NZ author & theatre director Philip Mann has passed

We are saddened to hear of the passing of author and leading theatre director Philip Mann.

Philip Mann was a leading light of the New Zealand theatre scene; in the 1970’s he was one of the original founding teachers of the drama department  at Victoria University. He was himself a hugely influential director who premiered works by many leading New Zealand playwrights such as Greg McGee, Renée, and Vincent O’Sullivan.

Philip Mann, as well as writing extensively for theatre and radio, was also the author of eleven science fiction novels  enjoying a successful career as a writer.  Amongst the many accolades to his work his novel The Disestablishment of Paradise was shortlisted for the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award  and in 2017 he was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to literature and drama. The Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction described his work as having “a strong visual and structural sense”.

His relatively low public profile as a science fiction writer once led to him being described as “the bestselling New Zealand author you’ve never heard off”. His final novel  Chevalier & Gawayn: The Ballad of the Dreamer was only recently released to coincide with his 80th birthday celebrations.

We have a wide selection of Mann’s works available to borrow for further details look below.

Pioneers / Mann, Phillip
“Human Pioneers, genetically modified to evlove rapidly and adapt to alien enviroments, have been sent to populate the universe. Then a cataclysmic event on Earth causes widespread sterility and the human race is threatened with extinction. A bold Fertility Programme is developed to retrieve the early Pioneers and their rich genetic heritage to replenish the human gene pool.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

 

Chevalier & Gawayn : The Ballad of the Dreamer / Mann, Phillip
“Once upon a time in the future, things are looking grim. Plague stalks the land, people live behind city walls, or underground, or huddle in remote ham-lets. No more animals, no more birdlife, no more freedom… never has the divide between rich and poor been so evident, never has the Earth been so despoiled, and never has the need for a hero been stronger. Enter Chevalier, an unassuming and mild-man-nered tax inspector by day but a secret law-breaker and risk-taker by night who decides to experiment with a new virtual reality headset…” ( Adapted from cover )

Master of Paxwax / Mann, Phillip
“The galaxy is dominated by humankind – but not by humanity. Any power once held by other intelligent life forms has been crushed; the Eleven Great Families rule empires across the stars. But the second son of the Fifth Family may be the catalyst to change all that.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

 

 

The disestablishment of paradise : a novel in five parts plus documents / Mann, Phillip
“Something has gone wrong on the planet of Paradise. The human settlers, farmers and scientists, are finding that their crops won’t grow and their lives are becoming more and more dangerous. The indigenous plant life, never entirely safe, is changing in unpredictable ways, and the imported plantings wither and die. And so the order is given, Paradise will be abandoned. All personnel will be removed and reassigned. And all human presence on the planet will be disestablished. Not all agree with the decision…” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Stand alone Stan / Mann, Phillip
“Britannia, 1993.In a world where the Roman legionaries never left Britain a man can walk from the walls of York – or Eburacum – to the southern seas without leaving the shade of the greenwood, inhabited by wildcats, wolves and bears, as well as the descendants of the folk who built Stonehenge. Solar-powered air cars journey along straight roads that connect them to the Roman settlements – and link them to the cities of a global empire .When a jealous feud forced three young people into the forest, they discovered an older Britain, where the rules of rational Rome no longer applied…” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The eye of the queen / Mann, Phillip
“Marius Thorndyke, the legendary contact linguist, willingly came out of retirement to meet with the Pe-Ellians when they asked for him. And he willingly returned to Pe-Ellia at their request. He was a veteran of contacts with alien species, but they had always been technologically inferior to Earth. The Pe-Ellians were different. Humanoid but twice the height of humans and sexless, they clearly came from a very advanced civilization: a civilization that understood the power of thought.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Wulfsyarn : a mosaic / Mann, Phillip
“The Nightingale was the most advanced craft in the entire fleet of Mercy ships belonging to the Gentle Order of St Francis Dionysos. On its maiden voyage, its life bays packed with refugees, the Nightingale disappeared. Despite strenuous efforts no trace of it could be found. Then, a year later, a distress signal was heard and the Nightingale reappeared. It was damaged in ways that meant its survival in space was a miracle. But of its previous cargo of life-forms there was no sign. Only one creature remained alive within the ship, and that was its captain, Jon Wilberfoss …” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The fall of the families / Mann, Phillip
“Pawl Paxwax is happy and in love. The war has ended, new wife Laurel is pregnant and his old friend Odin has returned to Pawl’s side. But deep in Elliott’s Pocket, the Emerald Lake is stirring… After the rise comes the fall, as the universe is plunged into darkness once more, in the stunning conclusion to the Gardener series.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

 

The fall of the families : book two, of the story of Paul Paxwax, the gardener / Mann, Phillip
“Vengeance of the oppressed… Pawl Paxwax was now Master of the eleven human families who rule the galaxy, and free to marry his loved one, the remarkable Laurel Beltane. But Pawl’s happiness was to be short-lived. The many oppressed alien species who paid dearly for humanity’s triumph were about to rise up in bloody retribution – with Pawl as their unwitting instrument. The Fall Families is the epic sequel to Master of Paxwax, an extraordinary interstellar revenge tragedy played out against an immense and powerfully imagined canvas of the far future.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Escape to the wild wood / Mann, Phillip
” In this world Rome never fell to the Barbarians, the legions never left Britain and now, in the late twentieth century, Rome is the capital of a vast global civilisation. Outside Eboracum, (or York as we know it), and dominating the city, is the Battle Dome, a vast hemisphere enclosing the artificial landscapes where the Games – as brutal, deadly and colourful as ever – are held. Here the destinies of three young people come together when a jealous feud forces them to flee the Dome and take refuge in the forest…” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The dragon wakes / Mann, Phillip
“The third in the Land Fit for Heroes series, set in an alternative modern Britain still ruled by the Roman Empire. Coll, Angus and Miranda must overcome the madness brought about by the Emperor, who intends to burn down the forests where the ancient Britons survive.” (Adapted from Catalogue)