Allen Stroud
Allen Stroud is a course leader at Coventry University, where he teaches on the BA Media Top Up. Previously he was the course leader for Film and Television Production and the Creative Writing for Publication degrees at Bucks New University.[1][2] Up until the end of 2019, he was the editor of the British Fantasy Society Journal.[3] He also composes instrumental music;[3] however, Stroud is best known for his sci-fi fantasy novels and video game writing. He is the 2017 and 2018 chair of Fantasycon, the annual convention of the British Fantasy Society, which hosts the British Fantasy Awards.
Allen Stroud | |
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Nationality | English |
Occupation |
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Employer | |
Known for | Sci-fi Fantasy Writing |
Notable work | Writing for Elite: Dangerous, Chaos Reborn, Phoenix Point |
Website | www |
In 2017, Stroud completed a Ph.D. at the University of Winchester entitled An Investigation and Application of Writing Structures and World Development Techniques in Science Fiction and Fantasy.
In June 2019, Allen Stroud became Chair of the British Science Fiction Association, taking over from Donna Bond.
Video games
Stroud first became known for his video game writing with his work on world-building and novelisation of Video games such as Elite: Dangerous.[4] For Elite: Dangerous, he wrote six guidebooks that inform the fictional narrative within the game and also serve to help other writers with the novelisation of their stories within the game's world.[3] He also became a founding and continuing host of Lave Radio, a free podcast related to Elite: Dangerous that started in February 2013.[3][5] His novelisation of the Elite: Dangerous game world began after he completed a successful Kickstarter campaign for the novel, Elite: Lave Revolution.[6] Stroud is now working on a team which is developing a role-playing game set in the Elite: Dangerous game world.[7]
Stroud's next video game world-building and novelisation work occurred with the development of Chaos Reborn.[4] For Chaos Reborn, he worked collaboratively with the game's designer, Julian Gollop, to devise history and lore for the game world.[3]
Now, Stroud is working closely with Gollop and another experienced writer, Jonas Kyratzes, to develop the Dystopian world of a new game in development, Phoenix Point.[8] Many of Stroud's short stories for Phoenix Point have been made available to readers for free.[9]
Year | Video Game | Developer |
---|---|---|
2014 | Elite: Dangerous | Frontier Developments |
2015 | Chaos Reborn | Snapshot Games |
2019 | Phoenix Point | Snapshot Games |
2020 | Baldur's Gate III | Larian Studios |
Books and stories
Stroud has written for a variety of different short story anthologies. In 2016, his story "The Last Tank Commander" appeared in Crises and Conflicts from Newcon Press. Baen Books Editor David Afshariad selected this for the 2017 edition of The Year's Best Military & Adventure SF.
Stroud's story "Reader" appears in Alice Macklin's 2017 anthology Read This First.
In 2018, Stroud's story "Dancers" was included in 2001: An Odyssey in Words published by Newcon Press. This is an anthology published to commemorate the 100th birthday of the late Arthur C. Clarke and features work by Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, Peter Hamilton, Stephen Baxter (author), Alastair Reynolds and Pat Cadigan amongst others.
In 2020, Grimbold Books published Forgotten Sidekicks which features Stroud's short story, "Saving Simon" - a spiritual successor to John Wagner's 1981 short story "Sinful Simon".
Year | Book | Series | Genre | ISBN-10 | ASIN | Publisher |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2011 | A Bag of Bedtime Tales | N/A | Various | N/A | B006PS20WW | HWS Press |
2012 | The Sword of Wisimir | The Wisimir Tales (Book 1) | Fantasy | 1533198853 | B00AO614NW | HWS Press |
2012 | The Dragon of Wisimir | The Wisimir Tales (Book 2) | Fantasy | 1535033967 | B00AO6IW0K | HWS Press |
2013 | The Lord of Wisimir | The Wisimir Tales (Book 3) | Fantasy | 1535045388 | B00FIOIK2I | HWS Press |
2015 | Elite: Lave Revolution | The Lave Trilogy (Book 1) | Science fiction | 1910987131 | B010GGFAWK | HWS Press |
2016 | Dreams of Chaos | The Death of Gods Trilogy (Book 1) | Fantasy | 1910987085 | B01GY41FS6 | HWS Press |
2016 | Chaos Reborn: The Loremaster's Guide | N/A | Fantasy | 1910987123 | N/A | HWS Press |
2016 | ToryTimes: A Collection of Tragic Poems | N/A | Poetry | N/A | B01CAS0IS8 | HWS Press |
2017 | The Forever Man | N/A | Fantasy | 1910987123 | B07577M5NT | Luna Press |
2020 | Fearless | Science fiction | 1787585423 | Flame Tree Press | ||
References
- "Bucks Lecturer Allen Stroud introduces Lave Revolution". Bucks Animation Blog. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
- "Allen Stroud". nineworlds.co.uk. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
- Barbini, Francesca T (2 February 2016). "Allen Stroud – From Elite: Dangerous To Chaos Reborn". Sci-fi and Fantasy Network. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
- Smith, Adam (16 March 2017). "Phoenix Point teases horrors, recruits X-COM composer". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
- "Lave Radio: an Elite Dangerous podcast by John Stabler on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
- "Elite: Lave Revolution". Kickstarter. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
- "Elite: Dangerous RPG is a fresh take on the classic space trader game – featured Kickstarter". TrustedReviews. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
- Network Contributor (12 May 2017). "Phoenix Point Far Beyond Its Goal. Can They Better X-Com?". Sci-fi and Fantasy Network. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
- "From X-Com to Phoenix Point". Gamasutra. Retrieved 17 June 2017.