Garth Nix
Nix at the 2014 Comic Con
Nix at the 2014 Comic Con
BornGarth Richard Nix
(1963-07-19) 19 July 1963 (age 60)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
OccupationWriter
NationalityAustralian
GenreFantasy
Years active1990–present
Website
garthnix.com

Garth Richard Nix (born 19 July 1963) is an Australian writer who specialises in children's and young adult fantasy novels, notably the Old Kingdom, Seventh Tower and Keys to the Kingdom series. He has frequently been asked if his name is a pseudonym, to which he has responded, "I guess people ask me because it sounds like the perfect name for a writer of fantasy. However, it is my real name."[1]

Biography

Born in Melbourne, Nix was raised in Canberra.[2] He attended Turner Primary School, Lyneham High School and Dickson College for schooling. While at Dickson College, Nix joined the Australian Army Reserve.[3] After a period working for the Australian government, he traveled in Europe before returning to Australia in 1983 and undertaking a BA in professional writing at Canberra University. He worked in a Canberra bookshop after graduation, before moving to Sydney in 1987, where he worked his way up in the publishing field. He was a sales rep and publicist before becoming a senior editor at HarperCollins. In 1993 he commenced further travel in Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe before becoming a marketing consultant, founding his own company, Gotley Nix Evans Pty Ltd. From 1999 to 2002 he worked as a literary agent with Curtis Brown (Australia) Pty Ltd before becoming a full-time author.[4]

In addition to his work as a fantasy novelist, Nix has written a number of scenarios and articles for the role playing field, including those for Dungeons & Dragons and Traveller. These have appeared in related publications such as White Dwarf, Multiverse and Breakout!. He has also written case studies, articles and news items in the information technology field, his work appearing in publications such as Computerworld and PCWorld.[4]

Nix currently lives in Sydney with his wife Anna McFarlane, a publisher,[5] and their sons Thomas and Edward.

Bibliography

Picture books

Very Clever Baby

This series was self-published, and republished by Text Publishing. Described as books for "Very Clever Babies Aged 3–6 Months", they contain such words as ichthyologist, as used by the character Freddy the Fish.

Young adult and children's literature

The Old Kingdom

Novels
Short fiction
Omnibus

The Seventh Tower

  1. The Fall (2000)
  2. Castle (2000)
  3. Aenir (2001)
  4. Above the Veil (2001)
  5. Into Battle (2001)
  6. The Violet Keystone (2001)

The Keys to the Kingdom

  1. Mister Monday (2003)
  2. Grim Tuesday (2004)
  3. Drowned Wednesday (2005)
  4. Sir Thursday (2006)
  5. Lady Friday (2007)
  6. Superior Saturday (2008)
  7. Lord Sunday (2010)

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London

  1. The Left-Handed Booksellers of London (2020)
  2. The Sinister Booksellers of Bath (2023)

Troubletwisters (co-written with Sean Williams)

  1. Troubletwisters (2011)
  2. The Monster (2012)
  3. The Mystery (2013)
  4. The Missing (2014)

Have Sword, Will Travel (co-written with Sean Williams)

  1. Have Sword, Will Travel (2017)
  2. Let Sleeping Dragons Lie (2018)

Works in multi-author series

Standalone novels

Works for adults

Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz

  1. 2007 "Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz Go to War Again", in Jim Baen's Universe
  2. 2008 "Beyond the Sea Gate of the Scholar-Pirates of Sarsköe", in Fast Ships, Black Sails edited by Jeff Vandermeer and Ann Vandermeer
  3. 2010 "A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet", in Swords and Dark Magic, edited by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan
  4. 2013 "Losing Her Divinity", in Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales, edited by Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt
  5. 2014 "A Cargo of Ivories", in Rogues, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois
  6. 2014 "Home is the Haunter", in Fearsome Magics, edited by Jonathan Strahan
  7. 2017 "A Long, Cold Trail", in The Book of Swords, edited by Gardner Dozois
  8. 2020 "Cut Me Another Quill, Mister Fitz", in The Book of Dragons , edited by Jonathan Strahan
  9. 2023 "The Field of Fallen Foe", in the collection Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Stories of the Witch Knight and the Puppet Sorcerer (2023)

Short fiction

Collections

Uncollected stories

References

  1. ^ Nix, Garth (2007). Across the Wall. Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-00-722146-2.
  2. ^ "Garth Nix". AUSTLIT (austlit.edu.au). Retrieved 2014-08-02.
  3. ^ Nix, Garth. "Something about Garth Nix". Garth Nix. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 14 March 2008.
  4. ^ a b Collins, Paul; Steven Paulsen; Sean McMullen (1998). The MUP Encyclopaedia of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. p. 134. ISBN 0-522-84771-4.
  5. ^ "Anna McFarlane". linkedin.
  6. ^ a b "oldkingdom.com.au – The Nine Gates of Death: An Extract of the Journal of Idrach the Lesser Necromancer". Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  7. ^ "Doctor Crake Crosses the Wall". oldkingdom.com.au. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  8. ^ "Fire Above, Fire Below". Tor.com. 8 May 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  9. ^ Martin, George R. R. (19 June 2014). "Not A Blog: Venus In March". GRRM.livejournal.com. Archived from the original on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  10. ^ "Dislocation Space". Tor.com. Tor. 11 December 2019.
  11. ^ "The Case of the Somewhat Mythic Sword". Tor.com. Tor. 29 January 2020.
  12. ^ "The Necessary Arthur". Tor.com. Tor. 8 July 2020.