Alumnus shortlisted for top sci-fi writing prize
An alumnus and former staff member at the University is on the shortlist for one of world's most prestigious sci-fi writing prizes, the Philip K Dick Award.
The only British author on the shortlist, he has been nominated for his book The Bullet Catcher’s Daughter, part one of a series of at least three books which will form “The Fall of the Gas-lit Empire”. It is set in a Victorianesque version of Leicester and Lincolnshire and events happen in the aftermath of a Luddite revolution that has reigned back technology.
In being nominated, Rod joins the company of influential science fiction authors such as William Gibson, Stephen Baxter and Richard Morgan.
Rod studied Mining Geology in the Department of Geology from 1980, graduating in 1983. He then worked in the Department of Physics for two years from 1986, managing a computer system for the ionospheric physics research group, returning on a few occasions since to give one-off classes on creative writing.
- Read a feature and interview with Rod Duncan
- Interview with Rod Duncan in the Leicester Mercury
- The Bullet Catcher’s Daughter is published by Angry Robot Books and available online from high street book stores and can be ordered through the University Bookshop.