Born in Liverpool. He graduated from Cambridge and Southampton universities, taught physics and mathematics, worked in the field of information technology for several years. The first story was published in 1989 in the journal “Interzone”. Since 1995 he has been a professional writer.
To date, he has published about a dozen novels, including “The Raft”, “Infinity”, “Anti-Ice”, “Fluctuation”, “Ships of Time”, “Travel”. Winner of the Philip Dick and John Campbell Prizes, as well as the British Science Fiction Association Prize and the Kurt Lasswitz Awards (Germany) and Seyun Awards (Japan).