Ian Watson (20 April 1943 – 13 April 2026) was a British science fiction writer who lived in Gijón, Spain.

Life and career

Ian Watson was born in St Albans, England, on 20 April 1943. In 1959, Watson worked as an accounts clerk at Runciman's, a Newcastle shipping company. The experience was not particularly satisfying.Afterword to The Gardens of Delight, Gollancz, 2007.

He graduated in English Literature from Balliol College, Oxford, in 1963. In 1965, he earned a research degree in English and French 19th-century literature.

Watson was an English lecturer at University College Dar es Salaam in Tanzania 1965–67, and at two universities in Tokyo 1967–70. He taught Future Studies at the Birmingham Polytechnic from 1970 to 1976. After 1976, he devoted himself to his career as a professional writer.

Watson was a prolific writer, who wrote more than two dozen novels, among them Miracle Visitors, God's World, The Jonah Kit and The Flies of Memory, as well as many collections of short stories. His first novel, The Embedding, winner of the Prix Apollo in 1975, is unusual for being based on ideas from generative grammar; the title refers to the process of center embedding. In 1977, The Jonah Kit won the BSFA Award for Best Novel.

During 1980, Watson and Michael Bishop wrote the first transatlantic SF novel collaboration, Under Heaven's Bridge, using typewriters and postal services.

In 1989, Watson made an extended appearance on television in Channel 4's After Dark series alongside Buzz Aldrin and Whitley Strieber among others.See production company website

Watson also wrote a series of novels relating to the Warhammer 40,000 line of games: Space Marine, and the Inquisition War trilogy of Inquisitor, Harlequin and Chaos Child (republished in 2002 by The Black Library, with Inquisitor retitled Draco). Other stories were published in US magazine Weird Tales, the Canadian anthology Lust For Life, New Writings in the Fantastic, the Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica volume 7, and in a few more books. Some of these stories have been translated into non-English languages. He is also credited as author of the screen story for the motion picture A.I. Artificial Intelligence.

A collaboration with Italian surrealist writer Roberto Quaglia produced the book The Beloved of My Beloved, launched during April 2009 during Eastercon. The Waters of Destiny series, co-written with Andy West, was published in 2012.

Watson died in Gijón on 13 April 2026, at the age of 82.

Bibliography

Novels Prix Apollo Award, 1975.

Orgasmachine. Paris: Editions Champ Libre, 1976.French language version of The Woman Factory, finally published in English in 2010 after being completely rewritten as Orgasmachine for a Japanese edition in 2001. The Martian Inca. London: Gollancz, 1977. Alien Embassy. London: Gollancz, 1977. Miracle Visitors. London: Gollancz, 1978. God's World. London, Gollancz, 1979. The Gardens of Delight. London: Gollancz, 1980. Deathhunter. London: Gollancz, 1981. Under Heaven's Bridge, with Michael Bishop. London: Gollancz, 1982. Chekhov's Journey. London: Gollancz, 1983. Converts. London: Granada, 1984 (paper). The Books of the Black Current: The Book of the River. London: Gollancz, 1984. The Book of the Stars. London: Gollancz, 1984. The Book of Being. London: Gollancz, 1985. Yaleen, omnibus edition. Dallas, TX: BenBella Books, 2004 Queenmagic, Kingmagic. London: Gollancz, 1986. The Power. London: Headline, 1987. Whores of Babylon. London: Paladin, 1988 (paper). Meat. London: Headline, 1988. The Fire Worm. London: Gollancz, 1988. The Flies of Memory. London: Gollancz, 1990. The Books of Mana: Lucky's Harvest. London: Gollancz, 1993. The Fallen Moon. London: Gollancz, 1994. Hard Questions. London: Gollancz, 1996. Oracle. London: Gollancz, 1997. Mockymen. Urbana, IL: Golden Gryphon Press, 2003. Orgasmachine. Alconbury Weston: NewCon Press, 2010. The Waters of Destiny (with Andy West) Assassins. Palabaristas Press, 2012 Tongue of Knowledge. Palabaristas Press, 2012 Death Overflows. Palabaristas Press, 2012

Warhammer 40,000 The Inquisition War trilogy: Inquisitor (vt 2002 Draco). Brighton: GW Books, 1990 (paper). Harlequin. London: Boxtree, 1994. Chaos Child. London: Boxtree, 1995. Space Marine. London: Boxtree, 1993 (paper). Shorts: The Alien Beast Within. GW Books, 1990.

Short fiction Collections The Very Slow Time Machine. London: Gollancz, 1979. Sunstroke and Other Stories. London: Gollancz, 1982. Slow Birds and Other Stories. London: Gollancz, 1985. The Book of Ian Watson. Willimantic: Mark V. Zeising, 1985. Evil Water and Other Stories. London: Gollancz, 1987. Salvage Rites and Other Stories. London: Gollancz, 1989. Stalin's Teardrops. London: Gollancz, 1991. The Coming of Vertumnus. London: Gollancz, 1994. The Great Escape. Urbana, IL: Golden Gryphon Press, 2002. The Butterflies of Memory. Harrogate: PS Publishing, 2006. Saving for a Sunny Day. Alconbury Weston: NewCon Press, 2012. The 1000 Year Reich. NewCon Press, 2016. StoriesShort stories unless otherwise noted. TitleYearFirst publishedReprinted/collectedNotesBlair's War2013 Breakfast in bed2015

Poetry

List of poems TitleYearFirst publishedReprinted/collectedCatalogue note by the artist2013

References

Other sources Contributors Bio for Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly

External links

Obituary at Locus magazine, 20 April 2026 Obituary by Lisa Tuttle at The Guardian, 15 May 2026 The Beloved of My Beloved, homepage of the 2009 book (Watson and Roberto Quaglia) , homepage of the 2012 trilogy (Watson and Andy West)