Litt, Toby
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1968- ) UK author, mostly of nonfantastic work, though some of the stories assembled in Adventures in Capitalism (coll 1996) apply metafictional estrangements (see Postmodernism and SF) to a world clearly porous to manipulation (see Media Landscape). Deadkidsongs (2001) similarly presses against thematic material – in this case an anticipated Russian Invasion – in a manner conspicuously close to allegory; and there are fantasy elements in Finding Myself (2003). Of direct sf interest is Journey into Space (2009), a Generation Starship tale remarkably obedient to the conventions of this subgenre, including rebellious adolescents and a paternalistic AI that, nominally in charge of the crew and/or passengers, does not understand Homo sapiens very well. Behind them, Earth is totally destroyed; in the meantime – in obedience to a turn of plot introduced by A E van Vogt in "Far Centaurus" (January 1944 Astounding) – Technology has created a faster ship, which will reach the destination planet decades before the Armenia. [JC]
Toby Litt
born Ampthill, Bedfordshire: 20 August 1968
works
- Adventures in Capitalism (London: Secker and Warburg, 1996) [coll: hb/Button Design Company]
- Deadkidsongs (London: Hamish Hamilton, 2001) [hb/]
- Finding Myself (London: Hamish Hamilton, 2003) [hb/]
- Journey into Space (London: Penguin Books, 2009) [pb/Chris Moore]
- Notes for a Young Gentleman (London: Seagull Books, 2018) [hb/]
links
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