Lovegrove, James
Entry updated 1 April 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1965- ) UK author who also writes as Jay Amory (note play on his name) and has set crosswords for UK newspapers as Jael; his first novel, The Hope (1990) – set on a vast ocean liner as evocative of the topos of the Ship of Fools as it is of the Generation Starship or the Pocket Universe – is vigorously Equipoisal in a manner typical of his work as whole. His second novel, Escardy Gap (1996) with Peter Crowther, a Godgame gone out of control in a town driven by metaphorical puppetry and visited by an ominous Carnival [see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below], also performs along genre membranes, though less convincingly.
Some of Lovegrove's later tales – like Wings (2001 chap), about a child in a world of floating Cities 500 years hence who must understand that his father's Invention cannot give him wings like all his contemporaries, or Ant God (2009), whose young protagonist has invented "Revelation Glasses" that show too much – are for Young Adult or younger readers, and follow simpler trajectories. His adult tales continue ruthlessly and at times invigoratingly to combine and metamorphosize early twenty-first-century genres. Foreigners (2000) is in part a First Contact tale, in which ambivalent Aliens seem to be offering Uplift; but it is also a fantasy about a visitation of gods. Untied Kingdom (2003) is a Dystopian vision of Near Future England bombed by former allies, its government in exile, but (perhaps) succoured by an Arthurian revival headed by an Arthur reborn as a skinhead. Worldstorm (2004) comes close to the creation of an Alternate Cosmos in its delineation of a world whose population is inherently shaped according to Inclinations based on the four elements of alchemy, while the eponymous storm shakes the planet without cease. Provender Gleed (2005) is a Satirical Alternate History in which the world is ruled by families of capitalists, the Jonbar Point being a realpolitik decision by the Renaissance Borgias and Medicis to join together. Perhaps the most ambitious of these, The Age of Ra (2009), combines Military SF tropes and Wargame-like battles with a Far Future venue where conflicts rage among the gods (mostly Egyptian) over the rule of Earth; a problem with this tale, as with some of Lovegrove's earlier expeditions, may lie in a sense of undue haste: almost, at times, as though his traversal of genres was touristic. This novel opens the Pantheon sequence [see Checklist], set in various Alternate Histories, each under the rule of a different pantheon of gods; the most impressive of these may be Age of Aztec (2012), in which the Aztec gods, aided by advanced Technology, impose a harsh rule upon the world. The Dev Harmer sequence beginning with World of Fire (2012) features an agent of Interstellar Security Solutions whose task is to defend human interest on various planets whose original inhabitants may resent our arrival (see Colonization of Other Worlds); the series at least superficially echoes the Retief books by Keith Laumer, though Harmer is modernly downloaded into prepared Clone bodies on each planet he visits. Age of Godpunk (coll of linked stories 2013) contains an amusing spoof of the Satanism tales of Dennis Wheatley. [JC]
see also: Seiun Award.
James Matthew Henry Lovegrove
born Lewes, East Sussex: 24 December 1965
works
series
Guardians
- The Krilov Continuum: The Guardians, Book 1 (London: Millennium, 1998) as J M H Lovegrove [Guardians: hb/]
- Berserker: The Guardians, Book 2 (London: Millennium, 1998) as J M H Lovegrove [Guardians: hb/Stuart Knowles]
Clouded World
- The Fledgling of Az Gabrielson (London: Gollancz, 2006) as by Jay Amory [Clouded World: hb/Laura Brett]
- Pirates of the Relentless Desert (London: Gollancz, 2007) as by Jay Amory [Clouded World: hb/Laura Brett]
- The Wingless Boy (London: Gollancz, 2008) as by Jay Amory [omni of the above two: Clouded World: pb/Christopher Gibbs]
- Darkening for a Fall (London: Gollancz, 2008) as by Jay Amory [Clouded World: hb/Christopher Gibbs]
- Empire of Chaos (London: Gollancz, 2008) as by Jay Amory [Clouded World: hb/Christopher Gibbs]
- The Clouded World: Darkening for a Fall; And, Empire of Chaos (London: Gollancz, 2008) as by Jay Amory [omni of the above two: Clouded World: pb/Christopher Gibbs]
Pantheon
- The Age of Ra (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2009) [Pantheon: pb/Marek Okon]
- The Age of Zeus (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2010) [Pantheon: pb/Marek Okon]
- The Age of Odin (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2011) [Pantheon: pb/Marek Okon]
- Age of Aztec (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2012) [Pantheon: pb/Marek Okon]
- Age of Anansi (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2012) [novella: ebook: Pantheon: na/Marek Okon]
- Age of Satan (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2013) [novella: ebook: Pantheon: na/Pye Parr]
