Mike Ashley

Though he worked in local government until 1998, Mike Ashley has still managed to spend over fifty-five years collecting, reading and researching popular fiction, especially fantasy, supernatural, crime and science fiction. He has compiled or edited over 100 books including reference works for children, a biography of Algernon Blackwood and a five-volume series on the history of the science-fiction magazines, though he is probably best known for the many Mammoth Book anthologies he has compiled...See more

Though he worked in local government until 1998, Mike Ashley has still managed to spend over fifty-five years collecting, reading and researching popular fiction, especially fantasy, supernatural, crime and science fiction. He has compiled or edited over 100 books including reference works for children, a biography of Algernon Blackwood and a five-volume series on the history of the science-fiction magazines, though he is probably best known for the many Mammoth Book anthologies he has compiled. His Age of the Storytellers explores the British popular-fiction magazines from the 1880s to 1940s. He received the Pilgrim Award for Lifetime Achievement in science-fiction scholarship in 2002 and the Edgar Award for The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction in 2003. See less