Steven Erikson is a contemporary Canadian popular fiction writer. He is also an archaeologist and anthropologist. He has produced numerous novels in the fantasy genre and is renowned for writing a ten-volume series, Malazan Book of the Fallen. Over a million copies of the books have been sold worldwide.
Born on October 7, 1959 in Toronto, Canada, Steve Rune Lundin grew up in Winnipeg. He adopted the pen name Steven Erikson as he earned reputation as a writer. He attended Iowa Writers’ Workshop and earned a degree in Archeology. As a part of his thesis, he wrote short stories on a Central American archaeologist, titled A Ruin of Feathers. In fact he was funded to complete his thesis which was later published by a Canadian publishing house. He also won the Anvil Press International 3-Day Novel Contest for writing Stolen Voices (1993). Erickson published another short story collection, Revolvo & Other Canadian Tales, which is marked as his third literary contribution.
Subsequently, he moved to England where he published, according to him, his first real novel. After briefly living in UK he returned to Winnipeg with his wife and son. With the publication of This River Awakens in 1998, he began writing under the pseudonym Steven Erikson. Erikson conceived of the Malazan world in collaboration with Ian Cameron Esslemont for a role-playing game. Gardens of the Moon was initially a concept for a movie script, which was later adapted into the novel form. However, the script remained unsold. In late 1990’s a publishing house Transworld bought the copyrights from Erickson and requested the follow-up books. As it happened, Erikson featured Malazan world in another nine volumes in the series.
Erikson has employed a sophisticated writing style in his works. He experimented with the conventions of the fantasy novels, as his characters are not bound by the stereotypes and divert from the traditional portrayal of them. The series has a unique plot which opens the story amid the plot instead of revealing everything at the beginning. Erickson tried to be original in his work so much so that he would willingly kill the central characters to suit the plot and to stir up emotions. Many of the critics consider his works to be the example of poststructuralist and postmodernist art.
Gardens of the Moon is marked as the first book in the Malazan series, published in 1999. It received rave reviews from fantasy readers and was shortlisted for a World Fantasy Award. Erickson’s first attempt at fiction writing solidified his position as a fantasy writer. His popularity grew with the publication of each volume. The second installment, Deadhouse Gates (2000), received innumerable votes and made it to the top ten best fantasy novels’ list issued by SF Site in 2000. A few other titles in the series include Midnight Tides (2004), Dust of Dreams (2009) and The Crippled God (2011).
The last book in Malazan Book of the Fallen series was published in 2011 but by popular demand Steven Erickson revived the Malazan world in the form of novellas and trilogies. In a conference in Washington in 2008, he shared his plans of continuing the Bauchelain and Korbal Broach storyline. The promised prequel trilogy has recently been published. The Kharkanas trilogy includes Forge of Darkness (2012), Fall of Light (2014) and Walk in Shadow is to be released soon. The trilogy details the history of Anomander Rake. Besides writing, Erickson also has a passion for oil painting.
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