- Age of Gaia (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2013) [novella: ebook: Pantheon: na/Pye Parr]
- Age of Godpunk (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2013) [omni of the above three: Pantheon: pb/Jake Murray]
- Age of Voodoo (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2013) [Zombies: Pantheon: pb/Marek Okon]
- Age of Shiva (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2014) [Pantheon: pb/Jake Murray]
- Age of Heroes (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2016) [Pantheon: pb/Naj Osmani]
5 Lords of Pain
- The 5 Lords of Pain 1: The Lord of the Mountain (Edinburgh, Scotland: Barrington Stoke, 2010) [chap: 5 Lords of Pain: pb/]
- The 5 Lords of Pain 2: Lord of the Void (Edinburgh, Scotland: Barrington Stoke, 2010) [chap: 5 Lords of Pain: pb/]
- The 5 Lords of Pain 3: The Lord of Tears (Edinburgh, Scotland: Barrington Stoke, 2010) [chap: 5 Lords of Pain: pb/]
- The 5 Lords of Pain 4: The Lord of the Typhoon (Edinburgh, Scotland: Barrington Stoke, 2010) [chap: 5 Lords of Pain: pb/]
- The 5 Lords of Pain 5: The Lord of Fire (Edinburgh, Scotland: Barrington Stoke, 2010) [5 Lords of Pain: pb/]
John Redlaw
- Redlaw (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2011) [John Redlaw: pb/Clint Langley]
- Redlaw: Red Eye (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2012) [John Redlaw: pb/Clint Langley]
Dev Harmer
- World of Fire (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2012) [Dev Harmer: pb/Jake Murray]
- World of Water (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2016) [Dev Harmer: pb/Jake Murray]
Cthulhu Casebooks
- The Cthulhu Casebooks: Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows (London: Titan Books, 2016) [hb/]
- The Cthulhu Casebooks: Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities (London: Titan Books, 2017) [hb/]
- The Cthulhu Casebooks: Sherlock Holmes and the Sussex Sea-Devils (London: Titan Books, 2018) [hb/]
- The Cthulhu Casebooks: Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon (London: Titan Books, 2019) [hb/]
Firefly
- Firefly: Big Damn Hero (New York: Titan Books, 2018) with Nancy Holder [tie to the tv series Firefly: Firefly: hb/]
- Firefly: The Magnificent Nine (New York: Titan Books, 2019) [tie to the tv series Firefly: Firefly: hb/]
- Firefly: The Ghost Machine (New York: Titan Books, 2020) [tie to the tv series Firefly: Firefly: hb/]
- Firefly: Life Signs (New York: Titan Books, 2021) [tie to the tv series Firefly: Firefly: hb/]
individual titles
- The Hope (London: Macmillan, 1990) [hb/Michael Bennallack-Hart]
- Escardy Gap (New York: Tor, 1996) with Peter Crowther [hb/Mark Elliott]
- Days (London: Phoenix, 1998) [pb/uncredited]
- The Web: Computopia (London: Orion Children's Books/Dolphin, 1998) [tie to the Shared World of The Web: The Web: pb/Chris Baker as Fangorn]
- How the Other Half Lives (Leeds, West Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 1999) [chap: hb/Japack Photography]
- The Foreigners (London: Orion/Victor Gollancz, 2000) [hb/Chris Moore]
- Wings (Edinburgh, Scotland: Barrington Stoke, 2001) [chap: illus/pb/Ian Miller]
- Untied Kingdom (Most Wanted) (London: Gollancz, 2003) [pb/Stephen Mulcahey]
- The James Lovegrove Collection, Volume One (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2014) [omni of the above and Days: pb/Jake Murray]
- Worldstorm (London: Gollancz, 2004) [hb/]
- Provender Gleed (London: Gollancz, 2005) [hb/Laura Brett]
- The James Lovegrove Collection, Volume Two (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2015) [omni of the above two: pb/Jake Murray]
- Ant God (Edinburgh, Scotland: Barrington Stoke, 2005) [chap: pb/Brilliant White Design]
- Cold Keep (Edinburgh, Scotland: Barrington Stoke, 2006) [chap: pb/]
- Dead Brigade (Edinburgh, Scotland: Barrington Stoke, 2007) [pb/Ian Butterworth]
- Kill Swap (Edinburgh, Scotland: Barrington Stoke, 2007) [cha: pb/]
- Free Runner (Edinburgh, Scotland: Barrington Stoke, 2009) [chap: pb/]
- Warsuit 1.0 (London: A and C Black Publishers, 2012) [pb/]
- BetterLife (Scotts Valley, California: CreateSpace, 2014) [pb/Andy Bigwood]
- Doctor Strange: Dimension War (London: Titan Books, 2024) [Doctor Strange: hb/]
collections and stories
- The Hand That Feeds (Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire: Maynard Sims Productions, 1999) with Peter Crowther [novella: chap: pb/]
- Imagined Slights (London: Gollancz, 2002) [coll: pb/]
- Gig: Mik/Gig: Kim (Harrogate, Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2003) [coll: dos: two interlinked novellas: hb/Michael Darby]
- Diversifications (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2011) [coll: hb/]
nonfiction
- Lifelines and Deadlines: Selected Nonfiction (Alconbury Weston, Cambridgeshire: Steel Quill, 2015) [nonfiction: coll: pb/Adam Brockbank]
links
- James Lovegrove
- Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- The Encyclopedia of Fantasy: Carnival
- Picture Gallery
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