REVIEW
The Guardian
“Charnock tells her story through the lives of ordinary people caught up in situations beyond their control, and Bridge 108 is all the more powerful for that.”
REVIEW
Financial Times
“[Bridge 108‘s] near-future setting feels grimy, sweltering and lived-in. Environmental collapse has brought out the worst in everyone, and instances of kindness are few and far between. It’s a commanding, if demanding, read.”
CONVERSATION
Los Angeles Review of Books
Writing in the Age of Climate Catastrophe: A Conversation Between Anne Charnock and James Bradley.
How do writers address climate catastrophe, and where do they place climate within their fictional narratives? Two writers, Anne Charnock and James Bradley, face up to this challenge in novels published in 2020. They compare notes about their different approaches in this exchange of emails.
INTERVIEW
Chicago Review of Books
Amy Brady interviews me for Burning Worlds column at Chicago Review of Books, and describes Bridge 108: “Through vibrant storytelling and compelling character development, Bridge 108 depicts a possible future rife with ecological destruction and millions of climate refugees.”
INTERVIEW
The Drax Files Radio Hour
I entered Draxtor’s Virtual Reality basement where he interviews me about ALL my novels. A fantastic innovative way to meet authors in avatar form!
REVIEW
Strange Horizons
Caroline Mersey reviews Bridge 108: “Anne Charnock is fast carving out a niche for herself as a writer using speculative fiction to explore the social and economic impacts on society of technological and demographic change…In Bridge 108, Charnock turns to the geopolitics of climate change.”
GUEST POST
TOR.com
Five Recents Books About Climate Catastrophe
I select five novels published in 2019. “An idea is gaining traction that science fiction writers cannot ignore climate change…”
REVIEW
Locus Magazine
“Anne Charnock’s Bridge 108 is set in the same universe as her terrific 2013 debut A Calculated Life. It seems horribly prescient. With the inclusion of climate refugees, child trafficking, and slavery, Bridge 108 adds that final touch of verisimilitude to Charnock’s post-Brexit nightmare.”
REVIEW
Kirkus
7 Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Books of February
On Bridge 108: “This coming-of-age story, told through a mosaic of voices, is enjoyable for readers young and old alike.”
Read more…
REVIEW
Publishers Weekly
On Bridge 108: “Readers who enjoy coming-of-age stories with hopeful messages will be gratified by this topical tale of human resourcefulness in the face of climate disaster.”
NEWS
The Guardian
Arthur C. Clarke Award goes to ‘classic’ novel exploring the limits of pregnancy.
Anne Charnock’s novel Dreams Before the Start of Time, which focuses on changing reproductive science, hailed as ‘rich but unshowy’ by judges.
REVIEW
Strange Horizons
Rupture and Complicity — The Arthur C Clarke Shortlist, Part 2
“The fascist dystopia creeps in on little cat feet.” Analysis of Dreams Before the Start of Time by Vajra Chandrasekera.
ESSAY
the f word
Time to cut the cord with the Stone Age?
In which I speculate about the future of reproduction and how scientific advances could affect women’s rights.
REVIEW
The Spider’s House
Dreams Before the Start of Time: “One for next year’s shortlist, that’s for sure…” says Nina Allan, an award winning science fiction author herself, and shadow juror for the 2017 Arthur C Clarke Award.
REVIEW
From Couch to Moon
“With Dreams Before the Start of Time already on my Best SF of 2017 list, Anne Charnock is now solidified as one of my favorite SF authors.” Megan AM is a shadow juror for the 2017 Arthur C Clarke Award.
REVIEW
Strange Horizons
2017 in Review
“The novel I enjoyed most this year was Dreams Before the Start of Time (2017) by Anne Charnock, a novel-of-ideas which is also beautifully written.” Duncan Lawrie
INTERVIEW
Vector
Dr Glyn Morgan interviews me at the BSFA in November 2017. This report by Andrew Wallace.
INTERVIEW
Ada Lovelace Conversation #5
Tom Hunter, director of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, interviews me as part of a collaboration between the award and the Ada Lovelace Day, which aims to encourage women working in STEM subjects.
GUEST POST
How Writers Write
I invite you into my workspace, reveal my work habits — on author Tony Ballantyne’s blog.
REVIEW
Andrew Wallace
Dreams Before the Start of Time: “a unique ability to combine linguistic and narrative precision, relevant science-fictional ideas and a trademark slow-working emotional impact”
REVIEW
The Guardian
By Adam Roberts:
“Anne Charnock’s Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind (47North) is an expert braiding together of past, present and future that puts a 15th-century Italian female artist centre stage to say penetrating things about womanhood, creativity and history.“
REVIEW
Speculiction
Jesse Hudson writes an in-depth review with this wonderful conclusion: “Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind is certainly one of 2015’s tip-top releases in science fiction.”
