Chris Roberson (author)


John Christian Roberson, known professionally as Chris Roberson, is an American science fiction author and publisher who is best known for alternate history novels and short stories.
WWW chrisroberson.net

Early life

Roberson grew up near Dallas, Texas, and attended the University of Texas at Austin. After graduating with a degree in English literature and a minor in history, he leaned towards becoming a literary, post-modernist writer and penned a couple of novels in that style, which went unpublished as Roberson realized that he "wasn't depressed enough for that line of work". In the 1990s, Roberson wrote a couple of mystery novels but the end results turned out to be a mix of mystery and science fiction genres, so the publishers specializing in either of those rejected them. Ultimately, Roberson settled on writing science fiction, citing his upbringing in the 1970s and 1980s as the major inspiration, since the genre was particularly commonplace in America at that time:
"Everything from Saturday-morning cartoons to comic books to late-night B-movies to pulp novel reprints to blockbuster summer movies--it was all science fiction, in one form or another."

During this period, Roberson had a variety of day jobs, such as a product support engineer for Dell computers, a position he held for seven years and quit in 2003 to concentrate on his work as a writer and publisher.

Career

Between 1998 and 2002, Roberson was part of the writer's collective Clockwork Storybook, alongside comic book creators Bill Willingham, Lilah Sturges and Mark Finn. Starting as a writing group, Clockwork Storybook developed into a monthly online anthology, then a publishing imprint of the same name. The collective attempted to capitalize on the growing trend of print on demand and launched with four print titles in early 2001. Roberson produced four novels for Clockwork Storybook, three of which were subsequently expanded and reprinted: Voices of Thunder was revised to become Book of Secrets, Set the Seas on Fire was expanded for its 2007 release by Solaris, while Any Time at All became Here, There and Everywhere.
After the dissolution of Clockwork Storybook, Roberson decided to focus on his career as a writer and soon after made his first professional sale with the short story for the Live without a Net anthology, edited by Lou Anders and published by Roc. The book was published in 2003 and paved the way for future sales to Asimov's Science Fiction and other anthologies such as Tales of the Shadowmen, Postscripts, Black October Magazine, Fantastic Metropolis, RevolutionSF, Twilight Tales, Opi8, Alien Skin, Electric Velocipede, Subterranean Magazine and Lone Star Stories. The following year, Anders, whom Roberson considered "something of a personal patron", was hired as an editorial director at Prometheus Books' new science fiction imprint Pyr and bought Roberson's Here, There and Everywhere, the first novel in his Bonaventure-Carmody series.
In 2003, Roberson also started up his own small-press publishing house MonkeyBrain, having "discovered <...> in the few years of helping run the CWSB imprint, that really enjoyed being a publisher." Roberson, who runs MonkeyBrain along with his business partner and spouse Allison Baker, decided early on that the company would deal exclusively in "traditional offset trade-paperbacks and hardcovers," distributed internationally, rather than printed on demand. In November, 2005, Roberson edited the first volume in a projected annual series of Adventure anthologies, comprising "original fiction in the spirit of early twentieth-century pulp fiction magazines" across the genres, featuring contributions from Lou Anders, Mark Finn, Paul Di Filippo, Michael Moorcock and Kim Newman.
At the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Roberson was set to write a comic book mini-series set in the universe of the Vertigo series Fables, which was created by fellow former Clockwork Storybook author Bill Willingham. The mini-series, titled Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love and illustrated by Shawn McManus, was described by Roberson as featuring "spies, sex, and shoes." In late 2010, Roberson was selected by DC Comics to complete the "Grounded" story arc in the Superman ongoing series, which he worked on alongside his creator-owned Vertigo series iZombie and the Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love sequel mini-series, subtitled Fables are Forever. In 2012, Roberson announced he would no longer write for DC Comics due to their unethical treatment of creators. That same year, MonkeyBrain launched a new publishing arm for creator-owned comics that would focus solely on digital distribution through Comixology.

