1.
Science fiction magazine
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A science fiction magazine is a publication that offers primarily science fiction, either in a hard copy periodical format or on the Internet. Science fiction magazines traditionally featured speculative fiction in short story, novelette, novella or novel form, many also contain editorials, book reviews or articles, and some also include stories in the fantasy and horror genres. The most influential British science fiction magazine was New Worlds, newer British SF magazines include Interzone, many science fiction magazines have been published in languages other than English, but none has gained worldwide recognition or influence in the world of anglophone science fiction. There is a trend toward important work being published first on the Internet. A web-only publication can cost as little as one-tenth of the cost of publishing a print magazine, moreover, the magazine is internationally accessible, and distribution is not an issue – though obscurity may be. Web-based magazines tend to favor shorter stories and articles that are read on a screen. From 1926 until the early 1950s, American science fiction magazines were the sources of written science fiction. Today, there are relatively few paper-based science fiction magazines, the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, was published in a format known as bedsheet, roughly the size of Life but with a square spine. Later, most magazines changed to the magazine format, roughly the size of comic books or National Geographic. Science fiction magazines in this format often feature non-fiction media coverage in addition to the fiction, knowledge of these formats is an asset when locating magazines in libraries and collections where magazines are usually shelved according to size. The premiere issue of Amazing Stories, edited and published by Hugo Gernsback, after many minor changes in title and major changes in format, policy and publisher, Amazing Stories ended January 2005 after 607 issues. Before that consolidation, it ran 128 issues, much fiction published in these bedsheet magazines, except for classic reprints by writers such as H. G. Wells, Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe, is only of antiquarian interest. Some of it was written by science fiction fans, who were paid little or nothing for their efforts. Jack Williamson for example, was 19 when he sold his first story to Amazing Stories and his writing improved greatly over time, and until his death in 2006, he was still a publishing writer at age 98. Some of the stories in the issues were by scientists or doctors who knew little or nothing about writing fiction. The Gostak and the Doshes is one of the few stories from that era still widely read today, other stories of interest from the bedsheet magazines include the first Buck Rogers story. Armageddon 2419 A. D, by Philip Francis Nowlan and The Skylark of Space by E. E. Smith and Mrs. Lee Hawkins Garby, both in Amazing Stories in 1928. There have been a few attempts to revive the bedsheet size using better quality paper
2.
Imagination (magazine)
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Imagination was an American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in October 1950 by Raymond Palmers Clark Publishing Company. The magazine was successful than most of the numerous science fiction titles launched in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Despite this success, the magazine had a reputation for low-quality space opera and adventure fiction, Hamling consciously adopted an editorial policy oriented toward entertainment, asserting in an early issue that science fiction was never meant to be an educational tour de force. Dick, Robert A. Heinlein and John Wyndham, American science fiction magazines first appeared in the 1920s with the appearance of Amazing Stories, a pulp magazine published by Hugo Gernsback. By the late 1940s the market began to recover again, from a low of eight active magazines in 1946, the field expanded to 20 in 1950, and a further 22 had commenced publication by 1954. Imagination was launched in the middle of this publishing boom, the groundwork was laid in 1947, when Clark Publishing, the company that would publish the first issue of Imagination, was incorporated in Evanston, Illinois, by Raymond Palmer. Both of these magazines listed their editor as Robert N. Webster, at the 1949 World Science Fiction Convention in Cincinnati, held over the weekend of 3–5 September, Palmer announced that he had left Ziff-Davis and described his plans for Clark Publishing. He also met and hired Bea Mahaffey, a 21-year-old science fiction fan attending her first convention, with Fate and Other Worlds launched, Palmer began to plan for a new magazine, to be called Imagination. Material for the first two issues had been assembled by mid-1950, but in the early summer Palmer fell down his basement stairs and was paralyzed from the waist down. While he was hospitalized, much of the work of editing both Other Worlds and Imagination was done by Mahaffey, who coped well, despite her inexperience, an assistant, Marge Budwig Saunder, was hired to read the slush pile and help out. The magazines first issue, dated October 1950 on a planned bi-monthly schedule, in 1954 Hamling started a companion magazine, Imaginative Tales, in addition, his company Greenleaf Publishing was the publisher of Rogue, a mens magazine modelled after Playboy. In 1957 the liquidation of American News Company, a major distributor, independent distributors often required that the magazines be monthly, and that they be in a larger format than the digest-size common in science fiction magazines. The larger format required higher revenue to be profitable, but in cases it proved impossible to attract the additional advertising income that would have kept the magazines afloat. By the end of 1958, many titles had disappeared as a result, with Imagination one of the victims, the last issue of Imagination was October 1958, the 63rd issue, while Imaginative Tales, retitled Space Travel, ceased with the November 1958 issue. Circulation figures were not required to be published annually until the 1960s, the cover story for the first issue was The Soul Stealers by Chester S. Geier, a regular in the Ziff-Davis magazines Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures. The story was a fantasy tale of Leeta, a beautiful woman from another dimension stealing the souls of men to try to save her father. The cover illustration, by Hannes Bok, showed Leeta on her flying steed, Other contributors included Rog Phillips, another prolific magazine author, and Kris Neville, whose first story had been published only the year before. Nevilles work appeared regularly in the first few years of the magazine, other contributors included Dwight V. Swain, Daniel F. Galouye
3.
