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Great Science-Fiction & Fantasy Works
Science-fiction & fantasy literature: a critical list with discussions.
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This is a brief discussion of Christopher Priest and, of course, of some speculative-fiction books by Priest.
This discussion and list does not necessarily include every book by Priest: it includes only those books that I both know and like. Just as with the author list itself, omission of a particular item may mean I didn’t think highly enough of the omitted item, or it may simply mean that I have not yet sufficient familiarity with it. (In a very few cases, I have listed some books merely on the strength of my opinion of the author: all such books are clearly marked below, as throughout these lists, with a hash mark (#) before the title so you know what’s what.)
I don’t pretend that this discussion is a deep analysis. My intent is no more than to give you a rough idea of what kinds of tales Priest tells, how those tales are usually told, and what makes them and Priest worthy; in sum, to help you rank Christopher Priest (and the works by Priest listed here) on your personal literary “to do” list.
A Few Words About Christopher Priest
Regrettably, I have not yet had an opportunity to write an essay on this author, but the “Other Resources” section below will lead you to some information about the “Notable Books” listed farther down this page.
(Be aware that there is also a comic-book author who goes as “Christopher Priest”—formerly as “Jim Owsley”—so know which Christopher Priest you’re reading about if you do your own research.)
Christopher Priest Resources on the Web
The chief page, Christopher Priest, appears to be (no info on this at the site) from Priest himself. That site gives, for each Priest book, a good selection of reviews—and not just the favorable ones, either, so it’s quite useful. Also, the ever-helpful Encyclopedia of Science Fiction has an entry for Priest. And the Christopher Priest page at the British Council: Literature site has a helpful “Critical perspective” by Dr. Tom Wright.
There seem no other sites and not even many individual pages devoted in a general sense to Priest and his oeuvre (one such page is Christopher Priest at Barbelith Underground [archived copy])—but there are certainly boatloads of reviews of the various titles, and some interviews. If you want to see extended reviews (the site linked above tends to short extracts), here is a small but, I hope, representative sampling; for more, Google Is Your Friend.
There is at least one book, a collection of essays titled Christopher Priest: the Interaction edited by Andrew M. Butler and published by The Science Fiction Foundation in 2005; it is said to be quite good, but is scarce and often impossible to find.
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