Personal life

Roberson lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and daughter.

Awards and nominations

Roberson is a four-time nominee for the World Fantasy Award: as a writer in 2004, an editor and a publisher in 2006 and again a publisher in 2008. He was also nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer on two occasions. In 2009, Roberson won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in the "Long Form" category for The Dragon's Nine Sons. He has also been nominated twice in the "Short Form" category, winning in 2004 with his story "O One". Roberson's novel Paragaea was included in Waterstone's "Top Ten Science Fiction" list in 2006.

Clockwork Storybook

Novels published during Roberson's time as part of Clockwork Storybook:
  • Voices of Thunder
  • Cybermancy, Incorporated
  • Set the Seas on Fire
  • ''Any Time at All''

Bonaventure-Carmody

Tales of the Bonaventure-Carmody clan, which Roberson first started developing for his Clockwork Storybook novels, continued with a number of short stories:
YearTitleSourcePublisherNotes
2002""opi8.comOPi8Published with an illustration by Lee Kohse
2006"The Jewel of Leystall"Cross Plains UniverseMonkeyBrain
2008"Death on the Crosstime Express"Sideways in CrimeSolaris
2008""pyrsamples.blogspot.comPyr
2009"The Funeral Affair"
  • Originally written as part of Roberson's debut novel Voices of Thunder
  • First published online as a "polished" version via Roberson's blog
2009"Edison's Frankenstein"Postscripts #20/21PS Publishing
2010"A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows"MaskedGallery Books
2013"Mariner"Old MarsBantam
The series was subsequently expanded with several revised editions of his Clockwork Storybook novels as well as two newly written entries:
  • Here, There and Everywhere
  • * Revised and expanded reprint of Any Time at All
  • Paragaea: A Planetary Romance
  • Set the Seas on Fire
  • * Revised and expanded reprint of Set the Seas on Fire
  • End of the Century
  • Book of Secrets
  • * Revised and expanded reprint of ''Voices of Thunder''

Celestial Empire

Roberson's alternate history series Celestial Empire began with a number of short stories, which can be sorted in internal chronological order or the publication order:
YearTitle#SourcePublisherNotes
2003"O One"4Live without a NetRoc
2004"Red Hands, Black Hands"9Asimov's Science Fiction vol. 28 #12Penny Publications
2005"Gold Mountain"6Postscripts #5PS Publishing
2007"The Sky is Large and the Earth is Small"3Asimov's Science Fiction vol. 31 #7Dell Magazines
2007""1Subterranean Online Subterranean Press
2007"History Repurposed: The Celestial Empire Stories"Vector #254British Science Fiction AssociationEssay
2007"Metal Dragon Year"5Interzone #213
2008"The Line of Dichotomy"8The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction Volume 2Solaris
2008"Thy Saffron Wings"2Postscripts #15PS Publishing
2008""7Subterranean Online Subterranean Press
2009"Dragon King of the Eastern Sea"11We Think, Therefore We AreDAW Books
2009"All Under Heaven"10Firebirds SoaringFirebird
2010"Wonder House"12Asimov's Science Fiction vol. 34 #1Dell Magazines

The series was further expanded with one novella and three full-length novels:

Comics

DC Comics

Boom! Studios

Dynamite Entertainment

  • Masks #1–8 collected as Masks
  • The Shadow:
  • *The Shadow vol. 5 collected as:
  • **The Light of the World
  • **Bitter Fruit
  • *The Shadow #100
  • Codename: Action #1–5 collected as Codename: Action
  • Doc Savage:
  • *Doc Savage vol. 6 #1–8 collected as Doc Savage Omnibus
  • *Doc Savage: The Spider's Web #1–5 collected as ''Doc Savage: The Spider's Web''

