Stephen Marley is a British author, voice director and video game designer. He was born in Derby of Irish parents and was educated in Bemrose School in Derby and at Nottingham. He graduated in Social Anthropology in 1971 in London, gained an M.Sc in the Sociology of Science in 1973 and worked on his Ph.D on ancient Chinese science while lecturing in Manchester. He gave up an academic career and took up writing full-time in 1985. From 1995 onwards he has also followed a parallel career in video games. In one game he designed on PlayStation, Martian Gothic, he voice directed, among others, Fenella Fielding and Julie Peasgood.

He has had eight novels published, the most recent a thriller entitled The Heresy. His third novel, Mortal Mask, was acclaimed 'his masterpiece' in the Clute/Grant The Encyclopedia of Fantasy.