E. E. Smith
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Edward Elmer Smith was an American food engineer and an early science-fiction author, best known for the Lensman and Skylark series. He is sometimes called the father of space opera, Edward Elmer Smith was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin on May 2,1890, to Fred Jay Smith and Caroline Mills Smith, both staunch Presbyterians of British ancestry. His mother was a born in Michigan in February 1855, his father was a sailor. They moved to Spokane, Washington, the winter after Edward Elmer was born, in 1902, the family moved to Seneaquoteen, near the Pend Oreille River, in Kootenai County, Idaho. He had four siblings, Rachel M. born September 1882, Daniel M. born January 1884, Mary Elizabeth born February 1886, and Walter E. born July 1891 in Washington. In 1910, Fred and Caroline Smith and their son Walter were living in the Markham Precinct of Bonner County, Idaho, Smith worked primarily as a manual laborer until he injured his wrist, at the age of 19, while escaping from a fire. He attended the University of Idaho and he entered its prep school in 1907, and graduated with two degrees in chemical engineering in 1914. He was president of the Chemistry Club, the Chess Club, and the Mandolin and Guitar Club, whether the two were related is not known. On October 5,1915, in Boise, Idaho he married Jeanne Craig MacDougall, Jeanne MacDougall was born in Glasgow, Scotland, her parents were Donald Scott MacDougall, a violinist, and Jessica Craig MacLean. Her father had moved to Boise when the children were young, jeannes mother, who remarried businessman and retired politician John F. Kessler in 1914 worked at, and later owned, a boarding house on Ridenbaugh Street. The Smiths had three children, Roderick N. born June 3,1918, in the District of Columbia, was employed as an engineer at Lockheed Aircraft. Verna Jean, born August 25,1920, in Michigan, was his literary executor until her death in 1994, Robert A. Heinlein in part dedicated his 1982 novel Friday to Verna. Clarissa M. was born December 13,1921, in Michigan, after college, Smith was a junior chemist for the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, DC, developing standards for butter and for oysters. He may have served as a lieutenant in the U. S. Army during World War I, but details are unknown. His draft card, partly illegible, seems to show that Smith requested exemption from service, based on his wifes dependence. One evening in 1915, the Smiths were visiting a classmate from the University of Idaho, Dr. Carl Garby. He lived nearby in the Seaton Place Apartments with his wife, a long discussion about journeys into outer space ensued, and it was suggested that Smith should write down his ideas and speculations as a story about interstellar travel. Although he was interested, Smith believed that thought that some romantic elements would be required
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Ben Bova
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Benjamin William Ben Bova is an American writer. Ben Bova was born on November 8,1932 in Philadelphia and he graduated from South Philadelphia High School in 1949 and has been inducted into the SPHS Cultural Hall of Fame in recognition of his achievements. In 1953, while attending Temple University in Philadelphia, he married Rosa Cucinotta, they had a son, in that same year he married Barbara Berson Rose. Barbara Bova died on September 23,2009, Bova dedicated his 2011 novel, Power Play to Barbara. In March 2013, he announced on his website that he had remarried, Bova was an avid fencer in his younger days and organized Avco Everetts fencing club. Bova is an atheist and is critical of what he sees as the nature of religion. He wrote a piece in 2012, in which he argued that atheists can be just as moral as religious believers. Bova worked as a writer for Project Vanguard in the 1950s. When they conducted research in lasers and fluid dynamics, at Avco Everett he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz. In 1972, Bova became editor of Analog Science Fact & Fiction, at Analog, Bova won six Hugo Awards for Best Professional Editor. Bova served as the advisor for the failed television series The Starlost. His novel The Starcrossed, loosely based on his experiences, featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend, Bova dedicated the novel to Cordwainer Bird, the pen name Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project. In 1974, he wrote the screenplay for an episode of the childrens television series Land of the Lost. After leaving Analog in 1978, Bova went on to edit Omni, Bova holds the position of President Emeritus of the National Space Society and served as President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America from 1990 to 1992. He appeared as the Guest of Honor at the Florida convention Necronomicon in 1995 and 2011, in 2000, he attended the 58th World Science Fiction Convention as the Author Guest of Honor. In 2007, Stuber/Parent Productions hired him as a consultant to provide insight into what the world may look like in the future, for their film Repo Men starring Jude Law. Also in 2007 he provided consulting services to Silver Pictures on the adaptation of Richard K. Morgans hardboiled cyberpunk science-fiction novel Altered Carbon. He was awarded the Robert A. Heinlein Award in 2008 for his work in science fiction
5.
