Hal Duncan
Encyclopedia
Hal Duncan is a Scottish
science fiction
and fantasy
writer who published two novel
s, one novella
, three poetry
collections (two in very limited editions, the third including the contents of the first two) and several short stories
.
His works have been listed in the New Weird
genre but he denies that such genre was even known to him at the time of writing his first novel. However, he now seems to have accepted this label and to appreciate it, as proved by the inclusion of one of his stories in an anthology
called simply The New Weird and edited by Ann
and Jeff VanderMeer
. In general, however, he prefers not to ascribe his writings to any genre.
(North Ayrshire
) in 1971 and grew up "in small town Ayrshire
" before moving to Glasgow
, where he graduated
from Glasgow University
and where he still resides. Before becoming a full-time writer he used to work as a computer programmer
, job that he quit in 2005.
He is openly gay
and defines himself a Sodomite
. Occasionally he fashions himself as "THE.... Sodomite Hal Duncan" (sic
) after receiving hate mail
defining him by this expression, as reported on his personal blog
.
He is also very outspoken politically
and considers himself an "anarcho
-socialist
who recognizes that democracy
's the least of all possible evils" but also "a little bit liberal
."
He is an active member of the Glasgow Science Fiction Writers Circle
and he took part in the spoken word
performance group Word Dogs, organised by some of the members of the Circle.
, William S. Burroughs
, Alfred Bester
, H. P. Lovecraft
, Neal Stephenson
, Michael de Larrabeiti
, Philip K. Dick
, Robert A. Heinlein
, Samuel R. Delany
, Wallace Stevens
, William Blake
, Michael Moorcock
, Harold Pinter
and Jorge Luis Borges
.
in August 2005. It was nominated for the World Fantasy Award
and the Locus Award
, and won the Spectrum
and the Tähtivaeltaja Award
s. It is about a war between Heaven
and Hell
fought in a reality of which Earth
is only a fragment; in this reality, called Vellum, live the Unkin (Angel
s and Demon
s). The events in the novel are described in a non-linear order, with several skips ahead and back in time. The story of the characters is linked to the Sumerian
myth of Inanna
and her descent to the underworld and to Aeschylus
's tragedy
Prometheus Bound
. It is divided in two parts dedicated to the seasons of summer
(entitled ""The Lost Deus
of Sumer
") and fall
(entitled "Evenfall Leaves").
Vellum has been translated amongst others into German
(by Hannes Riffel), Finnish
(by Nina Saikkonen), French
(by Florence Dolisi), Spanish
(by Luis Gallego Tevar), Italian
(by Stefania Di Natale) and Polish
(by Anna Reszka).
, was published in February 2007. Its two parts are linked to the two remaining seasons, winter
(entitled "Hinter's Knight
s") and spring
("Eastern Mourning"), and it continues the narrative (and the style) of the first instalment. The ancient works here referred to are Euripides
's The Bacchae
and no less than the Old Testament
. Ink has been shortlisted for the 2011 Tähtivaeltaja Awards.
Ink has been translated into German
by Hannes Riffel, Finnish
by Nina Saikkonen, French
by Florence Dolisi, Spanish
by Luis Gallego Tévar and Polish
by Anna Reszka.
Escape from Hell!
, a novella inspired by the 1981
movie Escape from New York
and the 1990
movie Jacob's Ladder
in which four characters ("a hitman
, a hooker
, a hobo
and a homo
") try to flee from Hell
, here represented as a dystopia
n version of Manhattan
in which all the damned see their punishment continuously televised. Duncan has declared that he is planning two sequel
s for it, Assault! On Heaven! and Battle! For the Planet! Of the Dead!.
It has been translated into French
by Florence Dolisi as Evadés de l'Enfer! and was published by Éditions Gallimard
in October 2010.
in February 2012. The volume, illustrated by Eric Schaller, will deal with twenty-six cities, both real (Dublin, Guernica, Jerusalem, London
, Washington
) and imaginary (Erewhon
, Camelot
, R'lyeh
, Tir-na-Nog
, Urville
).
