About the Author

Ian Watson (1943 - )Ian Watson was born in England in 1943 and graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, with a first class Honours degree in English Literature. He lectured in English in Tanzania (1965-1967) and Tokyo (1967-1970) before beginning to publish SF with "Roof Garden Under Saturn" for the influential New Worlds magazine in 1969. He became a full-time writer in 1976, following the success of his debut novel The Embedding. His work has been frequently shortlisted for the Hugo and Nebula Awards and he has won the BSFA Award twice. From 1990 to 1991 he worked full-time with Stanley Kubrick on story development for the movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence, directed after Kubrick's death by Steven Spielberg; for which he is acknowledged in the credits for Screen Story. Ian Watson lives in Spain.

Reviews

Enthralling . . . It gave one the sense of being led very near to the brink of profundity, even revelationFast, invigorating . . . anthropology, linguistics, despoliation of the environment, consciousness-raising drugs, space travel, alien contact, the CIA, you name it. Watson writes with energy and panache - Science Fiction: The 100 Best NovelsThe most impressive first sf novel to appear in the seventiesBrilliantly attempts to communicate a precarious truth about what we think is actuality. The effect is quite hallucinating - The TimesThe most spectacular thing in science fiction since the astounding Solaris - The SpectatorAmbitious and compelling - Daily TelegraphOne of the most thought-provoking shudders of the year - The Times