They include characters with supernatural powers and, in Prey of Gods, some advanced robots. Drayden’s first two books are set in a South Africa with an alternate history.

Together, Brown and Drayden serve as pretty decent endpoints if you’re looking for a spectrum of what science fiction can encompass today. “There’s a social community around that.” “Austin is really a great place for writers of fantastic fiction and has this really strong community of writers who are active in workshops like Turkey City and Slugtribe,” says Brown. “We’ve known each other for a long, long time to begin with, and we were both publishing short stories for a while,” Drayden says.Īfter years of slowly working their way up, they each landed their first book deal within two weeks of each other – and with the same editor no less, at Harper Voyager. They’re two writers whose careers began in earnest in the last five years but who have been working and cheering each other on for a lot longer than that. The great challenge of imagining the future exposes what we believe, hope, and fear for today’s world, the one we have no choice but to live in.īrown and Drayden will appear together (along with non-Texas writer Jen Julian) on a panel at the Texas Book Festival called “Transmissions From the Multiverse: Science Fiction in Several Styles.” They’ll discuss their different approaches to science fiction and what’s possible within the genre. Chris Brown (l) and Nicky Drayden It’s not just spaceships and aliens and robots – though there are plenty of those, too.

Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden