Alastair Reynolds (Born in 1966) was born in Barry, South Wales. This place might not be the idea of everyone as the ideal place for a writer of science fiction to be born, but Reynolds reckons it would be hard to beat compared to other places. From his grandmother’s house, the view of the Bristol Channel was very clear, having a stream of banana boats going to and coming from the docks, something that seemed endless. His father was a civil engineer and his works took the family to Cornwall when Reynolds was still very young; they lived in and around Truro. Since 1973, Reynolds had not returned to Truro, but in 2012, he was surprised by how easily he was able to orientate himself in the town after about 40 years.
Cornwall aside, the artist also has strong connections to the West Country from his father’s side of the family. His sister was born in Cornwall, so h has even stronger claims to that part of the country. In 1973, the family returned to Wales, and after a short period his family settled around Bridgend, where Reynolds was to remain until he went to join university. By the time they left Cornwall, his love for fiction (science) had already developed. Other than the apparent televisual influences, he was strongly captivated by the feature film version of The Time Machine by HG Wells, as well as by Fantastic Voyage, a film about a submarine (miniaturized) being injected into a living person.
