Introduction
George Mann (born December 22, 1978) is an author and editor, primarily in genre fiction. He was born in Darlington, County Durham, England in 1978. He works in Nottinghamshire and lives in Lincolnshire, England.
He is a former editor of Outland Magazine, and has also edited a number of anthologies including The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction (Volumes 1, 2 and 3), The Solaris Book of New Fantasy and two retrospective collections of Sexton Blake stories, Sexton Blake, Detective, which has an introduction by Michael Moorcock and Sexton Blake, Crime Fighter.
Mann is the author of The Human Abstract, The Severed Man, a novella in the series the Time Hunter, and co-author of the series finale, Child of Time.
He has also written numerous short stories, and original Doctor Who novels. In 2011 he wrote a new Sherlock Holmes audiobook as well.The novels The Affinity Bridge and The Osiris Ritual marked the beginning of his "Newbury and Hobbes" detective series.
Newbury and Hobbes and The Ghost
Mann has published four novels and several stories subtitled A Newbury & Hobbes- or A Maurice Newbury investigation. These are steampunk adventures, set in Victorian England, featuring Sir Maurice Newbury, a gentleman "investigator for the Crown" (reminiscent of Mycroft Holmes), and his assistant Miss Veronica Hobbes who, unbeknownst to him, is an agent of the Queen as well. This is an ongoing series that will consist of at least six novels.
In November 2012, Obverse Books released a Newbury and Hobbes Annual, with contents modelled on the World Distributor Annuals which were popular in the UK in the 70s and 80s.The Annual contains new stories, a boardgame, crossword and a comic strip, in the same manner as those earlier annuals.
Although not part of the Newbury & Hobbes series, Mann successfully continued to expand upon its setting with the novel Ghosts of Manhattan and its sequel Ghosts of War which are set in New York City during the Roaring Twenties; a future version of the Newbury & Hobbes universe. This series Mann has named The Ghost.