George Mann is an author and editor, primarily in genre fiction. He was born in Darlington, County Durham in 1978. A former editor of Outland, Mann is the author of The Human Abstract, and more recently The Affinity Bridge and The Osiris Ritual in his Newbury and Hobbes detective series, set in an alternate Britain, and Ghosts of Manhattan, set in the same universe some decades later. He wrote the Time Hunter novella "The Severed Man", and co-wrote the series finale, Child of Time. He has also written numerous short stories, plus Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes audiobooks for Big Finish Productions. He has edited a number of anthologies including The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, The Solaris Book of New Fantasy and a retrospective collection of Sexton Blake stories, Sexton Blake, Detective, with an introduction by Michael Moorcock.
A seasonal offering from Obverse books, collecting some new and old tales about Mann's steam punk investigative duo. I read this on a plane to Thailand in the run up to Xmas, and particularly enjoyed the chance to bring some snow and Victoriana to my holiday. As well as fiction, there are crossword puzzles, cut and and keep stand up pictures, and more - captured the Xmas annuals of my youth splendidly. Much of the fiction is reprinted, though there's some new stuff propping it up, but this is perfect Xmas fun.
A fun little collection of short stories, illustrations, character profiles and games in the manner of old TV show annuals (with a Christmas theme). It would have been nice if it was a bigger size to ape those annuals, but that would have made it too expensive to do, and the pictures could have been sharper.
A good introduction for those new to Newbury & Hobbes and a nice addition to a fan collection.