Steven Erikson biography

Steven Erikson was born on the 7th October 1959 in Toronto, Canada. Erikson is his writing name, his real name being Steve Rune Lundin. Educated in Canada, he trained in both archaeology and anthropology before graduating from the acclaimed Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Steven Erikson has a wife and son; they spent a fair part of their lives living in Great Britain before once again returning to his native Canada and the city of Winnipeg.

It is an author that he is best known and he is in particular famous for the fantasy series, the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Erikson always attempts to go against the grain of fantasy convention when writing his novels and does not favour the good versus evil approach that many authors of the genre use. His characters are multi-dimensional and posses both the positive and negative traits that are prevalent in all human beings. It would be fair to say that no one can easily predict what will happen next in an Erikson novel. He also uses his his training as an archeologist and anthropologist to give his books a realistic feel and depth.

The Malazan Book of the Fallen series started in 1999 with Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates followed this in the year 2000. Memoirs of Ice (2001), House of Chains (2002) and Midnight Tides (2004) brings us up to date. The sixth novel in the series, The Bonehunters is scheduled for release in the UK this year (2007).

Erikson began writing fiction when he was in his early twenties and this was when he wrote what was, in is own words "a bad fantasy novel". Then followed a few years of archeology and traveling plus two writing courses. Then, unemployed and with a pregnant wife, he started and completed the first draft of Gardens of the Moon. It was another 9 years until the book was published.

Erikson obviously has a lot of enjoyment in turning the fantasy genre on its head and this shows in the vitality of his books. An example of his unique style is by opening the series in the midst of an ongoing story rather than at the beginning, as convention deems necessary.

Steven Erikson has taken the fantasy to another level and the genre is all the more fresh and worthy for it. The author has been short listed for the {World Fantasy Award} and his second novel in the series Deadhouse Gates was included in ‘Top ten fantasy novels of the year 2000’.

He has now established himself as an author to be taken seriously and has recently be compared to Stephen Donaldson and David Gemmell at their best.

Steven Erikson influences

• Stephen Donaldson
• Glen Cook
• R. E. Howard
• E. R. Burroughs
• Homer
• Arthur C. Clarke
• Roger Zelazny
• John Gardner
• Gustav Hasford
• Mark Helprin
• Robin Hobb

Steven Erikson also mentioned, in an interview, a book called The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton which he says "proved very influential in my writing, although in a most subversive way".

Steven Erikson bibliography

• Gardens of the Moon (1999)
• Deadhouse Gates (2000)
• Memories of Ice (2001)
• House of Chains (2002)
• Midnight Tides (2004)
• The Bonehunters (2006)
• Reaper's Gale (2007)
• Toll the Hounds (2008)
• Dust of Dreams
• The Crippled God

Steven Erikson interviews

In an interview with Neil Walsh, of www.sfsite.com, in the year 2000, Steven Erikson speaks of why his books can be described as "not an easy read" and why he has avoided the good hero / bad villain scenario that is prevalent in so many fantasy books. This is a fascinating interview. A conversation with Steven Erikson on www.sfsite.com >>

In 2005, shortly after the release of The Bonehunters, Steven Erikson gave an interview to fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com. The questions vary from his favourite character to write about, his strengths and how he deals with his status as one of the fantasy genre's best writers. Steven Erikson interview with fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com >>

Debbie Ledesma from suite101.com interviews Steven Erikson shortly after the release of Gardens of the Moon in the U.S. Steven Erikson interview with suite101.com >>

A short interview conducted with Books At Transworld - http://www.booksattransworld.co.uk/catalog/interview.htm?command=search&db=twmain.txt&eqisbndata=0553813137

Steven Erikson critical acclaim

"Steven Erikson afflicts me with awe... vast in scope, almost frighteningly fecund in imagination, and rich in sympathy, his work does something that only the rarest of books can manage: it alters the reader's perceptions of reality"
Stephen R. Donaldson

"Complex and powerful ... the best fantasy novel I've read since George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, bar none ... Superb stuff"
Waterstone's The Alien Has Landed on Garden's of the Moon