Iain M. Banks
Iain [Menzies] Banks was born in Fife in 1954, and was educated at Stirling University, where he studied English Literature, Philosophy and Psychology.
Banks came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984.
His first science fiction novel, Consider Phlebas, was published in 1987. He has continued to write both mainstream fiction (as Iain Banks) and science fiction (as Iain M. Banks).
He is now acclaimed as one of the most powerful, innovative and exciting writers of his generation: The Guardian has called him "the standard by which the rest of SF is judged". William Gibson, the New York Times-bestselling author of Spook Country describes Banks as a "phenomenon".
Iain M. Banks lives in Fife, Scotland.
Stephen Baxter
Stephen Baxter was born in Liverpool, England, in 1957. Since 1987 he has published over forty books, mostly science fiction novels, and over a hundred short stories. He has degrees in mathematics, from Cambridge University, engineering, from Southampton University, and in business administration, from Henley Management College. He has worked as a teacher of maths and physics, and for several years in information technology. His first professionally published short story appeared in 1987, and his first novel in 1991. He has been a full-time author since 1995. He is Vice-President of the British Science Fiction Association, and a Vice-President of the HG Wells Society. He now lives in Northumberland.
Peter S. Beagle
Peter Soyer Beagle (born April 20, 1939) is an American fantasist and author of novels, nonfiction, and screenplays. He is also a talented guitarist and folk singer. He won early recognition from The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards as a high school senior for a poem; the award was accompanied by a scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh, where he graduated with a degree in creative writing. He wrote his first novel, A Fine and Private Place, when he was only 19 years old. Today he is best known as the author of The Last Unicorn, which routinely polls as one of the top ten fantasy novels of all time, and at least two of his other books (A Fine and Private Place and I See By My Outfit) are considered modern classics.
He wrote the teleplay for episode 71 of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, titled "Sarek." He wrote the screenplay for the 1978 Ralph Bakshi-animated version of The Lord of the Rings, the film which first inspired a teenaged Peter Jackson to read J.R.R. Tolkien, and he wrote an introduction page for the American edition of The Lord of the Rings in the early 1970s.
His work as a screenwriter interrupted his early career direction as a novelist, magazine nonfiction author, and short-story writer. But in the mid-'90s he returned to prose fiction of all lengths, and has produced new works at a steady pace since.
In addition to his own body of work, he is heir to the literary estates of science fiction author Edgar Pangborn, Edgar's sister and sometime collaborator Mary, and their mother Georgia Wood Pangborn. Since 2003 he has been working to bring the best of these three authors' fiction back into print.
