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Clements, Jonathan

Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author, Critic.

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(1971-    ) UK author and translator from Japanese of over seventy Anime and Manga. His translations include sf such as Sol Bianca (1990; trans 1996 UK), Grey: Digital Target (1986; trans 1995) (see Grey) and Toyamazakura Uchūchō Yatsu no Na wa Gold (1988; trans as Samurai Gold, 1995), and fantasy including Ironfist Chinmi (graph 1983 Tekken Chinmi; trans London: Bloomsbury, 1995 12vols) and Ushio and Tora (1992 Ushio to Tora; trans 1995-1996).

Clements served two years as the editor of Titan Publishing's Manga Max magazine, an experience which he later fictionalized as the Judge Dredd audio adventure Trapped on Titan (2002). His sf work is wholly in the field of Ties to the Doctor Who, Space: 1889, and Highlander (see Highlander II: The Quickening [1990]) universes [for details see Checklist]. His fiction is characterized by experiments in Linguistics, such as "The Nobility of Faith" (in Doctor Who: The Ghosts of Christmas, anth 2007), which retells Aladdin in the style of the Arabian Nights with the Doctor as the djinni; or his audio drama Survival of the Fittest (2010), which examines the translation of an insect language based on scent markers. His work is often derivative of early Larry Niven, including genetically evolved good fortune in "Lucky for Some" (August 2005 Judge Dredd Megazine) (see Psi Powers), and the problem of Teleportation between moving bodies, addressed in Fire From Heaven (2003).

Nonfiction includes two reference works on Japan containing much of sf interest, The Anime Encyclopedia (2001; exp 2006; exp 2015) with Helen McCarthy and The Dorama Encyclopedia (2003) with Motoko Tamamuro, and, most ambitiously, Anime: A History (2013), which examines Japanese animation (see Cinema) from about 1912. Clements is also the author of many books on Asian history, including The First Emperor of China (2005), which begins with a pastiche of Roger Zelazny, to whom it is dedicated. A Brief History of the Samurai (2010) controversially asserts that ninja are wholly fictional creations, invented by twentieth-century Pulp authors. He has written entries on sf in China and Japan for this encyclopedia. [JonC]

Jonathan Michael Clements

born Leigh on Sea, Essex: 9 July 1971

works

written fiction

  • Ruthless (Nottingham, Nottinghamshire: BL Publishing/Black Flame, 2005) [tie: Strontium Dog: pb/Dylan Teague]

radio plays / audio books

series

Strontium Dog

  • Down to Earth (London: Big Finish, 2002; web, BBCi, 2005) [cd: tie: Strontium Dog: na/Henry Flint]
  • Fire From Heaven (London: Big Finish, 2003; web, BBCi, 2005) [cd: tie: Strontium Dog: na/Henry Flint]

Judge Dredd

Doctor Who

Space: 1889

Robin Hood

  • The Tiger's Tail (London: Big Finish, 2009) [cd: tie: Robin Hood: na/photographic]
  • The Deer Hunters (London: Big Finish, 2009) [cd: tie: Robin Hood: na/photographic]

Highlander

nonfiction

links

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