Ideas drive the narrative in all Terence Hawkins’s work. His first novel, The Rage of Achilles, is a deeply researched account of the Iliad that describes a Trojan War as it really happened, informed by the theory of the bicameral mind—now the basis for HBO’s Westworld. His second, American Neolithic, explores a dystopian near-future America from the point of view of the last surviving Neanderthals, who live in an abandoned warehouse on the Lower Easy Side. In naming it a Year’s Best, Kirkus Reviews called it “a towering work of speculative fiction.” These stories test the boundaries of science and superstition, reason and faith. They are for readers who can’t wait for the next season of Black Mirror and think the best thing about New Year’s is the Twilight Zone marathon on SyFy. Explore the limits. ======
Kirkus Reviews called Terence Hawkins' second novel, American Neolithic, "a towering work of speculative fiction" when naming it a Best Book of 2014. Julia Glass said, "You will be amazed at Terence Hawkins’s prodigious imagination, his Bowie-sharp wit, and the skill with which he tells a story."
Hawkins' first novel, The Rage of Achilles, is a prose account of the Iliad in modern and sometimes brutal prose. Based on the bicameral mind theories of Julian Jaynes--also the conceptual basis for HBO's Westworld--it describes not only an historical Trojan War, but a revolution in human consciousness.
His short stories have appeared in such publications as Calliope Crashes, Blue Mountain Review, Keyhole, Eclectica, and Pindeldyboz. His commentary has appeared in the New Haven Register and on Connecticut Public Radio. His most recent publication is an excerpt from a sequel-in-progress to American Neolithic provisionally entitled Rats' Alley.
Hawkins' was the founding director of the Yale Writers' Conference. In 2015, he capitalized on that experience to start the Company of Writers, offering editorial services, seminars, and workshops to authors at every stage in their careers.
He grew up in Uniontown, a coal town in southwestern Pennsylvania. Both grandfathers and several uncles were miners. He graduated from Yale, where he was Publisher of the Yale Daily News, and the University of Wisconsin Law School.
He lives in New Haven with the enigmatic yet pithy Mrs. H., his muse and keeper.