Dedman, Stephen
Entry updated 2 October 2023. Tagged: Author.
(1959- ) Australian author, editor and scripter of fantasy Role Playing Games who began publishing work of genre interest with "Report on Proposed Demolition of Sydney Opera House" for Artlook in 1977, and who came to international notice – after releasing a self-published novelette, The Dirty Little Unicorn (1987 chap) – with The Art of Arrow Cutting (1997), a Near Future noir thriller set in the mean streets of San Francisco and Los Angeles. This tale – and its sequel in the Magistrale sequence, Shadows Bite (2001), which is a Vampire thriller set in Los Angeles – are typical of Dedman's work for the suave Equipoise of their conflation of various genres: Dedman has been variously described as primarily a writer of sf, of fantasy, and of horror; but is clearly all, and none, of these. His strengths – as well as his moments of glibness – derive from a perspective on his main venue, America, which benefits from a considerable distance from his source material, though it is clear, as well, that he knows Pacific Rim America very well. Collections of similarly poised work included The Lady of Situations (coll 1999) and Never Seen by Waking Eyes (coll 2005). He served as co-editor of Borderlands in 2003-2007. [JC]
Stephen Dedman
born Adelaide, South Australia: 27 June 1959
works
series
Magistrale
- The Art of Arrow Cutting (New York: Tor, 1997) [Magistrale: hb/Tom Romer and Mike Essel]
- Shadows Bite (New York: Tor, 2001) [Magistrale: hb/Peter Lutjen]
individual titles
- Foreign Bodies (New York: Tor, 1999) [hb/Bruce Jensen]
- A Fistful of Data (New York: Penguin/Roc, 2006) [tie to the Shadowrun fantasy sequence: pb/]
collections and stories
- The Dirty Little Unicorn (Australia: privately published, 1987) [story: chap: pb/]
- The Lady of Situations (Nedlands, Western Australia: Ticonderoga Publications, 1999) [coll: pb/]
- Never Seen by Waking Eyes (Akron, Ohio: Writers.com Books, 2005) [coll: pb/]
- Charm, Strangeness, Mass and Spin (Melbourne, Victoria: Norstrilia Press, 2022) [coll: pb/]
works as editor
series
ConSensual
- ConSensual: A Collection of Meaty Erotic Stories (Perth, Western Australia: Western Australian Science Fiction Foundation, 2001) with Cathy Cupitt and Elaine Kemp [chap: anthology: ConSensual: pb/Cat Sparks]
- ConSensual: The Second Coming (Perth, Western Australia: Western Australian Science Fiction Foundation, 2003) with Cathy Cupitt and Elaine Kemp [chap: anthology: ConSensual: pb/Jade Todd]
- ConSensual: A Trois (Perth, Western Australia: Western Australian Science Fiction Foundation, 2005) with Cathy Cupitt and Elaine Kemp [chap: anthology: ConSensual: pb/]
nonfiction
- May the Armed Forces Be With You: The Relationship Between Science Fiction and the United States Military (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2016) [nonfiction: pb/]
links
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