Jo Walton

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Jo Walton
Born December 1, 1964 (1964-12-01) (age 43)
Occupation Writer
Nationality Wales
Genres Fantasy/Science Fiction
Children 1

Jo Walton (born December 1, 1964) is a Welsh fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2002 and the World Fantasy award for her novel Tooth and Claw in 2004.

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[edit] Writing career

Walton's first novel was published in 2000. Before that, she was published in a number of role-playing game publications, such as Pyramid, mostly in collaboration with her husband at the time, Ken Walton.[1] Walton was also active in online fandom, especially in the Usenet groups rec.arts.sf.written and rec.arts.sf.fandom. Her poem "The Lurkers Support Me in E-Mail" is widely quoted on it and in other online arguments, often without her name attached.[2]

Her first three novels, The King's Peace (2000), The King's Name (2001), and The Prize in the Game (2002) were all fantasy and set in the same world, which is based on Arthurian Britain and the Táin Bó Cúailnge's Ireland. Her next novel, Tooth and Claw (2003) was intended as a novel Anthony Trollope could have written, but about dragons rather than humans.

Farthing was her first science fiction novel, placing the genre of the "cozy" mystery firmly inside an alternate history in which the United Kingdom made peace with Adolf Hitler before the involvement of the United States in World War II. It was nominated for a Nebula Award, a Quill Award,[3] the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science fiction novel,[4] and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History. A sequel, Ha'penny, was published in October 2007 by Tor Books,[5] with the final book in the trilogy, Half a Crown, to be published later. Ha'penny has been nominated for the Prometheus Award and the Lambda Literary Award.[6]

In April 2007, Howard V. Hendrix stated that professional writers should never release their writings online for free, as this made them equivalent to scabs.[7] Walton responded to this by declaring 23 April as International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day, a day in which writers who disagreed with Hendrix could release their stories online en masse.

[edit] Personal life

Walton moved to Montreal, Quebec, after her first novel was published. She is married to Dr. Emmet A. O'Brien.[8] She has one child, a son named Alexander.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Novels

[edit] Other works

  • GURPS Celtic Myth (with Ken Walton) (1995, roleplaying supplement)
  • Muses and Lurkers (2001, poetry chapbook, edited by Eleanor Evans)
  • Realms of Sorcery (with Ken Walton) (2002, roleplaying supplement)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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