REVIEW
The Spider’s House
Award-winning science fiction and fantasy author Nina Allan reviews Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind: “this quiet, lovely and exquisitely crafted novel is itself a masterclass in composition…As in her debut novel A Calculated Life, the clarity and refined elegance of Charnock’s prose is a significant achievement.”
REVIEW
From Couch To Moon
I’m delighted with this in-depth review by Megan AM, which concludes: “The feminist elements of Sleeping Embers of the Ordinary Mind are elusively contradictory, so much like life!, making this one of those thinking books—the kind with embers smoldering until a second visit.”
GUEST POST
SF Signal
“I’m a stay-at-home writer who taps away in a cosy lair, inventing daredevil strategies for writing projects. My new novel, Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind, is a case in point.”
FEATURE
The Independent
Award-winning author Tricia Sullivan writes about science and SFF with quotes from yours truly, Emma Newman, Karen Lord and Stephanie Saulter.
“Charnock brings a background in environmental science, journalism, and fine art to her subtle and original novels.”
INTERVIEW
Gollancz Blog
Fantastic questions! Award-winning author Tricia Sullivan quizzes me about Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind as part of Gollancz’s blog series, “She Blinded Me With Science Fiction”. This is the full interview—extracts appear in The Independent article above.
INTERVIEW
Historical Novel Society
Juliet Waldron quizzes me for the Historical Novel Society to find out if readers of historical fiction will be tempted to pick up Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind, a novel set in past, present and future. I point out that history is a theme in all three storylines.
CONVERSATION
Strange Horizons
An edited transcript of New Visions of Manchester—a discussion between Matt Hill and Anne Charnock at Mancunicon, the 67th British National Science Fiction Convention.
Read more…
REVIEW
Golden Apples of the West
Jonathan Thornton: Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind is a wonderfully understated and meditative book about family, loss and the creative process. It is a deeply feminist work that looks at the inequalities faced by women in the past, present, and how this may change in the future.
REVIEW
Astounding Yarns
Caroline Mersey: “It would be easy to see Sleeping Embers as ‘just’ a feminist novel… But Sleeping Embers is a much more nuanced novel than this. It deals compellingly with the consequences of those absent from our lives: the gaps they create and how people’s actions are shaped by loss and the missing.”
REVIEW
BUSTLE
Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind is featured in ‘December 2015’s Best Books’ by Melissa Ragsdale: “This month, a slue of acclaimed international and translated voices have come stateside, ready to spin you imaginative tales of their distant homes. ”
Read more…
GUEST POST
Criminal Element
Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind: Real Life Isn’t Like the Neatly Rounded Narratives of Fiction
ESSAY
Medium
Why I Don’t Count Words
GUEST POST
TOR.COM
Five Books with Fictitious Works of Art.
Read more…
GUEST POST
Writer’s DIgest
How long does it take to write a novel?
I hear you say: Surely, you already knew!
But I didn’t.”
GUEST POST
Read It Forward
Getting My Movie-Obsessed Friend Back Into Books
Emergency! My friend has stopped reading…
A close friend admitted to me this week that she has fallen out with reading. This is a disaster, obviously. How can I tempt my friend to pick up a book, or two?
I know she loves cinema so here’s my strategy:
REVIEW
The Spider’s House
Award-winning science fiction and fantasy author Nina Allan reviews A Calculated Life: “I found Charnock’s writing about mathematics, and pattern recognition especially to be – well, the only words that come close for me, paradoxically, are moving and beautiful.”
REVIEW
Sibilant Fricative
Adam Roberts, winner of the 2012 BSFA Best Novel Award 2012 for Jack Glass:
“What (Charnock) shares with Philip K. Dick is the ability to write unease.”
REVIEW
Strange Horizons
Alix E. Harrow reviews A Calculated Life: “a smart, subtle exploration of human emotion and intelligence.”
OPINION PIECE
Popular Mechanics
We Ask 7 Sci-Fi Authors to Write Blade Runner 2.
“More than 30 years later, the beloved sci-fi classic is getting its long-awaited sequel. Some of the best sci-fi writers in the world tell us what they’d do with Deckard and the replicants in a second movie.”
ESSAY
Lightspeed Magazine
Women Destroy Science Fiction
“As a writer of science fiction I had a slow and, initially, rocky start. I spent the best part of a decade writing my first novel, A Calculated Life. It seemed that every other year I was too busy to look at the manuscript—”
INTERVIEW
SF Signal
SF Signal’s Kristin Centorcelli fired some great questions at me, and I finally admit in this interview that I always aspired to being Girl Tintin.
GUEST POST
SF Signal
INTERVIEW
More Fiction Than Science
Spanish author Cristina Jurado interviews me about my influences on her blog More Fiction Than Science.
And an English version appears on Elías Combarro’s blog Sense of Wonder.
REVIEW
Speculiction
“Charnock an astute observer…what results is an inquiry into feminism and society that will make the reader truly pause to compare their own experiences and perceptions.