, edited
by Jonathan Strahan
and Jeremy G. Byrne (2006), The Last Straw in Glorifying Terrorism
, edited by Farah Mendlesohn
(2007), and The Tower of Morning's Bones in Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy
, edited by Ekaterina Sedia
(2008).
He has also participated in Ann and Jeff VanderMeer's Last Drink Bird Head (2009), an experiment in which 70 writes were asked the same question ("Who or what is Last Drink Bird Head?") published by Ministry of Whimsy whose profits were destined to the ProLiteracy Worldwide
Organization.
and The Lucifer
Canto
s published in very limited, handbound
editions (26 and 24 copies) by Papaveria Press
in 2006 and 2010 respectively, he has made most of his poetry publicly available through his blog, convinced that "there's no money in poetry. If I wanted to be read, I'm just as happy to post online and let people read it there."
Ballads of the Book
with a poem, "If You Love Me You'd Destroy Me", put in music by Aereogramme
.
He also wrote a musical
, Nowhere Town, that he defines a "punk rock
opera
" and a "gay punk Orpheus
". It has been premiered in June 2010 in Chicago
by the University
theatre group, directed by Beth Walker. He made the libretto
and the vocal tracks available for download through his blog.
He writes a monthly column on BSCreview entitled Notes from New Sodom
, keeps a blog
called Notes from the Geek Show and is active on Twitter
. He also regularly uploads on YouTube
video blog entries under the username
SodomiteHalDuncan.
He contributed to Dan Savage
's It Gets Better project.
He wrote essay
s related to myth and literature, some of which are available online.
He made recordings of some of his readings publicly available through his blog; some can be freely downloaded
while others are being sold for a fee.
For his activity as a blogger he has been nominated for the 2009/2010 Last Drink Bird Head Award in the field of "Gentle Advocacy" ("In recognition of individuals willing to enter into blunt discourse about controversial issues"), but lost the award to Ay-leen the Peacemaker from Beyond Victoriana. In 2009 he was nominated for the same award but in the category "Expanding Our Vocabulary
" ("In recognition of writers whose fiction or nonfiction exposes readers to new words and, often, new ideas"). The award went to John Clute
.
On September 6 2011 Hal Duncan took part in a "Literary Death Match
" in Edinburgh
. In the event, organised and hosted by Literary Death Match co-creator Todd Zuniga
, he was pitted against Doug Johnstone
, Sophie Cooke
and Katerina Vasiliou. Duncan was declared the winner after a "shootout
" against Vasiliou.
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
writer who published two novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s, one novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
, three poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
collections (two in very limited editions, the third including the contents of the first two) and several short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
.
His works have been listed in the New Weird
New Weird
The New Weird is a literary genre that began in the 1990s and developed in a series of novels and stories published from 2001 to 2005. The writers involved are mostly novelists who are considered to be parts of the horror and/or speculative fiction genres but who often cross genre boundaries...
genre but he denies that such genre was even known to him at the time of writing his first novel. However, he now seems to have accepted this label and to appreciate it, as proved by the inclusion of one of his stories in an anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
called simply The New Weird and edited by Ann
Ann VanderMeer
Ann VanderMeer is an American publisher and editor, and the second female editor of the venerable horror magazine Weird Tales. She is the founder of Buzzcity Press.Her work as Fiction Editor of Weird Tales won a Hugo Award...
and Jeff VanderMeer
Jeff VanderMeer
Jeffrey Scott VanderMeer is an American writer, editor and publisher.He is best known for his contributions to the New Weird and his stories about the city of Ambergris, in books like City of Saints and Madmen.-Biography:...
. In general, however, he prefers not to ascribe his writings to any genre.
Life
Hal Duncan was born in KilwinningKilwinning
Kilwinning is a historic town in North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is known as The Crossroads of Ayrshire. The 2001 Census recorded it as having a population of 15,908.-History:...
(North Ayrshire
North Ayrshire
North Ayrshire is one of 32 council areas in Scotland with a population of roughly 136,000 people. It is located in the south-west region of Scotland, and borders the areas of Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire to the north-east and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the East and South...
