Geoff Ryman (born May 9, 1951)

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Geoffrey Charles Ryman (born 1951) is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and surrealistic or "slipstream" fiction.

Ryman currently lectures in Creative Writing for University of Manchester's English Department. His most recent full-length novel, The King's Last Song, is set in Cambodia, both at the time of Angkorean emperor Jayavarman VII, and in the present period. He is currently at work on a new historical novel set in the United States before the Civil War.

Ryman was born in Canada and moved to the United States at age 11. He earned degrees in History and English at UCLA, then moved to England in 1973, where he has lived most of his life.

In addition to being an author, Ryman started a web design team for the UK government at the Central Office of Information in 1994. He also led the teams that designed the first official British Monarchy and 10 Downing Street websites, and worked on the UK government's flagship website www.direct.gov.uk.

Ryman says he knew he was a writer "before [he] could talk", with his first work published in his Mother's newspaper column at six years of age. He is best known for his science fiction; however, his first novel was the fantasy The Warrior Who Carried Life, and his revisionist fantasy Was has been called "his most accomplished work".

Much of Ryman's work is based on travels to Cambodia. The first of these The Unconquered Country (1986) was winner of the World Fantasy Award and British Science Fiction Association Award. His novel The King's Last Song (2006) was set both in the Angkor Wat era and the time after Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.

Ryman has written, directed and performed in several plays based on works of other writers.

He was guest of honour at Novacon in 1989 and has twice been a guest speaker at Microcon, in 1994 and in 2004. He was also the guest of honour at the national Swedish sf convention Swecon in 2006, at Gaylaxicon 2008, at Wiscon 2009, and at Åcon 2010.

Mundane Science Fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction focusing on stories set on or near the Earth, with a believable use of technology and science as it exists at the time the story is written, the Mundane SF movement was founded in 2002 during the Clarion workshop by Ryman amongst others. In 2008 a Mundane SF issue of Interzone magazine was published, guest- edited by Ryman, Julian Todd and Trent Walters.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Ryman

Further Readings:

Lust by Geoff Ryman
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (August 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312312121
ISBN-13: 978-0312312121
Amazon: Lust: or No Harm Done

What if you could have sex with anyone in the world?

The ultimate fantasy? Or a nightmare of self-discovery? Michael Blasco, a young scientist investigating what happens to the brain during the process of learning, suddenly finds himself on the other end of experimentation. On the way home from his lab one night he runs into Tony, a fitness instructor from his gym who he harbors a crush for, on the same platform waiting for the subway. When Michael imagines Tony naked, a pleasant fantasy to spice up a dull journey home, an extraordinary thing happens: Tony strips then and there on the platform and offers himself to Michael in front of all onlookers. Horrified, Michael flees. But back at his apartment, Tony reappears, as if by magic. And disappears again, when Michael wishes him away. Being a scientist, Michael recognizes an experiment when he sees one, and sets out to test the parameters of his newfound gift. In quick succession he conjures up Billie Holliday, Johnny Weismuller, Daffy Duck, Picasso, Sophia Loren, even his younger self.

The world is seemingly there for the taking. But what does Michael really desire? Mad with lust and losing all scientific objectivity, he runs the gamut of his fantasies inventing new lovers and calling up old ones, until, sated and morally bankrupt, he's forced to confront himself. What happens to the heart when it gets everything it desires?

From the renowned author of Was and 253 comes a witty, disturbing and intensely erotic fable for the modern age.

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