Dark Horse Comics

  • Prometheus: The Complete Fire and Stone includes:
  • *Dark Horse Presents vol. 3 #2: "Aliens: Field Report"
  • *Aliens: Fire and Stone #1–4 also collected as Aliens: Fire and Stone
  • Hellboy Universe :
  • *Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.:
  • **Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1952–1954 includes:
  • *** Hellboy Winter Special 2016: "Wandering Souls"
  • *** Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1953 — Beyond the Fences #1–3
  • *** Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1954 — Black Sun #1–2
  • *** Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1954 — The Unreasoning Beast
  • *** Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1954 — Ghost Moon #1–2
  • **Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1955 collects:
  • *** Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1955 — Secret Nature
  • *** Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1955 — Occult Intelligence #1–3
  • *** Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1955 — Burning Season
  • **Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1956 collects:
  • *** Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1956 #1–3
  • *** Hellboy vs. Lobster Johnson: The Ring of Death
  • **Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1957 collects:
  • *** Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1957 — Family Ties
  • *** Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1957 — Forgotten Lives
  • *** Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1957 — Falling Sky
  • *** Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1957 — Fearful Symmetry
  • *** Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1957 — From Below
  • *B.P.R.D.:
  • **B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth #140–142 collected in B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth Volume 4
  • **Rise of the Black Flame #1–5 collected as Rise of the Black Flame
  • *Witchfinder:
  • **Witchfinder: City of the Dead #1–5 collected as Witchfinder: City of the Dead
  • **Witchfinder: The Gates of Heaven #1–5 collected as Witchfinder: The Gates of Heaven
  • **Witchfinder: The Reign of Darkness #1–5 collected as Witchfinder: The Reign of Darkness
  • *The Visitor: How and Why He Stayed collects:
  • **The Visitor: How and Why He Stayed #1–5
  • **Hellboy Winter Special 2017: "God Rest Ye Merry"
  • *Rasputin: The Voice of the Dragon #1–5 collected as Rasputin: The Voice of the Dragon
  • *The House of Lost Horizons: A Sarah Jewell Mystery collects:
  • **Hellboy Winter Special 2019: "The Longest Night"
  • **The House of Lost Horizons: A Sarah Jewell Mystery #1–5
  • *Hellboy: The Silver Lantern Club #1–5 collected as Hellboy: The Silver Lantern Club
  • *British Paranormal Society: Time Out of Mind #1–4 collected as British Paranormal Society: Time Out of Mind
  • *Panya: The Mummy's Curse #1–4 collected as Panya: The Mummy's Curse
  • Firefly: Legacy Edition Book Two includes:
  • *Free Comic Book Day 2016: Serenity: "The Warrior and the Wind"
  • *Serenity: Firefly Class 03-K64 — No Power in the 'Verse #1–6
  • God of War :
  • *God of War vol. 2 #0–4 collected as God of War
  • *God of War: Fallen God #1–4 collected as God of War: Fallen God
  • Stranger Things Winter Special collected in ''Stranger Things Holiday Specials''

Other publishers

  • IDW Publishing:
  • *Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #1–6 collected as Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes
  • *Memorial :
  • **Memorial #1–6 collected as Memorial
  • **Memorial: Imaginary Fiends #1–9 published in print as Memorial: Imaginary Fiends #1–3
  • Edison Rex :
  • * #1–18 partially collected in print by IDW Publishing as:
  • **Into the White!
  • **Heir Apparent
  • *Defend Comics: "The Amendment That Made a Right Out of 'Wrong'"
  • *Rise: Comics Against Bullying #1: "Be Yourself"
  • Image:
  • *Liberty Annual '12: "Sasquatch" collected in CBLDF Presents: Liberty
  • *Sovereign #1–5 collected as Sovereign
  • The Mysterious Strangers #1–6 collected as The Mysterious Strangers: Strange Ways
  • Black Bag #1–6 collected as Black Bag
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 — The Official Comic Collection includes:
  • *Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 :
  • ** "Ruin"
  • ** "Seraph"