) in 1971 and grew up "in small town Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...
" before moving to Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, where he graduated
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
from Glasgow University
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
and where he still resides. Before becoming a full-time writer he used to work as a computer programmer
Programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...
, job that he quit in 2005.
He is openly gay
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
and defines himself a Sodomite
Sodomy
Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
. Occasionally he fashions himself as "THE.... Sodomite Hal Duncan" (sic
Sic
Sic—generally inside square brackets, [sic], and occasionally parentheses, —when added just after a quote or reprinted text, indicates the passage appears exactly as in the original source...
) after receiving hate mail
Hate mail
Hate mail is a form of harassment, usually consisting of invective and potentially intimidating or threatening comments towards the recipient...
defining him by this expression, as reported on his personal blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
.
He is also very outspoken politically
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and considers himself an "anarcho
Anarchy
Anarchy , has more than one colloquial definition. In the United States, the term "anarchy" typically is meant to refer to a society which lacks publicly recognized government or violently enforced political authority...
-socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
who recognizes that democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
's the least of all possible evils" but also "a little bit liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
."
He is an active member of the Glasgow Science Fiction Writers Circle
Glasgow Science Fiction Writers Circle
The Glasgow Science Fiction Writers’ Circle is a group of amateur, semi-professional, and professional fiction authors that has met regularly in Glasgow, Scotland since 1987....
and he took part in the spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
performance group Word Dogs, organised by some of the members of the Circle.
Works
Hal Duncan listed amongst his inspirations and influences such diverse authors as James JoyceJames Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
, William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
, Alfred Bester
Alfred Bester
Alfred Bester was an American science fiction author, TV and radio scriptwriter, magazine editor and scripter for comic strips and comic books...
, H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
, Neal Stephenson
Neal Stephenson
Neal Town Stephenson is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction.Difficult to categorize, his novels have been variously referred to as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk...
, Michael de Larrabeiti
Michael de Larrabeiti
Michael de Larrabeiti was an English novelist and travel writer. He is best known for writing The Borrible Trilogy, which has been cited as an influence by writers in the New Weird movement.-Early life:...
, Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...
, Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
, Samuel R. Delany
Samuel R. Delany
Samuel Ray Delany, Jr., also known as "Chip" is an American author, professor and literary critic. His work includes a number of novels, many in the science fiction genre, as well as memoir, criticism, and essays on sexuality and society.His science fiction novels include Babel-17, The Einstein...
, Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens was an American Modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as a lawyer for the Hartford insurance company in Connecticut.His best-known poems include "Anecdote of the Jar",...
, William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
, Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
, Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
and Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
.
Vellum
His first novel, Vellum - The Book of All Hours, was released by Pan MacmillanMacmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
in August 2005. It was nominated for the World Fantasy Award
World Fantasy Award
The World Fantasy Awards are annual, international awards given to authors and artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy...
and the Locus Award
Locus Award
The Locus Award is a literary award established in 1971 and presented to winners of Locus magazine's annual readers' poll. Currently, the Locus Awards are presented at an annual banquet...
, and won the Spectrum
Gaylactic Spectrum Awards
The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards are given to works of science fiction, fantasy and horror that explore LGBT topics in a positive way. Established in 1998, the awards were initially presented by the Gaylactic Network, with awards first awarded in 1999. In 2002 the awards were given their own...
and the Tähtivaeltaja Award
Tähtivaeltaja Award
Tähtivaeltaja Award is an annual prize by Helsingin science fiction seura ry for the best science fiction book released in Finland.- 2011 :Maarit Verronen: Kirkkaan selkeää Shortlisted books:...
s. It is about a war between Heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
and Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
fought in a reality of which Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
is only a fragment; in this reality, called Vellum, live the Unkin (Angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
s and Demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
s). The events in the novel are described in a non-linear order, with several skips ahead and back in time. The story of the characters is linked to the Sumerian
Sumerian religion
Sumerian religion refers to the mythology, pantheon, rites and cosmology of the Sumerian civilization. The Sumerian religion influenced Mesopotamian mythology as a whole, surviving in the mythologies and religions of the Hurrians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and other culture...
