Judging 2001

This Year our Judges are:

Ian McDonald

Mike Resnick

Kim Newman

David Pringle

Michael Carroll

Ian McDonald was born in 1960 in Manchester, England by an Irish mother and a Scottish father. He moved with his family to Northern Ireland in 1965. He used to live in a house built in the back garden of C. S. Lewis's childhood home but has since moved into central Belfast where he now lives, exploring intrests like cats, contemplative religion, bonsai, bicycles and comic collecting.

He debuted 1982 with the short story "The Island of the Dead" in the short-lived British magazine Extro. His first novel, Desolation Road, was published in 1988.

In 2000, Ian joined a Belfast production company, Extreme Productions, as a Network Development Researcher. This basically means coming up with lots of ideas.

The Ian McDonald Information Site.

Mike Resnick was born on March 5, 1942. He sold his first article in 1957, his first short story in 1959, and his first book in 1962.

Mike has edited 20 short story anthologies, written over 100 short stories, and 83 novels.

Mike has won four Hugo Awards (for "Kirinyaga", "The Manamouki", "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge", and "The 43 Antarean Dynasties"), a Nebula Award (for "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge"), and has been nominated for nineteen Hugos, eight Nebulas, and a Clarke.

Mike wrote the introduction to 'The White Papers' a collection of fiction and articles by James White.

The Mike Resnick Information Site.

Click here to read Mike Resnick's introduction to The White Papers.

Kim Newman was born in London in 1959.

Kim started off as a film critic and reveiwer, and achieved great renown in this field.He then started writing short stories, and then went onto novels.

His first published novel, was The Night Mayor in 1989.

With the publication of Anno Dracula, Kim was well and truly brought to the attention of the public. The book's premise is that Dracula did not die, but turned Queen Victoria and much of her royal court and the political elite into vampires, ushering in a society at the end of the 19th Century that is sharply divided between the warm and the Undead.

The Anno Dracula series has been followed by two books, the World-War II The Bloody Red Baron, and the 1960s Dracula Cha Cha Cha, as well as several short stories.

However, he has worked on innumerable projects also, including the choose-your-own-adventure, real-life Life's Lottery, the dark The Quorum, and four collections of short stories - and that's not mentioning his non-fiction books, journalist credits, broadcasting work and critical texts.

Dr Shades Labratory: The Kim Newman Information Site.

Michael Carroll is my favourite living Irish Writer. This is not because he used to be my postman, even though he was, long before I ever knew him - which goes to show what an odd thing fate is. It's not just because he is always cheerful and good-natured on the too-rare occasions that we meet up, thought this is certainly true, too. Mostly the reason that Michael is my favourite is because what he writes makes me laugh.

A lot of Michael's best writing is to be found in the fan-press, which is something that he shares with James White himself. Anyone lucky enough to own a full set of PFJ (Phunny Fantasy Journal or People's Front of Judea, depending on whom you asked), or a ditto of the excellent Brentford Mercury will know exactly what I mean. A gentle, intelligent humour that left you helpless in it's presence. Many times I grinned all day after reading his latest observations. One of these every morning would make the world a better place.

Slowly but surely, the publishing world is beginning to find out what the rest of us knew all along. Michael's latest book, "If The Shoe Fits" is the first of several to be published by Poolbeg Press, and a wonderful, funny read.

When he has time, Michael dons the cape of Captain Ireland.

Check www.iol.ie/~carrollm/ for the Michael Carroll website.