Philip Purser-Hallard


Philip Purser-Hallard is a fantasy, science fiction and crime author described by the British Fantasy Society as "the best kept secret in British genre writing".
His Devices Trilogy, beginning with The Pendragon Protocol, is an urban fantasy thriller series which combines Arthurian myth with issues of modern British politics and identity. The British Fantasy Society said that the first novel's "writing is crisp and clever, the plotting devoid of flab and the cast of characters appealing, interesting and consistent", and that it was based on "that rarest of fantasy beasts – an original idea".
He has a long association with Doctor Who licensed fiction. From 2015 he is the editor of The Black Archive, a series of book-length critical studies of individual Doctor Who episodes and stories. The series is published by Obverse Books, and features contributions from Simon Bucher-Jones, Simon Guerrier, Kate Orman and others. Purser-Hallard has written or contributed to six of the books. He has also written short stories and four novels featuring Sherlock Holmes.
Purser-Hallard received his doctorate in English literature at Oxford University. His DPhil thesis, The Relationship between Creator and Creature in Science Fiction, examined how British and American science fiction of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries explored the relationship between humanity and a putative creating deity through stories about the creation of sentient individuals by scientists, working from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein through to recent authors like Bruce Sterling, William Gibson and Dan Simmons. He also has interests in eschatological science fiction, as seen in his Faction Paradox novel, Of the City of the Saved.
Purser-Hallard has given three talks at the liberal Christian Greenbelt festival, all on the intersections of science fiction and religious themes. Between 2006 and 2009 he wrote a regular column on science fiction and faith for Surefish, the ISP and webzine arm of Christian Aid. From 2009 to 2012 he published regular 140-character microfictions on Twitter, under the username trapphic.
His brother Nick Hallard, an artist, provided endpieces for the More Tales of the City collection and unofficial illustrations for Purser-Hallard's Of the City of the Saved... web pages.

Novels

Of the City of the Saved..., a novel in the Faction Paradox seriesThe Pendragon Protocol, the first novel in the Devices TrilogyThe Locksley Exploit, the second novel in the Devices TrilogyTrojans, the third novel in the Devices TrilogySherlock Holmes: The Vanishing Man Sherlock Holmes: The Spider's Web Sherlock Holmes: Masters of Lies Sherlock Holmes: The Monster of the Mere )

Novellas

Peculiar Lives, a novella in the Time Hunter seriesNursery Politics, a novella in Nobody's Children, an anthology in the Bernice Summerfield seriesPredating the Predators, a novella in The Vampire Curse, a Bernice Summerfield anthologyHorizon, or Señor 105 contra las Momias Locas de Odinhotep,, an e-novella in the Periodic Adventures of Señor 105 series

Anthologies as editor

Tales of the City, the first City of the Saved anthologyMore Tales of the City, the second City of the Saved anthologyTales of the Great Detectives, the third City of the Saved anthology, featuring multiple Sherlock HolmesesIris Wildthyme of Mars, an Iris Wildthyme anthology set on MarsFurthest Tales of the City, the fourth City of the Saved anthologyTales of the Civil War, the fifth City of the Saved anthologyForgotten Lives, unlicensed Doctor Who anthology for charityForgotten Lives 2, unlicensed Doctor Who anthology for charityForgotten Lives 3, unlicensed Doctor Who anthology for charity

Short fiction

  • Various entries in The Book of the War, an anthology in encyclopaedia form belonging to the Faction Paradox seriesScapegoat in Emerge, an anthology of poetry, prose and dramaSex Secrets of the Robot Replicants in A Life Worth Living, a Bernice Summerfield anthology. Sex Secrets of the Robot Replicants was reprinted as a prelude to the novel The Two Jasons by Dave Stone Minions of the Moon in Wildthyme on Top The Long Midwinter in Short Trips: The History of Christmas, a Doctor Who anthologyThe Ruins of Time in Short Trips: Time Signature, a Doctor Who anthologyFuture Relations and five pieces under the umbrella title Perspectives in Collected Works, a Bernice Summerfield anthologyBattleship Anathema in Iris Wildthyme and the Celestial Omnibus A Hundred Words from a Civil War in A Romance in Twelve Parts De Umbris Idearum in Burning with Optimism's Flames.The Adventure of the Professor's Bequest in Further Encounters of Sherlock Holmes Green Mars Blues in Iris Wildthyme of Mars The Second Mask in Further Associates of Sherlock Holmes T. memeticus: A Morphology in The Book of the Enemy The Elementary Problem in ''Sherlock Holmes: A Detective's Life''

Criticism

"Cybernetic godhead": the relationship between creator and creature in the science fiction of William Gibson, in the journal ManuScript A Momentary Stay Against Confusion, an interview with Dan Simmons The Drugs Did Work, an article on Philip K. Dick, in The Guardian The Black Archive #4: Dark Water / Death in Heaven The Black Archive #13: Human Nature / The Family of Blood The Black Archive #34: Battlefield The Black Archive #56: The Haunting of Villa Diodati Once, Upon Time, a chapter in The Black Archive #63: Flux The Black Archive #69: Midnight
  • ''The Black Archive #81: The Ark''