.html#Chris%20Beckett
3. http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0503/onbooks.shtml
4. http://www.btinternet.com/%7Echris.bb/Reviews_of_The_Holy_Machine.html#interzone_review
5. http://www.btinternet.com/~chris.bb/Short_Stories.html
6. http://www.btinternet.com/~chris.bb/About_my_writing.html