Adam Roberts was born in 1965; he went to school in England, to university at Aberdeen and has a PhD in English and Classics from Cambridge. He currently works for Royal Holloway, University of London, teaching English Literature. Amongst his many academic publications is a critical guide to SF, Science Fiction (Routledge New Critical Idiom, 2000). His fiction includes Salt (2000); On (2001); a novella, Park Polar (2001); Stone (2002); Polystom (2003); The Snow (2004); Gradsil (2006); and a collection of short fiction. He has been nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award twice.