SB - The Papers of Stephen Baxter - 1987-2004
The collection contains typescripts of the published and unpublished works of Stephen Baxter, including novel outlines, series notes, and correspondence with editors and collaborators. Many of the typescripts etc. include hand-written annotations by Baxter. The papers reflect Baxter's career both as...
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| Archive level description: | Sub-fonds |
| Physical Description: | 76 boxes |
| Languages: | English |
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| Summary: | The collection contains typescripts of the published and unpublished works of Stephen Baxter, including novel outlines, series notes, and correspondence with editors and collaborators. Many of the typescripts etc. include hand-written annotations by Baxter. The papers reflect Baxter's career both as a novellist and as a writer of non-fiction. The collection ranges from Baxter's earliest professional writing to work published recently, and also includes projects that never went beyond the planning stage. The entirety of the collection relates to science fiction, and reflects Baxter's interest in space exploration and his hard SF style of writing. |
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| Date: | 1987-2004 |
| Reference Number: | SB |
| Arrangement: | The papers have been arranged to reflect the original filing system where possible. Within each section the papers have been sorted into order of publication, or chronological order where appropriate.
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| Biographical/Administrative Information: | Stephen Baxter was born in Liverpool in 1957. Author of over 20 science fiction novels, he has been active in the science fiction field for over 15 years. Although he took science-based degrees at the University of Cambridge (Mathematics) and the University of Southampton (PhD, Engineering), Baxter had developed an interest in writing science fiction in his school days, after picking up a collection of Isaac Asimov's short stories. However his writing career did not take off until the publication in 1987 of his first short story The Xeelee Flower in Interzone, and in the interim he worked as a maths and physics teacher, and in the field of information technology. Since the publication of The Xeelee Flower Baxter has remained a popular author, both as a short story writer and as a full-length novelist. This perhaps accounts for the prolific output of his science fiction: as well as publishing 22 novels by the end of 2004, he has also published 4 anthologies of short fiction. In both his fiction and non-fiction he uses his scientific background to good effect, and he is most well-known as a "hard SF" writer, placing an emphasis on technological detail and scientific application. Certainly in his earliest works such as the Xeelee sequence of novels (e.g. Raft, Timelike Infinity), scientific themes such as the far future and deep space take precedence over a character-driven storyline. However some of his later works are much closer to home, exploring alternative histories with a particular emphasis on NASA's space programme. His later novels also show an interest in animal history, with the Mammoth trilogy and Evolution centring on the lives of animals and perhaps displaying a more fantastic element to his writing. Despite this, Baxter is still best known and appreciated as a hard SF writer, and this is reinforced by his working relationship with Sir Arthur C. Clarke, one of the most influential scientists and science fiction authors of all time. Baxter has thus far collaborated twice with Clarke; firstly on the time-travel novel The Light of Other Days, and secondly on the A Time Odyssey series, the first book of which, Time's Eye, has already been published, and the second, Sunstorm, is due for publication in 2005. Although proclaimed as Clarke's natural successor, Baxter is also noted as the author of The Time Ships, the official sequel to H. G. Wells' The Time Machine. He has been nominated for several awards, including the Arthur C. Clarke award for best novel for Coalescent and the Hugo Award for best short story of 2001 for 'The Ghost Pit'. He is a two-time winner of the Philip K. Dick Award and three-time winner of the British Science Fiction Award. Although renowned as a writer of science fiction, Baxter's interest in the genre extends into the academic field, and he has contributed articles to such science fiction journals as Foundation, Vector and Focus magazine. Many of these articles have been collated into two anthologies: Deep Future and Omegatropic. He is also the author of a biography of 18th century geologist James Hutton, who is credited with the first acknowledgement of the actual age of the Earth. Baxter has also written articles on information technology and physics. His passion for space travel led him to the final stages in a competition to go as a cosmonaut to Mir space station, although the place was eventually won by Helen Sharman. Currently Baxter is the vice-president of the British Science Fiction Association.
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