Gail Carriger

Gail Carriger (born May 4, 1976) is an American archaeologist and author of steampunk fiction. She was born in Bolinas, an unincorporated community in Marin County, California, and attended high school at Marin Academy. She received her undergraduate degree from Oberlin College, a masters of science in archaeological materials at England's University of Nottingham in 2000, and a master of arts in anthropology (with a focus on archaeology) at the University of California Santa Cruz in 2008. She is a 2010 recipient of the Alex Awards.

Novels

Carriger's first novel, Soulless, was published in 2009 by Orbit Books and earned her a nomination for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. The book was a Compton Crook Award nominee, a Locus Award finalist for Best First Novel, and Locus placed her on their recommended reading list. Her second novel, Changeless, was published in early 2010 and earned her a place on the New York Times Bestseller List. Her third novel, Blameless, was released in September 2010 and also became a New York Times bestseller. The five-book series continued with Heartless in late June 2011 and concluded with Timeless in March 2012. Carriger was the guest of honor at FenCon, a science fiction convention in Dallas, Texas, in September 2011. Carriger lists "P. G. Wodehouse, Austen, Dickens, and Victorian travel journals" as influences on her writing.

Carriger's series for young adults, the four-book Finishing School series, launched with Etiquette & Espionage in February 2013 and was an instant New York Times bestseller. The Finishing School series takes place in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate series, featuring an earlier generation of characters. Book two in the Finishing School series, Curtsies & Conspiracies, was released in November 2013. In July 2012, final cover art and synopsis for Etiquette & Espionage were revealed along with the announcement of an additional series set in the Parasol Protectorate world, titled The Custard Protocol. The first novel in the Custard Protocol series was called Prudence, followed by Imprudence, Competence, and Reticence. The Supernatural Society and Delightfully Deadly novellas are also set in the Parasolverse.

Carriger's paranormal romance series, The San Andreas Shifters, written under the name G.L. Carriger, launched in 2017 with The Sumage Solution. The series is based on her previously published short story, Marine Biology, and is set in her home county of Marin, California.

Carriger also has a science fiction universe, the Tinkered Stars, which began with YA space adventure story Crudrat. Begun as a Kickstarter, Crudrat was first published as a full cast audio in 2014, and then reissued in print in 2022. The second book in the universe is sci fi cozy mystery, The 5th Gender, was published in 2019 and written under the G.L. Carriger name. She also has a YA space opera trilogy in this universe, the Tinkered Starsong series, which launched with the book Divinity 36, first published in 2023.

Cultural references

Deathless is a 21-player Live action role-playing game run at Phenomenon Role-playing Convention during 2017 in Canberra, Australia, based on Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series.

The Curious Case of the Corpsified Contact is a 5-player Live action role-playing game run at Phenomenon Role-playing Convention during 2019 in Canberra, Australia, based on Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series.