myth of Inanna
Inanna
Inanna, also spelled Inana is the Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare....
and her descent to the underworld and to Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
's tragedy
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
Prometheus Bound
Prometheus Bound
Prometheus Bound is an Ancient Greek tragedy. In Antiquity, this drama was attributed to Aeschylus, but is now considered by some scholars to be the work of another hand, perhaps one as late as ca. 415 BC. Despite these doubts of authorship, the play's designation as Aeschylean has remained...
. It is divided in two parts dedicated to the seasons of summer
Summer
Summer is the warmest of the four temperate seasons, between spring and autumn. At the summer solstice, the days are longest and the nights are shortest, with day-length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice...
(entitled ""The Lost Deus
Deus
Deus is Latin for "god" or "deity".Latin deus and dīvus "divine", are descended from Proto-Indo-European *deiwos, from the same root as *Dyēus, the reconstructed chief god of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon...
of Sumer
Sumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
") and fall
Autumn
Autumn is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter usually in September or March when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier....
(entitled "Evenfall Leaves").
Vellum has been translated amongst others into German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
(by Hannes Riffel), Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
(by Nina Saikkonen), French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
(by Florence Dolisi), Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
(by Luis Gallego Tevar), Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
(by Stefania Di Natale) and Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
(by Anna Reszka).
Ink
Its sequel, Ink - The Book of All Hours 2Ink (novel)
Ink: The Book of All Hours 2 is a speculative fiction novel by Hal Duncan.It is Duncan's second novel and a sequel to Vellum: The Book of All Hours...
, was published in February 2007. Its two parts are linked to the two remaining seasons, winter
Winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year in temperate climates, between autumn and spring. At the winter solstice, the days are shortest and the nights are longest, with days lengthening as the season progresses after the solstice.-Meteorology:...
(entitled "Hinter's Knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
s") and spring
Spring (season)
Spring is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition period between winter and summer. Spring and "springtime" refer to the season, and broadly to ideas of rebirth, renewal and regrowth. The specific definition of the exact timing of "spring" varies according to local climate, cultures and...
("Eastern Mourning"), and it continues the narrative (and the style) of the first instalment. The ancient works here referred to are Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
's The Bacchae
The Bacchae
The Bacchae is an ancient Greek tragedy by the Athenian playwright Euripides, during his final years in Macedon, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthumously at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC as part of a tetralogy that also included Iphigeneia at Aulis, and which...
and no less than the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
. Ink has been shortlisted for the 2011 Tähtivaeltaja Awards.
Ink has been translated into German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
by Hannes Riffel, Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
by Nina Saikkonen, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
by Florence Dolisi, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
by Luis Gallego Tévar and Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
by Anna Reszka.
Escape from Hell!
In 2008 he published for MonkeybrainMonkeyBrain Books
MonkeyBrain Books is an independent American publishing house based in Austin, Texas, specialising in books comprising both new content and reprinting online, international or out-of-print content, which show "an academic interest," but which "reach a popular audience as well."-A brief history of...
Escape from Hell!
Escape from Hell! (Hal Duncan novella)
Escape from Hell! is a speculative fiction novella by Hal Duncan, strongly inspired by the movies Jacob's Ladder and Escape from New York but also by the works of William Blake and John Milton....
, a novella inspired by the 1981
1981 in film
-Events:*January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. UA was humiliated by the astronomical losses on the $40,000,000 movie Heaven's Gate, a major factor in the decision of owner Transamerica to sell it....
movie Escape from New York
Escape from New York
Escape from New York is a 1981 American science fiction action film directed and scored by John Carpenter. He co-wrote the screenplay with Nick Castle. The film is set in the near future in a crime-ridden United States that has converted Manhattan Island in New York City into a maximum security...
and the 1990
1990 in film
The year 1990 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall .* The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2....
movie Jacob's Ladder
Jacob's Ladder (film)
Jacob's Ladder is a 1990 American psychological thriller/horror film directed by Adrian Lyne, based on a screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin.-Plot:Jacob Singer is a U.S. soldier deployed in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War...
in which four characters ("a hitman
Hitman
A hitman is a person hired to kill another person.- Hitmen in organized crime :Hitmen are largely linked to the world of organized crime. Hitmen are hired people who kill people for money. Notable examples include Murder, Inc., Mafia hitmen and Richard Kuklinski.- Other cases involving hitmen...
