Ian Watson books in order

Ian Watson (1943-2026) was a British science fiction writer whose debut novel, The Embedding (1973), won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. He was born in St Albans on 20 April 1943 and died in Gijón, Spain, on 13 April 2026, aged 82.

Watson graduated in English from Balliol College, Oxford, in 1963, then lectured in Tanzania (1965 to 1967) and Tokyo (1967 to 1970) before teaching Future Studies at Birmingham Polytechnic. His first SF story, "Roof Garden Under Saturn", appeared in New Worlds in 1969, and he became a full-time writer in 1976. The Embedding, published by Gollancz in 1973, explores language and perception; its French translation took the Prix Apollo in 1975. The Jonah Kit (1975) won the BSFA Award for best novel. Further novels include The Martian Inca (1977), Miracle Visitors (1978), God's World (1979), The Gardens of Delight (1980), Deathhunter (1981), the Black Current trilogy (1984 to 1985) and Whores of Babylon (1988). He also wrote Warhammer 40,000 fiction, including the Inquisition War novels, and more than 200 short stories. He is credited with the screen story of Steven Spielberg's film A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001). The European Science Fiction Society named him a Grandmaster in 2024.

For collectors: Watson's early novels were first published in hardback by Victor Gollancz in London, from The Embedding (1973) through The Jonah Kit, The Martian Inca, Miracle Visitors, God's World, The Gardens of Delight and Deathhunter, so the Gollancz firsts of the award-winning The Embedding and The Jonah Kit are the natural focus of a collection. Whores of Babylon first appeared as a Paladin paperback in 1988.