'Stephen Baxter really does stand on the shoulders of giants in order to see further than they did ... THE TIME SHIPS is a brilliant piece of work. It is a sequel in the best possible sense.' Interzone 'The most outstanding work of imaginative fiction since Stapleton's LAST AND FIRST MEN ... I'm almost tempted to say (I know this is blasphemy) that the sequel is better than the original ...' Arthur C. Clark 'Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein succeeded in doing it, but very few others. Now Stephen Baxter joins their exclusive ranks. The reaction is that which C. S. Lewis referred to when he described science fiction as the only genuine consciousness-expanding drug.' New Scientist

Stephen Baxter applied to become an astronaut in 1991. He didn't make it, but achieved the next best thing by becoming a science fiction writer, and his novels and short stories have been published and have won awards around the world. His science background is in maths and engineering. He is married and lives in Northumberland.