, a hooker
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, a hobo
Hobo
A hobo is a term which is often applied to a migratory worker or homeless vagabond, often penniless. The term originated in the Western—probably Northwestern—United States during the last decade of the 19th century. Unlike 'tramps', who work only when they are forced to, and 'bums', who do not...
and a homo
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
") try to flee from Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
, here represented as a dystopia
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
n version of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
in which all the damned see their punishment continuously televised. Duncan has declared that he is planning two sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
s for it, Assault! On Heaven! and Battle! For the Planet! Of the Dead!.
It has been translated into French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
by Florence Dolisi as Evadés de l'Enfer! and was published by Éditions Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard is one of the leading French publishers of books. The Guardian has described it as having "the best backlist in the world". In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1418 titles....
in October 2010.
An A–Z of the Fantastic City
Duncan announced the publication of An A–Z of the Fantastic City, due to be released by Small Beer PressSmall Beer Press
Small Beer Press is a publisher of fantasy and literary fiction, based in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was founded by Gavin Grant and Kelly Link in 2000 and publishes novels, collections, and anthologies. It also publishes the zine Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, chapbooks, the Peapod Classics...
in February 2012. The volume, illustrated by Eric Schaller, will deal with twenty-six cities, both real (Dublin, Guernica, Jerusalem, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
) and imaginary (Erewhon
Erewhon
Erewhon: or, Over the Range is a novel by Samuel Butler, published anonymously in 1872. The title is also the name of a country, supposedly discovered by the protagonist. In the novel, it is not revealed in which part of the world Erewhon is, but it is clear that it is a fictional country...
, Camelot
Camelot
Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and eventually came to be described as the fantastic capital of Arthur's realm and a symbol of the Arthurian world...
, R'lyeh
R'lyeh
R'lyeh is a fictional lost city that first appeared in the H. P. Lovecraft short story "The Call of Cthulhu", first published in Weird Tales in 1928. According to Lovecraft's short story, R'lyeh is a sunken city in the South Pacific and the prison of the malevolent entity called Cthulhu.R'lyeh is...
, Tir-na-Nog
Tír na nÓg
Tír na nÓg is the most popular of the Otherworlds in Irish mythology. It is perhaps best known from the story of Oisín, one of the few mortals who lived there, who was said to have been brought there by Niamh of the Golden Hair. It was where the Tuatha Dé Danann settled when they left Ireland's...
, Urville
Gilles Trehin
Gilles Tréhin is a French artist, author, and creator of the imaginary city of "Urville". His book, also titled Urville, is based on his writings of the fictional city's history, geography, culture, and economy, and includes over 300 drawings of different districts of Urville, all done by...
).
Short stories
Amongst the short stories he published are The Angel of Gamblers in Eidolon IEidolon I
Eidolon I is a 2006 speculative fiction anthology edited by Jonathan Strahan and Jeremy G. Byrne.-Background:Eidolon I was first published in 2006 by Eidolon Books in trade paperback format...
, edited
Editor
The term editor may refer to:As a person who does editing:* Editor in chief, having final responsibility for a publication's operations and policies* Copy editing, making formatting changes and other improvements to text...
by Jonathan Strahan
Jonathan Strahan
Jonathan Strahan is an editor and publisher of science fiction. His family moved to Perth, Western Australia in 1968, and he graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Arts in 1986....
and Jeremy G. Byrne (2006), The Last Straw in Glorifying Terrorism
Glorifying Terrorism
Glorifying Terrorism is a 2007 science fiction anthology edited by Farah Mendlesohn, which was compiled in direct response to the Terrorism Act 2006...
