Crilley, Paul
Entry updated 15 April 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1975- ) Scottish author who began to publish work of genre interest with "The Echo of Silence" in New Voices in Science Fiction (anth 2003) edited by Mike Resnick, and who has since focused on Young Adult series. The Invisible Order sequence, comprising The Invisible Order, Book One: Rise of the Darklings (2010) and The Invisible Order: The Fire King (2011) is fantasy, set in nineteenth and eighteenth century London, the two eras connected by Timeslips, where a secret organization may or may not exist whose purpose it is to combat incursions from the otherworld (for Faerie see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below). Of more direct sf interest are The Lazarus Machine: A Tweed & Nightingale Adventure (2012) and The Osiris Curse: A Tweed & Nightingale Adventure (2013), the first volumes of a projected series set in an Alternate History London where the Difference Engine of Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace, as sophisticated by Nikola Tesla, has created a Steampunk civilization, though one terrorized by Automata directed from within by human souls (see also Mecha; Robots). But the true enemy (at this stage of the sequence) seems to be Professor Moriarty (see Sherlock Holmes), though with the murder of Tesla, the action moves to the Great Pyramid of Giza, inside which lurks a five-star luxury hotel and much else [for Edifice see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below]. Another projected sequence begins with Poison City (2016), a noir supernatural thriller set in South Africa featuring Vampires and – not untypical of books set here – familiars, in this case a talking Dog. [JC]
Paul Crilley
born Scotland: 1975
works
series
Invisible Order
- The Invisible Order, Book One: Rise of the Darklings (New York: Egmont, 2010) [Invisible Order: hb/Tom Lintern]
- The Invisible Order: The Fire King (New York: Egmont, 2011) [Invisible Order: hb/Tom Lintern]
Tweed and Nightingale
- The Lazarus Machine: A Tweed & Nightingale Adventure (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books/Pyr, 2012) [Tweed and Nightingale: hb/Cliff Nielsen]
- The Osiris Curse: A Tweed & Nightingale Adventure (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books/Pyr, 2013) [Tweed and Nightingale: hb/Cliff Nielsen]
individual titles or contributions
- Night of the Long Shadows (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast, 2007) [tie to the Shared World series: The Inquisitives: pb/Michael Kormack]
- Oracle of the Morrigan (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast/Mirrorstone, 2008) with Tiffany Trent [tie to the Shared World series: Hallowmere: pb/uncredited]
- Taint of the Black Brigade (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast, 2010) [tie to the Shared World series: The Chronicles of Abraxas Wren: pb/Michael Kormack]
- Poison City (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2016) [hb/David Foldvari]
- Department Zero (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books/Pyr, 2012) [pb/Patrick Arrasmith]
links
- Paul Crilley
- Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- The Encyclopedia of Fantasy: Edifice
- Picture Gallery
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