John Nunny

Born Alfred John Nunney in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in 1897. Nothing is known about his early life, but it is known that he served with the Machine Gun Corps, 9 London Rifles, during the First World War.

Nunney was already a commercial artist as early as 1923 around which time he was living at Lincoln's Inn, Holborn. He was married to Mignonette Ruby Gilham (1896-1982) in Medway, Kent, in 1924 and subsequently lived at 11 New Court, Carey Street, W.C.2 [fl.1927-33]. By the mid-1930s was living in New Maldon. His second marriage, to Joyce Eva Mary Miller (or Banfield) (1908-1974), took place in Surrey in 1939.

During his early career he would appear to have worked in advertising, including work for Johnnie Walker whisky in 1927. He also produced posters used to promote the war effort during the Second World War and, around 1947, a number of posters describing various aspects of education around the British Colonial Empire. He was represented by both W. Partridge and Rogers & Co. Contributed to Swift Annual and Bible Story.

Nunney, of 2 Sion Hill, Ramsgate, died 15 June 1966, leaving his estate of £7,000 to his widow. He was aged 68. Joyce Nunney died in Thanet, Kent, in 1974.

A number of posters by Nunney were sold at auction by Tennants Auctioneers in 2012.

 

 

Alan M. Streete (Sydney Street)

Alan M. Streete has an entry in The Author's and Writer's Who's Who which records his birth in Romsey, Hampshire, in 1911. He was educated at Ranelagh School, Athlone, and the Royal School, Cavan, both in Ireland. He also attended Trinity College, Dublin.

The entry records his marriage to Joan Gerada Marie Cavadino, which information reveals that Alan M. Streete was actually a pen-name for one Sydney Street. His birth, registered in Ringwood, Hamps., was on 26 January 1911 and he married in Edmonton, Middlesex, in 1934. A&WWW notes two sons: John A. Street, born in Edmonton in 1935 and Colin C. Streete (sic) born in Bromley. Kent, in 1945.

Sydney Street – born only a few weeks after the famous siege of Sidney Street in Stepney – became a schoolmaster and, based in Sydenham after the Second World War, founded the South London Writers Group, of which he was Honorary Secretary. He edited their journal, Streete Corner.

He contributed to John Hammerton's Second Great War, the New Book of Knowledge (War supplement), Sun, Sun, Sun, Mercury, Chamber's Journal, World Digest, Galaxy and other magazines. His interests were listed as tennis, swimming and fishing.

Street died in East Dorset in 1998.

James M. Small

I've always had a fascination for the post-war boom in writing when, despite the paper shortage, there seemed to be dozens of small magazines popping up all over the place to replace regular pre-war markets that had either folded or were stumbling on with reduced page counts. Perhaps the war itself, which resulted in the biggest upheaval in lives seen since the Great War, was partly responsible: young men, many of them away from home for the first time, might have picked up their pens and found comfort in writing – whether it was letters to their families or fiction.

During that post-war period, many new writers had brief writing careers and many of them are completely unknown.

James M. Small, for instance, had a small run of stories published by Gerald G. Swan in the period 1946-50.

Malorky's Lad (Boxing Shorts 2, Jun 1946)
Ghost Gun on the Prod (Hands Up Annual 1947, Nov 1946)
The Doctor Needs a Wife (Affinity, Jan 1947)
Gloves Off!(Scramble, Feb 1949)
Slippered Feet! (Scramble, Jun 1949)
The Fame of the Name (serial; Scramble, Dec 1949-2 Jan 1950)
Rosemary's Indian Prince (Romances, 3 Jun 1950)

Only one, "Ghost Gun on the Prod", was published by someone other than Swan, namely Western Book Distributors. A collecting pal of mine once owned a copy which may reveal the true name of the author, who had underlined the story on the table of contents and written his own name on the opening page of the story and on the reverse of the frontispiece.

His real name was Dennis Small and it would appear that he was a nurse. The information recorded in the book includes the fact that he attended Oxford University, from which he graduated with a BA, was an SRN and SEN (State Registered Nurse and State Enrolled Nurse) and served in the RAF. At the time the note was made, he was living at 25 North Road, Whitehall, Bristol.

Further digging through birth, death and marriage records turns up a possible suspect: Dennis Edward Small, born 19 September 1922, who died in Bristol in 1993. I can't say with any certainty that this is author Dennis Small, but he fits the bill.

Peter F Hamilton: Cover Gallery

Mindstar Rising
Pan Books 0330-32376-8, (Mar) 1993, 438pp, £4.99. Cover by Tom Stimpson
---- [18th imp.] 2006, 438pp, £7.99. Cover photo: Getty Images / des. blacksheep.co.uk
Pan Books 978-0330-53774-2, Oct 2011, £9.99. Cover by Steve Stone

A Quantum Murder
Pan Books 0330-33045-4, (Apr) 1994, 376pp, £4.99. Cover by Larry Rostant
---- [14th imp.] n.d., 376pp, £7.99. Cover by Jim Burns
---- [15th imp.] n.d., 376pp, £7.99. Cover by Jim Burns
---- [17th imp.] n.d. (c.2004?), 376pp, £7.99. Cover by blacksheep
Pan Books 978-0330-53775-9, Oct 2011, 387pp, £8.99. Cover by Steve Stone

The Nano Flower
Pan Books 0330-33044-6, (Feb) 1995, 566pp, £4.99. Cover by Larry Rostant
---- [6th imp.] n.d. [1999?], 566pp, £6.99. Cover by John Burns
---- [16th imp.] n.d. [c.2004?], 566pp, £8.99. Cover by blacksheep
Pan Books 978-0330-53781-0, Oct 2011, 598pp, £9.99. Cover by Steve Stone