, edited by Farah Mendlesohn
Farah Mendlesohn
Farah Mendlesohn is a Hugo Award-winning British academic and writer on science fiction. In 2005 she won the Hugo Award for Best Related Book for The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, which she edited with Edward James....
(2007), and The Tower of Morning's Bones in Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy
Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy
Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy is a 2008 speculative fiction anthology edited by Ekaterina Sedia.-Background:Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy was first published in 2008 by Senses Five Press in trade paperback format. It won the 2009 World Fantasy Award for best anthology....
, edited by Ekaterina Sedia
Ekaterina Sedia
Ekaterina Sedia is a Russian-born fantasy author who is currently living in the United States. Her most recent work is The Alchemy of Stone, a steampunk novel that explores sexism and class bigotry. Alchemy received a star review from Publishers Weekly and was made the LA Timess 2008 Summer...
(2008).
He has also participated in Ann and Jeff VanderMeer's Last Drink Bird Head (2009), an experiment in which 70 writes were asked the same question ("Who or what is Last Drink Bird Head?") published by Ministry of Whimsy whose profits were destined to the ProLiteracy Worldwide
ProLiteracy Worldwide
ProLiteracy is an international nonprofit organization based in Syracuse, N.Y., that supports the people and programs that help adults learn to read and write.-History:...
Organization.
Poetry
Besides the two poetry collections Sonnets for OrpheusOrpheus
Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...
and The Lucifer
Lucifer
Traditionally, Lucifer is a name that in English generally refers to the devil or Satan before being cast from Heaven, although this is not the original meaning of the term. In Latin, from which the English word is derived, Lucifer means "light-bearer"...
Canto
Canto
The canto is a principal form of division in a long poem, especially the epic. The word comes from Italian, meaning "song" or singing. Famous examples of epic poetry which employ the canto division are Lord Byron's Don Juan, Valmiki's Ramayana , Dante's The Divine Comedy , and Ezra Pound's The...
s published in very limited, handbound
Bookbinding
Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other material. It usually involves attaching covers to the resulting text-block.-Origins of the book:...
editions (26 and 24 copies) by Papaveria Press
Papaveria Press
Papaveria Press is an independent British publishing house based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. It specializes in special, limited handbound editions and trade paperbacks in the fields of fairy tale, myth and poetry.-History:...
in 2006 and 2010 respectively, he has made most of his poetry publicly available through his blog, convinced that "there's no money in poetry. If I wanted to be read, I'm just as happy to post online and let people read it there."
Songs for the Devil and Death
In July 2011 Papaveria Press published Songs for the Devil and Death, which includes the poems originally published in Sonnets for Orpheus and The Lucifer Cantos with the addition of several others.Other activities
Hal Duncan participated in the albumAlbum
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
Ballads of the Book
Ballads of the Book
Ballads of the Book is a studio album, released on 5 March 2007, on Chemikal Underground. The project was curated by Roddy Woomble, and features collaborations between Scottish musicians and Scottish writers. The album is considered a "joint effort" by all those involved...
with a poem, "If You Love Me You'd Destroy Me", put in music by Aereogramme
Aereogramme
Aereogramme were a Scottish alternative/post-rock rock band from Glasgow, consisting of Craig B. , Iain Cook , Campbell McNeil and Martin Scott...
.
He also wrote a musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
, Nowhere Town, that he defines a "punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
" and a "gay punk Orpheus
Orpheus
Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...
". It has been premiered in June 2010 in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
by the University
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
theatre group, directed by Beth Walker. He made the libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
and the vocal tracks available for download through his blog.
He writes a monthly column on BSCreview entitled Notes from New Sodom
Sodom and Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah were cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis and later expounded upon throughout the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and Deuterocanonical sources....
, keeps a blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
called Notes from the Geek Show and is active on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
. He also regularly uploads on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
video blog entries under the username
User (computing)
A user is an agent, either a human agent or software agent, who uses a computer or network service. A user often has a user account and is identified by a username , screen name , nickname , or handle, which is derived from the identical Citizen's Band radio term.Users are...
