Something in the Water: Robert Holdstock and Ken MacLeod

What are the odds of two of Britain’s finest voices in modern speculative fiction being born on the same day?** There must have been sometihng in the water . . .

Today is the birthday or two writers very close to Gateway’s heart: the one who is, sadly, no longer with us is with us, and the one who isn’t with us, we’re pleased to say, is still very much with us. Or, to be slightly less cryptic . . .

Happy Birthday to Ken MacLeod: gentleman, scholar and SF writer par excellence. Although we are not fortunate enough to publish his books on SF Gateway, we are lucky enough to have him contributing his trademark wit and insight to some introductions for our SF Masterworks series. Ken is a three-times winner of the BSFA and Prometheus Awards, and how neither he nor old friend and fellow Edinburgher Iain M. Banks has ever won the Arthur C. Clarke Award is, frankly, a mystery.

And today also marks the birthday of the late, great Robert Holdstock, twice winner of the World Fantasy Award, four-times winner of the BSFA Award, and undisputed master of the wildwood. Rob’s books are published on the SF Gateway, and although we’re delighted to be his publisher, we’d give them up in a heartbeat to still have him with us.

You can find Robert Holdstock‘s books at his author page on the SF Gateway and read about him at his entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.

Ken MacLeod‘s books can be found here, you can follow him on Twitter at @amendlocke, and read more about him at his entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. He has written introductions to A Canticle for Leibowitz, The Gods Themselves, The Deep, Double Star, Half Past Human, The Godwhale, A Case of Conscience, Stand on Zanzibar, The Word for World is Forest, Hard to be a God, Nova, A Fire Upon the Deep, Feersum Endjinn, The Man Who Fell to Earth and The Chrysalids – with, we hope, more to come!

** Please note this is a rhetorical device. However, if you really feel the urge to do the maths, we’d certainly be interested in knowing the odds!