China Miéville is an award-winning English fantastic fiction writer. He is fond of describing his work as "weird fiction" and belongs to a loose group of writers sometimes called New Weird who consciously attempt to move fantasy away from commercial, genre clichés of Tolkien epigones. He is also active in left-wing politics as a member of the Socialist Workers Party. He has stood for the House of Commons for the Socialist Alliance, and published a book on Marxism and international law. He teaches creative writing at Warwick University. His first foray into the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting and game design itself took the form of a nation he contributed to the Guide to the River Kingdoms in 2010.