SodomiteHalDuncan.
He contributed to Dan Savage
Dan Savage
Daniel Keenan "Dan" Savage is an American author, media pundit, journalist and newspaper editor. Savage writes the internationally syndicated relationship and sex advice column Savage Love. Its tone is frank in its discussion of sexuality, often humorous, and hostile to social conservatives, as in...
's It Gets Better project.
He wrote essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
s related to myth and literature, some of which are available online.
He made recordings of some of his readings publicly available through his blog; some can be freely downloaded
Uploading and downloading
In computer networks, to download means to receive data to a local system from a remote system, or to initiate such a data transfer. Examples of a remote system from which a download might be performed include a webserver, FTP server, email server, or other similar systems...
while others are being sold for a fee.
For his activity as a blogger he has been nominated for the 2009/2010 Last Drink Bird Head Award in the field of "Gentle Advocacy" ("In recognition of individuals willing to enter into blunt discourse about controversial issues"), but lost the award to Ay-leen the Peacemaker from Beyond Victoriana. In 2009 he was nominated for the same award but in the category "Expanding Our Vocabulary
Vocabulary
A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
" ("In recognition of writers whose fiction or nonfiction exposes readers to new words and, often, new ideas"). The award went to John Clute
John Clute
John Frederick Clute is a Canadian born author and critic who has lived in Britain since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part of science fiction's history."...
.
On September 6 2011 Hal Duncan took part in a "Literary Death Match
Literary Death Match
Literary Death Match is a reading series co-created in 2006 by Todd Zuniga, Elizabeth Koch & Dennis DiClaudio.The series features four readers who read their own writing for seven minutes or less, and are then lovingly critiqued by three judges in the categories of literary merit, performance and...
" in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. In the event, organised and hosted by Literary Death Match co-creator Todd Zuniga
Todd Zuniga
Todd Zuniga , is the founding editor of Opium Magazine, and the co-creator and host of Literary Death Match , which is a reading series that occurs regularly in New York City, San Francisco and London, and has launched in 37 cities worldwide including Beijing, Edinburgh, Chicago and Paris.Zuniga is...
, he was pitted against Doug Johnstone
Doug Johnstone
Doug Johnstone is a writer, musician and journalist based in Edinburgh. His new novel, Smokeheads, is published by Faber and Faber on 3 March 2011...
, Sophie Cooke
Sophie Cooke
Sophie Cooke is a Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet, and travel writer. Speaking in an interview with Aesthetica magazine in 2009, Cooke has said that her work is primarily concerned with questions of truth. She has developed the notion of truth as a depreciable asset...
and Katerina Vasiliou. Duncan was declared the winner after a "shootout
Penalty shootout
The shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to penalty shots in that a single player takes one shot on goal...
" against Vasiliou.
The Book of All Hours series
- Vellum. London (UK), Pan Macmillan, 2005. ISBN 978-1-4050-5208-5
- InkInk (novel)Ink: The Book of All Hours 2 is a speculative fiction novel by Hal Duncan.It is Duncan's second novel and a sequel to Vellum: The Book of All Hours...
. London (UK), Pan Macmillan, 2007. ISBN 978-0-3304-3838-4
Novellas
- Escape from Hell!Escape from Hell! (Hal Duncan novella)Escape from Hell! is a speculative fiction novella by Hal Duncan, strongly inspired by the movies Jacob's Ladder and Escape from New York but also by the works of William Blake and John Milton....
. Austin (TX, USA), MonkeyBrain Books, 2008. ISBN 978-1932265255
Poetry
- Sonnets for Orpheus. WakefieldWakefieldWakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....
(UK), Papaveria Press, 2006. No ISBN (limited edition of 26 copies) - The Lucifer Cantos. Wakefield (UK), Papaveria Press, 2010. No ISBN (limited edition of 24 copies)
- Songs for the Devil and Death. Wakefield (UK), Papaveria Press, 2011. ISBN 978-1907881046