Simon Mason (author)
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Simon Mason (born 5 February 1962) is a British author of juvenile and adult fiction,[1] and of non-fiction.
Biography
Simon Mason was born in
Children's and young adult fiction
In 2002, Mason wrote the children's series
The Quigleys marked the start of a series featuring the eccentric Quigley family and was short-listed for the Branford Boase Award in 2003.[3]
- The Quigleys, 2002
- Review, Hornbook Magazine 1 July 2002
- The Quigleys Not for Sale, 2004
- The Quigleys at Large. 2004.[4]
- Review, Washington Post, 7 March 2004
- Review Hornbook Magazine, 1 September 2003
- The Quigleys in a Spin[5]
- Review, Hornbook Magazine, 1 March 2006
- Review, Toronto Star, 11 June 2006
Mason's 2011 novel, Moon Pie,[6][7] published by David Fickling Books was short-listed for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.[8]
Julia Eccleshare, chair of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize judging panel, said: "How love is tested, challenged and threatened, but can ultimately hold families together is at the heart of Moon Pie. Martha is used to managing her father's sometimes erratic behaviour after her mother dies. Dealing with his oddities and caring for her small brother Tug seems not much stranger than her friend Marcus's obsession with Hollywood movies. But finally, even for her, it is all just a bit too much. This is a beautifully told story that is long on affection and short on preaching."[9]
The young adult murder mystery novel, Running Girl, published in 2014, features Garvie Smith "a combination of the eccentric and hardboiled detective types - a natural maths genius with an off-the-scale IQ who chooses to be a slacker."[10] It was shortlisted for the 2014 Costa Children's Book Award.[11] In 2016, the second Garvie Smith thriller, Kid Got Shot (Kid Alone in the US), was published, described in Crime Review as "clever, complex, original, and very, very absorbing".[12] It won the 2017 Crimefest Prize for Best Crime Novel for Young Adults.[13] The third novel in the series, Hey, Sherlock!, was published in 2019, described by Philip Pullman as "the most intriguing kind of whodunit", and welcomed by the Sunday Times as "irresistible . . . as twisty, clever and riveting as the others.".[14]
Adult novels
The Great English Nude, published by
The Great English Nude was published in the US as Portrait of the Artist with My Wife .[16]
Death of a Fantasist was published by
Lives of the Dog-Stranglers was published by Jonathan Cape in 1998. It is described as "Like any suburb in the south of England, Parkside's character is formed by rumour and fantasy and everyone is the figment of his neighbour's imagination: 'We're anything they want us to be - murderers, redheads, philanderers, dog-stranglers.' This is an elegant, savage farce of suburbia."[19][20]
A Killing in November (riverrun, 2022) is the first novel in an Oxford-set crime series featuring a mismatched pair of detectives both called Wilkins (Ryan, who grew up on a trailer park, and the suave and sophisticated Ray). Shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger, it was a
Non-fiction
He is the author of The Rough Guide to Classic Novels, in the Rough Guides series, published in 2003. It is described as "a consummate demonstration that it is possible to celebrate the finest achievements of the human race in the arts and humanities without couching them in forbidding academic language".[24]
Author Kate Mosse is quoted as saying "... it reads like a novel and it's partly because Simon is a really great writer... The thing that distinguishes Simon's book from the other guides that there have been in this area is he has squarely said it cannot be a classic if it's not entertaining"[25]
References
- ^ Kumar, Lisa. Something About the Author. Volume 178. Gale virtual reference library. Detroit, Mich: Thomson Gale, 2007.
- ^ Gruber, Marya Jansen [1], KidsReads
- ^ "Simon Mason". Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2011. David Higham Literary Film and TV Agents
- ^ Mason, Simon, and Helen Stephens. The Quigleys at Large. London: Corgi Childrens, 2004. (and other publishers in the US) WorldCat
- ^ WorldCat
- ^ Pauli, Michelle Simon Mason: Seriously funny, The Guardian, 29 July 2011
- ^ "Simon Mason". Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2011. David Higham Literary Film and TV Agents
- ^ Eccleshare, Julia Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, The Guardian, 4 June 2011
- ^ Pauli, Michelle [2], The Guardian, 29 July 2011
- ^ Review by Tony Bradman in the Guardian
- ^ Shortlist announcement in the Independent
- ^ Review by Linda Wilson in Crime Review October 2016
- ^ Crimefest Archive 2017 Awards
- ^ Review by Nicolette Jones in The Sunday Times September 2019
- ^ [3] Society of Authors
- ^ Kendall, Elaine BOOK REVIEW : Portrait of the Writer as a Drunk , LA Times, 3 May 1991
- ^ [4] Amazon.co.uk
- ^ Traugott, Maggie BOOK REVIEW / Manhattan mystery tour, The Independent
- ^ [5], Amazon.co.uk
- ^ "Simon Mason". Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2011. David Higham Associates
- ^ Smith, Joan Best Crime Books of 2022 So Far, Sunday Times
- ^ Smith, Joan Best Crime Books of 2023 So Far,Sunday Times
- ^ Sanderson, Mark Best New Crime Fiction for January 2022, Times
- ^ [6] Amazon.co.uk
- ^ [7] Amazon.co.uk
External links
- Simon Mason at Library of Congress, with 9 library catalogue records