Geoff Nelder

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Geoff Nelder

Born
Hannover, Germany
Occupation Writer, Editor
Nationality British
Writing period 1990s-present
Genres Science fiction, Fantasy, Thriller
Official website

Geoff Nelder is a British freelance editor and author of science fiction, fantasy and thrillers.

He was born in Hannover, Germany, grew up in Gloucestershire, Britain, was university educated in Sheffield, Yorkshire and lived in Chester, Cheshire. He taught geography and Information Technology in Yorkshire and Cheshire, and was awarded a Master of Science for research into air pollution and climate. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society for his research[1], and he has had climate-related books and articles published. Much of his early work is humour-based, including his first published novel, the thriller Escaping Reality[2], based on a fugitive escaping across the British Northumberland Moors to the Lake District and on to Amsterdam. Most of his works are travel-oriented, for which he does extensive first-hand research.

In 2007 his thriller, Hot Air, won a Silver Award for best unpublished novel by the World and Universal Academia (WUACADEMIA)[3] based in Groningen, The Netherlands. Hot Air is being published by WUACADEMIA in 2008.

Nelder’s short story, Sentinels – a first contact tale – achieved a commendation in 1987 in the Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest. In February 2005 Geoff Nelder came first in the second short-story competition at Cafe Doom (an online critique community). Geoff Nelder is a member of the Society of Authors[4], The British Fantasy Society, and is a critique member of the special interest group, Orbiters, in the British Science Fiction Association[5]. Besides writing his own novels and stories, Nelder is a freelance editor and co-editor of the science fiction magazine, Escape Velocity.

Contents

[edit] Writing Style

Nelder’s style is often humorous. In Escaping Reality, the protagonist uses humour to overcome adversity. Nelder also uses Socratic-style dialogue for his characters to argue their way through problems. Generally his protagonists are ordinary people to whom extraordinary events happen. However, in Xaghra’s Revenge, a magic realism fantasy based on a true mass abduction incident on Gozo in 1551[6], some main characters are Barbary Corsair leaders. Nelder prefers his endings and cusps in the narrative to have an unpredictable twist or double twist. The plots do not depend on them, but they enrich the reading experience when encountered.

[edit] Online Cult Status

Geoff was the star of what was intended to be a trilogy of Pascal games distributed under a free ware license by the now defunct www.beardtrix.f2s.com. The games often began with Geoff travelling with the protagonist and shortly into the game getting into trouble from which the player would have to rescue him. The first 2 games were developed by A. Barrett of BdotF2S systems.

[edit] Main non-fiction works

Huddersfield’ Changing Climate (1977) An Occasional Paper published by Huddersfield Polytechnic.
Chester's Climate: past and present (1987) ISBN 0951091409 Published through Booklands of Chester.
Cheshire from Space remote sensing pack (1992) (Geoff Nelder as project manager with Keith Hilton) Published by Cheshire County Council
Inside Scoop (2008) ISBN-13: 978-1-55404-543-3 contributed articles. Edited by Marilyn Peake, published by Double Dragon Publishing Inc.

[edit] Fiction

Escaping Reality (2005) ISBN 095495632X humorous thriller
Dimensions (2005) ISBN 1411660870 (sci fi anthology with Robert Blevins)
Exit, Pursued by a Bee (2008) ISBN 1-55404-577-0 [7]
Hot Air (thriller to be published in 2008 by WUACADEMIA)
Left Luggage (sci-fi trilogy) in the hands of the Rebecca Pratt Group (Literary Agency)
Xaghra’s Revenge (Magic realism fantasy in progress)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Royal Meteorological Society Weather and Climate - Fellows
  2. ^ Brambling Books
  3. ^ Elect the bests artists, writers and politicians. Élisez les meilleurs créateurs et politiciens du monde
  4. ^ http://www.societyofauthors.org/search_pages/author-detail.html?id=7062
  5. ^ Welcome to the British Science Fiction Association
  6. ^ Brief History of the islands of Malta and Gozo
  7. ^ www.double-dragon-ebooks.com - This World's Biggest Independent Publisher of Science Fiction and Fantasy eBooks

[edit] External Links

Official Geoff Nelder website: http://geoffnelder.com
Geoff Nelder’s blog: http://geoffnelder.wordpress.com/
Author interview with Cheryl C. Malandrinos (2008): http://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2008/03/inside-scoop-on-geoff-nelder.html
Information on Geoff at Substance Books: http://www.substancebooks.com/
Information on Geoff at Adventure Books of Seattle: http://www.adventurebooksofseattle.com/