This is the website of British SF and Fantasy writer Tony Ballantyne.
It used to be his blog, but the company hosting his old website has been sold to another larger company and they’re making a mess of the transfer.
He was thinking of moving his sites around anyway, so this has given him the nudge to get him going.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for, message him!
Use the links above to find out more about him, his books and short stories, or to contact him. Follow this link for tips and advice on How to Write
If you’ve found this page whilst looking for his work related to Computing, follow this link: https://notes.tonyballantyne.com
Tony Ballantyne 
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I have just finished reading “twisted metal” and “blood and iron” back to back,and what fantastic novels they both are,i hope your hard at work,writting another sequel.
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Glad you enjoyed them! The sequel is making slow but steady progress…
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Read the waters of meribah… I say to you…the universe DOES wish to know herself. Nature is by defaullt…. female. in glimples… only. Dost thou ?
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For the last 4 days I had been trying to remember/find a book I read some time ago that I absolutely adored. Having no luck, even after asking /r/scifi on reddit and the largest sci-fi group on GoodReads, I had been considering offering a $50 reward to anyone who found it for me. Today, someone named Divergence as a possible candidate for the book I was looking for, before I offered that reward. They were right. So I went onto Amazon and bought everything you’ve written because anything that causes me to want it that badly deserves my support. Thank you for writing, Tony. I don’t know how I’ll feel about the rest of your books, but I look forward to finding out.
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I’ve done that! I spent years trying to find a story I’d once read. It turned out it was Specialist, by Robert Sheckley. I went out and bought all his short story collections afterwards, they gave me a lot of pleasure. I hope you enjoy the rest of my books, too.
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I’ve been listening to the audiobooks of Twisted Metal and I absolutely love the narrator you chose to read it. I read the book before that, as well as Blood and Iron, but I reckon you’ve done a marvelous job. I love novels about robots and you really made it work. Thank you, and I look forward to the sequel when its good and ready. Good luck!
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Glad you enjoyed the books, Clarissa. I’m hoping to resume Penrose 3 after I’ve completed Dream Paris.
Sorry for the late reply, btw, I’ve just got back from Loncon
Best
Tony
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Hello please can you enlighten me about your inspiration for your books?
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Hi William
Everything, really. You could try reading these articles for more details… Hope they go some way to answering your questions
https://qnh.a53.myftpupload.com/why-i-wrote-dream-london/
Best
Tony
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I have just finished reading the second book of the Penrose Series “Blood and Iron”. Damn, I will be waiting for the third one. It is such a pleasure to read your prose. So subtle, clever and talented. Definitely, you are one of the most talented modern authors. Please, finish the third book!
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Hi Al
Glad you enjoyed it! I’m just finishing off Dream Paris at the moment, then I’m going to think about the Robots again…
Tony
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I’ve just started reading Dream London and it’s fantastic! I’ll be working my way through your back catalogue soon, well, after I’ve read Dream Paris of course!
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Thank you!
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Wondering when an entire novel devoted to that wonderfully named character Daddio Clarke might be appearing .I feel the world deserves it , especially now . Incidentally , his album “Wotsit 4” can be obtained by contacting [email protected]
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I fear the world will have to make do with Wotsit 4 for the moment. I’m sure that will be more than adequate compensation!
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The Recursion series is still my favorite AI-based book series ever and I’m glad you’ve started writing more to go into it. I just watched the movie Transcendence at the behest of a friend and it got me thinking about your series again, notably… with the whole of sci-fi writings available now, web comics and novels and so much more, I don’t think it’s possible to have a “bad” AI, anymore. Except in the grey-goo situation, where it’s not aware. The only bad AI is a dumb one.
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Thanks Michael. Hope you enjoy the new stories!
That’s an interesting idea, the only bad AI being a dumb one. Hmmm…
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Hurry up, it’s been ages for pentode 3.
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😉
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I dont know what a pentode is. Penrose. (God damb spell check) sorry Tony.
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I am a huge fan of your Penrose series. I first read the books when I was in the 6th and 7th grade. Now I am graduating high school. When will the sequel to this ultimate series come out?
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Delighted you enjoyed the books! I can confirm there will be a book 3. I can’t yet say when that will be. I will post here when I know more.
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This is fantastic to hear! Do you have a rough release year?
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Are we ever going to see the conclusion to the Penrose series? I’m not trying to sound bitter or attack you i m genuinely curious as to what is happening with the series. You seemed to have such a great narrative and yet its been so long. Please for all of us who are still eagerly waiting 10 year later, what is going on.
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Awesome novels, how are you progressing with Penrose 3?
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Thank you, Andrew!
I’d like to say I’d written loads, but unfortunately due to the pressures of the day job, I’ve written very little since we went into first lockdown. Here’s to a better 2021 for all of us!
Best
Tony
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Day job?
Alistair Reynolds is a physics lecturer or was, so I suppose he has a job too.
His new books are a bit @#%£ though.
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I’m also an Assistant Headteacher – you can read about it on my Tech blog (tech.tonyballantyne.com)
Al’s a friend of mine. He used to work for the European Space Agency, he’s been a full time writer for years.
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A teacher, I think that would probably taint my writing, wondering if students or parents would read something a bit on the sharp side.
I’ve got most of Alistair’s books, but since Blue remembered Earth I’ve not been too keen.
Thank you for your reply Tony. I had an image of a writer in a mansion by themselves tapping away on a typewriter, like in “the shining”.
I saw Terry Pratchetts’ office on a documentary, it was just an office. Not what I expected.
Cheers
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Have you see the How Writer’s Write section on this site? https://qnh.a53.myftpupload.com/how-to-write/how-writers-write/
It shows various writers’ workspaces.
Here’s how I’ve been trying to write: https://blog.tonyballantyne.com/2020/09/17/my-new-writing-regime/
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Thank you I’ll have a look.
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This is great advice! I learn something after reading your wonderful page. All the stuff above are very interesting and important in my writing project in the future.
You may visit my blog on 5 Things to Remember When Writing Fantasy Fiction
Hope this will help.
Thanks
Attilio
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Thank you! Glad you found it useful. I’m not sure why, but I don’t seem able to follow your link…
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I am starting reading your book Midway. It seems this is interesting, I can determine it from the introduction.
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Hope you enjoy it!
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