The Reality Dysfunction (Macmillan, 1996)
Pan Books 0-333-67563-0 (tpb), (Jun) 1996, £954pp, £9.99. Cover by Jim Burns
Pan Books 0330-34032-8 [Export only] £5.99.
---- [2nd imp.] (Feb) 1997, 1225pp, £7.99. Cover by Jim Burns
---- [28th imp.] n.d., 1225pp £8.99. Cover by Jim Burns
Pan 978-1447-20857-0, Dec 2012, £9.99. Cover by Steve Stone

The Neutronium Alchemist (Macmillan, 1997)
Macmillan 0333-72244-2 (tpb), (Mar) 1998, 999pp, £10.99. Cover by Jim Burns
Pan Books 0330-35143-5, 1998, 1273pp, £7.99. Cover by Jim Burns
---- [22nd imp.] n.d., 1273pp, £8.99. Cover by Jim Burns
Pan Books 978-1447-20858-7, Dec 2012, £9.99. Cover by Steve Stone

The Web: Lightstorm
Dolphin 1858-81550-9, 1998, 112pp.

The Naked God (Macmillan, 1999)
Macmillan 0333-72503-4 (tpb), (Apr) 2000, 1174pp, £10.99. Cover by Jim Burns
Pan Books 0330-35145-1, (Oct) 2000, 1256pp, £7.99. Cover by Jim Burns
Pan Books 978-1447-20859-4, Dec 2012, £8.99. Cover by Steve Stone

Fallen Dragon (Macmillan, 2001)
Pan Books 0330-48006-5, (Jul) 2002, 808pp, £7.99. Cover by Jim Burns
Pan Books [10th imp.], n.d., 807pp, £8.99. Cover by Jim Burns
Pan Books [xth imp.]  (Jan 2006), £9.99. Cover by Jim Burns

Misspent Youth (Macmillan, 2002)
Pan Books 0330-48022-7, (Jul) 2003, 439pp, £6.99. Cover by Blacksheep/Image State
Pan Books 978-1447-22408-2, Mar 2013, £9.99. Cover by Steve Stone

Pandora's Star (Macmillan, 2004)
Pan Books 0330-49331-0, (Mar) 2005, 1144pp, £8.99. Cover by Jim Burns
---- [7th imp.] n.d., 1143pp, £8.99. Cover by Jim Burns.
Pan Books 978-0330-51891-8, Sep 2010, £9.99. Cover by Steve Stone

Judas Unchained (Macmillan, 2005)
Pan Books 0330-49353-1, (May) 2006, ix+1235pp, £7.99. Cover by Jim Burns
Pan Books 978-0330-51890-1, Sep 2010, £9.99. Cover by Steve Stone

The Dreaming Void (Macmillan, 2007)
Pan Books 0330-44302-X, 2008, 795pp.
Pan Books 978-1447-20856-3, Sep 2012, £9.99. Cover by Steve Stone

The Temporal Void (Macmillan, 2008)
Pan Books 0330-44303-8, 2009, 745pp.
Pan Books 0330-50788-5, 2009, 745pp, £8.99. Cover by Jim Burns
Pan Books [Xth imp.] Sep 2012, £9.99. Cover by Steve Stone

The Evolutionary Void (Macmillan, 2010)
Pan Books 978-0330-44317-3, 2011, 725pp, £8.99. Cover by Steve Stone

Great North Road (Macmillan, 2012)
Pan 978-0330-52177-2, 2013, 1104pp, £9.99. Cover by Steve Stone

The Abyss Beyond Dreams (2014)

Queen of Dreams: The Secret Throne (Macmillan Children's Books, 2015)
Macmillan Children's Books 978-1447-28865-7, 2015, 279pp, £6.99. Cover by Rohan Eason

The Night Without Stars (2016)
X

Queen of Dreams: The Hunting of the Princes (Macmillan Children's Books, 2016)
Macmillan Children's Books 978-1447-29114-5, 2016, 301+6pp, £6.99. Cover by Rohan Eason

Queen of Dreams: A Voyage Through Air (2017)
X

Salvation (2018)
X

Salvation Lost (2019)
X

The Saints of Salvation (2020)
X

Light Chaser (with Gareth L. Powell) (2021)
X

A Hole in the Sky (2021)
X

The Captain's Daughter (2022)
X

Queens of an Alien Sun (TBA)
X

COLLECTIONS

Softlight Sins
Birmingham Science Fiction Group, 1997

Watching Trees Grow
PS Publishing 1902-88015-3, 2000.
[b/w Tendeleo's Story by Ian McDonald] Gollancz 0575-07305-5, 2002, 110+103pp.

A Second Chance at Eden (Macmillan, 1998)
Macmillan 0333-73853-5 (tpb), (Mar) 1999, ix+431pp, £10.99. Cover by Jim Burns
Pan Books 0330-35182-6, 1999, x+496pp, £6.99. Cover by Jim Burns
---- [3rd imp.] n.d., x+496pp, £6.99.
---- [7th imp.] n.d. (2004?), x+496pp, £7.99.
Pan 978-1447-22414-3, Sep 2013, £8.99. Cover by Steve Stone

Manhattan in Reverse (Macmillan, 2011)
Macmillan 978-0230-75031-9, 2011. [tpb]
Pan 978-0330-52220-5, May 2012, 259pp, £7.99. Cover by Steve Stone

NON-FICTION

The Confederation Handbook (Macmillan, 2000)
Pan Books 0330-39614-5, (Oct) 2001, 231pp, £5.99. Cover by Jim Burns

KINDLE EDITIONS

Footvote (September 2011)
Cover by Steve Stone

The Demon Trap (September 2011)
Cover by Andrew Parkes