Singer, Nicky
Entry updated 22 April 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1956-2023) UK publisher, television worker, author and playwright who co-founded the Performing Arts Lab charity. Her first novel Feather Boy (2002) is a compelling Young Adult tale tinged with Magic Realism and deceptive hints of the ability to fly (see Psi Powers) but is ultimately nonfantastic. Young adult novels of direct genre interest are The Innocent's Story (2006), in which a young woman killed by a would-be suicide bomber finds she has become a bodiless "para-spirit" entity inhabiting a succession of minds, including her own murderer's, in a Posthumous Fantasy [see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below] perhaps too heavily loaded with Religious overtones; GemX (2006), set in a Near Future of Genetically Engineered human enhancement whose young protagonist realizes his tailored perfection is flawed on finding a "crack" in his face – a wrinkle, the first sign of premature aging; Under Shifting Glass (2013), leaning more towards Fantasy; The Island (2015), set in the Canadian Arctic and dealing with the effects of global warming, which is based on Singer's play Island (performed 2012); and The Survival Game (2018), which pits its heroine and her literally dumb male companion against the hazards and obstacles of travel in a tightly controlled Dystopian future UK ravaged by Climate Change. Singer created engaging young protagonists with whom readers can empathize. [DRL]
Nicky Singer
born Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire: 22 July 1956
died Brighton, Sussex: 17 June 2023
works (selected)
- Feather Boy (London: HarperCollins Children's Books, 2002) [pb/]
- The Innocent's Story (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2006) [hb/]
- GemX (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2006) [pb/Fredrik Broden]
- Under Shifting Glass (San Francisco, California: Chronicle Books, 2013) [hb/]
- The Island (Silsden, West Yorkshire: Caboodle Books, 2015) [based on the author's play Island, first performed 2012: pb/Chris Riddell]
- The Survival Game (London: Hodder Children's Books, 2018) [pb/]
links
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