Barnett, David
Entry updated 16 September 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1970- ) UK journalist and author, some of whose early work is horror, beginning with Hinterland (2005), in which the badland borders of semi-rural quasi-suburban England are Crosshatched with a land which seems simultaneously to resemble Faerie [for Crosshatch and Faerie see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below] and Hell. Angelglass (2007) more ambitiously interweaves two tales set in Prague in different eras, the only immediate link being a mysterious wanderer with Amnesia. The pantomimic aspects of modern Prague are lovingly but sharply delineated. Early stories have been assembled as The Janus House and Other Two-Faced Tales (coll 2009). The eponymous village in Withered Hill (2024) experiences a Mysterious Stranger in the form of a naked woman translated from London. The ways of the village (see Horror in SF) are taxing.
Of sf interest is the Gideon Smith sequence, a projected trilogy comprising to date Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl (2013) and Gideon Smith and the Brass Dragon (2014), set in a Steampunk Alternate History version of 1890s England. The narrative initially carries its protagonist from Yorkshire to London and the shadowy intricacies of Egypt as he searches for his lost father. The story also involves Walter Sickert (1860-1942), here oddly described as agèd, and other characters evocative (though Barnett's tongue is moderately sharp) of the Royals-and-Ripper-infatuated Gaslight Romance form [again see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below], including Charles Darwin (1809-1882). America is visited by the protagonist questing for his kidnapped lover. [JC]
David Barnett
born Wigan, Lancashire: 11 January 1970
works
series
Gideon Smith
- Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl (New York: Tor, 2013) [Gideon Smith: pb/Nekro]
- Gideon Smith and the Brass Dragon (New York: Tor, 2014) [Gideon Smith: pb/Nekro]
- Gideon Smith and the Mask of the Ripper (New York: Tor, 2014) [Gideon Smith: pb/Nekro]
individual titles
- Hinterland (Stafford, Staffordshire: Immanion Press, 2005) [pb/David Gentry]
- Angelglass (Stafford, Staffordshire: Immanion Press, 2007) [pb/]
- Alien: Colony War (New York: Titan Books, 2022) [in the Aliens Videogame universe: pb/]
- Withered Hill (London: Canelo, 2024) [pb/]
collections and stories
- The Janus House and Other Two-Faced Tales (Stafford, Staffordshire: Immanion Press, 2009) [coll: pb/Peter Hollinghurst]
- Work Sets You Free (New York: Tor.com, 2013) [novelette: ebook: na/Nekro]
links
- Postcards from the Hinterland (author's site)
- Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- The Encyclopedia of Fantasy: Crosshatch; Faerie; Gaslight Romance.
- Picture Gallery
previous versions of this entry