Hal Duncan

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-11

Hal Duncan, born Alasdair Duncan on October 21, 1971, in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland, grew up in small-town Ayrshire before relocating to Glasgow, where he earned his degree from the University of Glasgow and still resides. He worked as a computer programmer until 2005, when he left the field to write full-time. Openly gay, Duncan has described himself using reclaimed language from hate mail he has received, and identifies politically as an anarcho-socialist, engaging actively in political discourse through both his fiction and public commentary. His debut novel, Vellum: The Book of All Hours (2005), depicts a metaphysical war between Heaven and Hell unfolding across fractured, overlapping realities, drawing on Sumerian mythology and classical tragedy; it won the Spectrum and Tahtivaeltaja awards and was nominated for the World Fantasy and Locus awards. Its sequel, Ink: The Book of All Hours 2 (2007), continues the story across the book's remaining structural seasons. He has also written the novella Escape from Hell! (2008) and the poetry collection Songs for the Devil and Death (2011). Duncan cites James Joyce, William S. Burroughs, H.P. Lovecraft, Philip K. Dick, and Jorge Luis Borges as key influences, and his fiction is known for its formally experimental, genre-resistant style. He won the Literary Death Match in Edinburgh in 2011 and served as a judge for the British Fantasy Awards in 2012.

Universe(s)

Books

• Vellum (2005) · The Book of All Hours Core Canon
• Ink (2007) · The Book of All Hours Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 2 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 3 (1 won, 2 nomination)

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