It’s my hope, of course, that Peculiar Lives can be read separately from Stapledon’s work, as a novella in Telos’ Time Hunter series. Nevertheless, the book is in part a response to a complex, divided man and to his works, and I am greatly indebted to Mr John Stapledon for permission to quote from his father’s writings. Although in writing Peculiar Lives I have made my character of Erik Clevedon a mouthpiece for many of the ideas expressed in Stapledon’s work, it must be noted that Clevedon himself has far more in common with the well-meaning (but often slightly dim) narrators of Stapledon’s fictions than with their author. My criticisms of Stapledon’s philosophy should not be interpreted as disrespect for his astounding powers of invention: the same is true of George Bernard Shaw, around whom the character of Gideon Beech has been similarly constructed.
Although my primary debt is obviously to Olaf Stapledon himself, there are others whose practical help in preparing the novella must be acknowledged: primarily, of course, David Howe for his assiduous editorial work, and for commissioning what may have seemed at times a worryingly abstruse piece of fiction. Thanks must also go to Helen Angove, Rachel Churcher, Stuart Douglas and Lance Parkin, for criticism of the work in progress; to Daniel O’Mahony for creating the characters of Emily and Honoré, and to the other authors in the series for developing them; to Paul Magrs for the brief mention of one of his characters in Chapter III.3; to Andrew Chapman for advice on copyright law; and to the AP Watt agency on behalf of the Literary Executors of the Estate of HG Wells, for permission to quote from Chapter 5 of The Time Machine.
Special thanks are due to my Dad, Terry Hallard, who gave me Last and First Men to read in the first place.
Most of all, though, my thanks must go to Bea Purser-Hallard, for her love and her indefatigable support during the writing of this novella, and for providing it with the perfect dedicatee.
About The Author
Phil’s first novel, Of the City of the Saved..., was published by Mad Norwegian Press in 2004. His first novella, Peculiar Lives, followed from Telos Publishing a year later. A second novella was published in 2007 as part of the anthology Nobody’s Children, and a third in 2008 in the anthology The Vampire Curse.
Phil has contributed short fiction to collections including The Book of the War and Iris Wildthyme and the Celestial Omnibus, as well as to Big Finish’s Doctor Who, Bernice Summerfield and Iris Wildthyme series. He has written for The Guardian newspaper, for magazines and webzines, and for comedy shows in Oxford and on the Edinburgh Fringe. He has also spoken at the Greenbelt Arts Festival on various aspects of science fiction and religion.
Born Philip Alexander Hallard in 1971, Phil has spent most of the intervening time accumulating qualifications (and an extra surname), culminating in 2002 with a doctorate in English Literature from Oxford University. His thesis, on The Relationship between Creator and Creature in Science Fiction, has provided him with much of the material for his own SF. In the intervening time, he has worked as a secretary, tutor, church caretaker, software consultant, college librarian and researcher for the Revised Oxford English Dictionary. He now works part-time as a civil servant.
Phil lives with his wife, cats and baby son in Bristol in South-West England. His writing projects at present include short and long fiction and various non-fiction projects. If anybody wants to pay him to write stuff, he’d love to hear from them.
His website can be found at www.infinitarian.com
The Time Hunter Series
Peculiar Lives Page 14
