Ian McDonald föddes 1960 i Manchester men flyttade redan 1965 till
Nordirland. Han bor nu i Belfast med sin fru Patricia.

1982 publicerades hans novell "The Island of the Dead" i det brittiska
magazinet Extro. Han har därefter givit ut romanerna Desolation Road
(1988), Out on Blue Six (1990), King of Morning, Queen of Day (1991)
och Hearts, Hands and Voices (1992) samt novellsamlingen Empire Dreams
(1988). Hans noveller har publicerats främst i Isaac Asimov's Science
Fiction Magazine och ingått i flera antologier, bland annat Other
Edens II och Zenith.

Trots sin relativt korta och inte särskilt omfattande författarkarriär
har McDonald blivit uppmärksammad med nomineringar till priser och med
goda recensioner. Desolation Road vann Locuspollen som bästa
förstaroman 1988 och nominerades också till The Arthur C. Clarke
Award. McDonald har varit nominerad till The John W. Campbell Award
1985 och långnovellen "Unfinished Portrait of the King of Pain, by van
Gogh" var Nebulafinalist 1989. King of Morning, Queen of Day vann
nyligen Philip K. Dick-priset 1992 för bästa original-sf-pocket under
1991.

Bland annat så här recenseras två av hans böcker i Locus:

(Out on Blue Six)

"With the same kaleidescopic play of shifting scenes and viewpoint
characters that he manipulated so well in his debut, Desolation Road,
McDonald shows Great Yu in all its complexity."

"Unlike the protagonists of other recent urban visions such as Pat
Murphy's The City, Not Long After and Elisabeth Vonarburg's The Silent
City, these outsiders must contend with a living society, not a place
where the old order is essentially dead, Can they survive in Great Yu,
let alone do something to change it? Come into McDonald's kaleidoscope
for a dizzying experience that will answer that question, if you don't
emerge too dazzled to remember what it was."

(King of Morning, Queen of Day)

"This book pays ironic homage to the High Fantasy party line, for it
consists of three long novellas dealing with three generations of
women, and yes, the [Wild] Hunt makes its due appearance. But McDonald
has not the least intention of providing his readers with another
rehash of Tolkien. His madly, gloriously ambitious "trilogy" of linked
tales turns to other models: early sf writers and Yeats in Part One;
Beckett, Flann O'Brian, and (above all) the James Joyce of Ulysses in
Part Two; and a more diverse, contemporary media mix in Part Three."

"King of Morning, Queen of Day may have its uneven moments (Part One
is more unwieldy than the original novella, and Part Three's atemporal
structure doesn't entirely work), but overall this one-book trilogy
(with Wild Hunt) represents an astonishing triumph of eloquence and
ambition over the supposed constraints of genre. It's a stunner."

"McDonald's compelling and varied style defies description. He's the
first writer I've encountered who can make fascinating readin simply
by listing things -- an echo of those interminable lists in the old
Celtic epics."

"It's a major work, difficult and complex at times but definitely
worth the effort."

Recensenterna understryker McDonalds varierade och sammansatta stil,
något som märks också vid en jämförelse mellan hans böcker. Medan
Desolation Road och Out on Blue Six är sf-böcker och
framtidsskildringar är King of Morning, Queen of Day en berättelse om
förgången tid och nutid, om myt, magiska krafter och kontakter med the
Faery.

Kanske är denna mångsidighet en avspegling av författarens
personlighet. Så här beskrivs McDonalds intressen i King of Morning,
Queen of Day: "He lives (...) in Belfast, exploring odd and diverse
interests that range from cats (he has two) and contemplative religion
to bonsai and bicycles."



Källor:

Uppgifter om författaren i Out on Blue Six och King of Morning, Queen
of Day samt i novellsamlingen Digital Dreams, redigerad av David
V. Barrett.

Locus Maj 1989 samt Mars och Juni 1991.