John Crowley (1) (1942–)
Author of Little, Big
For other authors named John Crowley, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
John Crowley was a recipient of the American Academy & Institute of Arts & Letters Award for Literature. He lives in the hills above the Connecticut River in northern Massachusetts with his wife & twin daughters. (Bowker Author Biography)
Image credit: Photo by Zoe Crowley
Series
Works by John Crowley
Gone {story} 4 copies
Missolonghi 1824 {story} 3 copies
Exogamy {short story} 2 copies
Where Spirits Gat Them Home 1 copy
Associated Works
The Norton Book of Science Fiction: North American Science Fiction, 1960-1990 (1993) — Contributor — 315 copies
The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy (2004) — Contributor — 270 copies
American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from the 1940s to Now (2009) — Contributor — 268 copies
The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Fiftieth Anniversary Anthology (1999) — Contributor — 118 copies
The Chemical Wedding: by Christian Rosencreutz: A Romance in Eight Days by Johann Valentin Andreae in a New Version (2016) — Editor, some editions — 104 copies
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction September 1996, Vol. 91, No. 3 (1996) — Contributor — 12 copies
Fantastic Imaginings: A Journey Through 3500 Years of Imaginative Writing, Comprising Fantasy, Horror, and Science… (2012) — Contributor — 4 copies
Misunderstanding Cad First Contact SF Masterpiece Selection — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Crowley, John Michael
- Birthdate
- 1942-12-01
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Presque Isle, Maine, USA
- Places of residence
- Presque Isle, Maine, USA
Vermont, USA
Kentucky, USA
Indiana, USA
New York, New York, USA - Education
- Indiana University (1965)
- Occupations
- senior lecturer (creative writing)
filmmaker
fantasy writer - Organizations
- Yale University
- Awards and honors
- World Fantasy Award (Life Achievement, 2006)
American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award (Literature, 1992) - Agent
- Howard Morhaim (Lotts Agency)
Members
Discussions
Little, Big 25th Anniversary Edition in Fine Press Forum (August 2023)
Little, Big in Hogwarts Express (April 2013)
Fantasy Novel in Name that Book (October 2010)
Reviews
Lists
Five star books (1)
Favourite Books (2)
SF Masterworks (2)
Same Title (1)
Faerie Mythology (1)
Unread books (1)
Magic Realism (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 39
- Also by
- 51
- Members
- 11,505
- Popularity
- #2,043
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 269
- ISBNs
- 246
- Languages
- 11
- Favorited
- 108
Crowley went for the first option - he started with a small change but wrapped it into a secret society and time travel. And yet, the novella works because its internal logic makes sense inside of its own framework.
Cecil Rhodes's real life reads as a story even without embellishments. His will established the Rhodes Scholarship - which is probably the first thing a modern reader think of when they hear his name. His story in Africa may be colorful and his name may be living in a lot of local names (past and current) but I'd admit that I knew very little about him before I met him in this novella (and then went to check how much of what was in the text was true - the answer ended up being "a lot").
It all started really innocently - a young man invented a time machine and went back in time to get a rare stamp. Things did not go exactly as expected and before long the reality he started from seemed to have changed - the British Empire never fell, a time traveling society had been meddling and ensuring that the Empire will stand forever and history as we know it had become a bit less stable. So where does Rhodes come into play you wonder? Well, he had the money and he had the right upbringing and mindset - setting up a scholarship while making sense before his death did not really match his thoughts earlier in his life. So what if he never managed to get to the later stage of his life and never got disillusioned with the Empire?
For most of the novella, the reader needs to pick up from sometimes very subtle clues what kind of reality the text is talking about - ours, the one where Rhodes dies even younger than in ours or something totally different. It could have been frustrating but it ends up fascinating - Crowley's handling of the real history works flawlessly in its merging of the story of a young man, Winterset, who is asked to go back in time and undo a change which brought what he thinks of the real history. There are some places where the text could have stalled but somehow it never happens - the necessary confusion for the story to work ends up being the strength of the novella. And by the end of it, by the time when the reader knows a lot more about that world than any of the characters, it all gets tied together - all the way back to where we started with that rare stamp.
This story is exactly what science fiction (and fantasy) is really good at - looking at real life issues with a different lens. In this case, it is colonialism and the British Colonial Service - the format allows the exploration not only of what had been but of what could have been (both good and bad). The ending may feel unresolved - the story is closed but there is enough of an opening for everyone, including the reader and Winterset, to realize that this may not be the end.
I am not surprised the novella won the World Fantasy Award (even if it is nominally a science fiction story, there are some elements to push it to the border between the two genres or even over into fantasy) - if anything, I am surprised it did not win more awards. I am glad to have finally found it.… (more)