Biography
Manda Benson is a scientist and writer from the Midlands of England who has previously worked in research and taught science at undergraduate and A-Level. Manda's work includes:
Pilgrennon's Children, a technothriller series about an autistic girl with the power to mentally control computers and other devices, who discovers that she and a number of other children came about as a result of unethical genetic and technological experiments;
The Beasts trilogy, which explores a future vision of the age-old symbiosis between humans and animals, set in a meritocratic society where scientific advance has come at the cost of a widening gap between the haves and have-nots;
A handful of standalone science-fiction and thriller novels and novellas and middle-grade-children's novels and stories, and;
Numerous short fiction and nonfiction pieces in magazines and anthologies.
Manda Benson's publication list
Short Fiction
Shade, Xanax Hamster, December 2024. Contemporary ghost story with historical Midlands flavour.
Cold Shoulder, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, July 2023. A story about a young woman who is used to getting what she wants, and won't take no for an answer. (reprint)
Broken Circle, Titanic Terastructures, 2021. Science-fiction. A scientist's life's work is destroyed by her son's carelessness.
Pot Shot!, Hybrid Fiction 2020. Science-fiction-fantasy-history satire in which three people hunt genetically modified game on a terraformed asteroid. (They paid me for this story, but it was cancelled due to the pandemic)
Radiosynthesis, Primordial Magazine January 2018. Science fiction. Hard SF mystery about a space crew investigating a research colony where nearly everyone has inexplicably died.
In the Shadow of Lazarus science-fiction horror novella, Lyrical Press, February 2011. Republished in 2014 by Tangentrine. The motley crew of a space freighter fight for survival after becoming infected with a mysterious disease that turns them against each other and their own better judgement.Running for the Embassy, Aoife's Kiss March 2011. Science fiction. A British expat living in Japan finds himself investigating a smuggling ring when the ambassador dies under suspicious circumstances.
The Plains of Fire Aurora Wolf May 2010. Science fiction. A sexually dimorphic species of humans struggle for survival in a leadership crisis on Mars. This story was later selected to appear in Aurora Wolf's best best of anthology.
To the End of Eternity Weirdyear January 2010. Flash fiction, science fiction.
An astronaut has been sent on a mission of no return.
Cold Shoulder Golden Visions Magazine January 2010. Flash fiction, science fiction.
A story about a young woman who is used to getting what she wants, and won't take no for an answer. This was also one of the top three stories in the January issue, as voted for by readers, and appeared in the July print issue.
Three Gods Hypersonic Tales June 2009 science fiction, humour, flash fiction.
A boy and his dad and sister explore the ruins of civilisation in a postapocalyptic world, and reach an unconventional conclusion.
Crime, from a Different Perspective Anthology The Fat Man at the End of the World, December 2008 fantasy, humour. DI Floyd Fleming struggles to solve an impossible crime. He is hampered by both the perpetrator and his obnoxious boss who discriminates against him because of his weight, and helped by forensic scientist Jo Pike. Kind of like Mulder and Scully but British and with pies and Viz comics.
The Thirteenth Brigade, Jupiter October 2006, science fiction, humour.
When Colonel Moore's ice-boring team get locked out of their moon base on Ganymede and it becomes buried under 112 feet of rapidly cooling ice, it's up to them and the Thirteenth Brigade, an army of bionic cockroaches, to find a way back to Earth.
Nonfiction
Poisonous fungi a scientific/ informative article in Aquila children's magazine, October 2007
An example of one of my many unhealthy interests!
Novels
Pilgrennon's Children, a technothriller tetralogy
Pilgrennon's Beacon, Tangentrine, 2010.
Pilgrennon's Gambit, sequel to Pilgrennon's Beacon, Tangentrine, 2024
The Emerald Forge, sequel to Pilgrennon's Gambit, Tangentrine, 2012
The Lambton Worm, sequel to The Emerald Forge, Tangentrine, forthcoming 2025
Beasts, a science-fiction trilogy
Moonsteed first published 2011 by Lyrical Press. Second edition published by Kensington/Lyrical Press 2014. Republished 2024 by Tangentrine.
Sunhawk Forthcoming from Tangentrine.
Starhound Forthcoming from Tangentrine.
True Colours of the Chameleon, crime/romance thriller, Tangentrine, January 2014.
Dark Tempest science-fiction romance novel, published February 2010 by Lyrical Press, republished 2014 by Lyrical Press/Kensington. Dark Tempest reached #3 in science-fiction bestsellers on Fictionwise in March 2010.
The Weatherman's Niece, children's fiction, Tangentrine, October 2010.
Wastelander, children's fiction, published by Tangentrine, July 2010.
Competitions
Pilgrennon's Beacon 2011 quarterfinalist, Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest.
Jack of Savants science fiction, 2005 quarterfinalist, Writers of the Future
In the Shadow of Lazarus science fiction, 2006 semifinalist, Writers of the Future