Stan Nicholls is the author of more than thirty books, most of them in the fantasy and science fiction genres, for both adult and young readers. Titles include Strange Invaders, Fade to Black, The Nightshade Chronicles trilogy and Wordsmiths of Wonder: Fifty Interviews With Writers of the Fantastic. He adapted David Gemmell’s Legend and Wolf in Shadow into graphic novel form, novelised TV series Dark Skies, and wrote authorised biographies of, among others, Gerry Anderson of Thunderbirds fame and Coronation Street’s Willam Roache. His Quicksilver trilogy (Dreamtime trilogy in the US) - Quicksilver Rising, Quicksilver Zenith and Quicksilver Twilight - is published in the UK by Voyager/HarperCollins.
Stan’s Orcs: First Blood trilogy - Bodyguard of Lightning, Legion of Thunder and Warriors of the Tempest - published in the UK by Gollancz, is a worldwide bestseller, with over a million copies sold to date. The associated Orcs story ‘The Taking’ was shortlisted for the 2001 British Fantasy Award. The second trilogy, Orcs: Bad Blood, consists of Weapons of Magical Destruction, Army of Shadows and Inferno. Volumes from both trilogies made New York Times bestseller lists.
A collection of prequel stories, Orcs: Tales of Maras-Dantia, (Newcon Press) was published in 2015.
The Orcs trilogies have appeared as unexpurgated audiobooks, read by John Lee and published by Tantor Media. An original graphic novel, Orcs: Forged For War, illustrated by Joe Flood, was published in October 2011 by First Second Books in the US, Pan Macmillan in the UK and Les Editions Gallimard in France, and also entered the New York Times bestseller list. It won the 2011 Geek Life Award for Best Comic Book of the Year, and was awarded a Great GN Accolade by Graphic Novel Reporter.
Stan’s books have been published in more than 20 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain and the United States.
He has had approximately fifty short stories published in various anthologies and magazines, and a collection, Shake Me To Wake Me, came out from Newcon Press in 2013.
Stan published science fiction and horror fanzines when a teenager, and contributed to many. He has always worked in the world of books. Jobs included a position in the London office of Washington’s Library of Congress; freelance proof-reading and line editing; consultancy and manuscript reading for publishers and literary agents; hosting an online science fiction chat show for the Sony corporation, and acting as Dennis Wheatley’s Research Assistant. He has written copy for the advertising industry and run courses in creative writing and journalism for London’s City University and Westminster Adult Education Institute, among others.
Before taking up writing full-time in 1981, Stan co-owned and managed Notting Hill bookstore Bookends, and was manager of specialist sf bookshop Dark They Were and Golden Eyed. He was the first manager of Forbidden Planet’s original London store, and helped establish and run the New York branch.
A journalist for national and specialist publications, and the Internet, he was for six years the science fiction and fantasy book reviewer for London listings magazine Time Out, and subsequently reviewed popular science titles for the magazine. His journalism has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, The Times, Film Monthly, Films & Filming, Movie, Rock Power, SFX, Sight & Sound and some seventy other publications. He was a Contributing Editor to The News (later re-titled Fortean Times).
He was the recipient of Le'Fantastique Lifetime Achievement Award for Contributions to Literature, presented at the Trolls & Legendes Festival in Mons, Belgium, 7th-8th April 2007. Stan was Chair of The David Gemmell Awards For Fantasy from its instigation in 2009 until 2018.
Stan is married to psychotherapist, author and artist Anne Nicholls, formerly Anne Gay, who has written science fiction and fantasy, self-help books and journalism under both names.
www.stannicholls.com
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