Dune prequel series
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The Dune prequel series is a sequence of novel trilogies written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Set in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert, the novels place in various time periods before. Starting with 1999s Dune, House Atreides, the duo have published ten Dune prequel novels to date, in 2011 Publishers Weekly called the series a sprawling edifice that Frank Herbert’s son and Anderson have built on the foundation of the original Dune novels. Dune itself is frequently cited as the science fiction novel in history. It won the 1966 Hugo Award and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel, Herbert wrote five sequels, and the first two were presented as a miniseries in 2003. Prelude to Dune is a trilogy of novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. The series takes place in the leading up to the events in the original novel Dune. In 1997, Bantam Books made a $3 million deal with the authors for three Dune prequel novels that would come to be known as the Prelude to Dune trilogy, the novels draw from notes left behind by Frank Herbert after his death in 1986. Dune, House Atreides debuted at #13 on the New York Times Best Seller list, Dune, House Harkonnen debuted at #11 on the same list, and rose to #8 its second week. The third installment, Dune, House Corrino, debuted at #8 on the New York Times list, Legends of Dune is a prequel trilogy of novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in Frank Herberts Dune universe. It also explores the origins of the families and organizations that populate the distinctive universe in other Dune works, the Titans soon make the transition into cyborgs called cymeks, through the use of specialized interfaces, their brains are installed inside giant, mobile, mechanized bodies. These fearsome, weaponized bodies make the Titans virtually immortal — and their rule lasts for a century. For over 900 years the Titans live in servitude to Omnius, cruelly subjugating humanity, quelling human insurrections. At the time of the Legends of Dune series, over 500 planets — called the Synchronized Worlds — are under complete machine control, their former human populations either enslaved or killed. The relatively few planets of remaining free humans are united under the League of Nobles and this crusade against the machines lasts for nearly a century, with much loss of human life but ending in human victory at the Battle of Corrin. Dune, The Butlerian Jihad rose to #7 on The New York Times Best Seller list in its week of publication. Dune, The Machine Crusade debuted at #7 on the list, the third installment, Dune, The Battle of Corrin, reached #9 on the New York Times list. Heroes of Dune is a tetralogy of novels by Brian Herbert
6.
Brian Herbert
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Brian Patrick Herbert is an American author who lives in Washington state. He is the son of science fiction author Frank Herbert. Brian Herberts novels include Sidneys Comet, Prisoners of Arionn, Man of Two Worlds, in 2003, Herbert wrote a biography of his father, Dreamer of Dune, The Biography of Frank Herbert. The younger Herbert has edited The Songs of Muaddib and the Notebooks of Frank Herberts Dune, Brian has also created a concordance for the Dune universe based on his fathers notes, though, according to the younger Herbert, there are no immediate plans to publish it. The duo began with the trilogies Prelude to Dune and Legends of Dune, Brian and Anderson next published Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune, two sequels to Frank Herberts original Dune series which was left incomplete after his 1986 death. These novels are based on an outline and notes left behind by Frank Herbert for what he referred to as Dune 7, in 2008, Brian and Anderson began publishing Heroes of Dune, a series of four novels which take place between the novels of Frank Herberts original series. Married since 1967, Herbert and his wife, Jan Herbert, have three daughters named Julie, Kim, and Margaux Beverly, Herbert also has an elder half-sister, Penny, their younger brother, LGBT rights activist and photographer Bruce Calvin Herbert, died in 1993. October 7,2008 Brian Herbert Interview with AMCtv. com Modern Signed Books BlogTalkRadio Interview with Rodger Nichols about The Little Green Book of Chairman Rahma
7.
Kevin J. Anderson
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Kevin James Anderson is an American science fiction author with over 50 bestsellers. He has written novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A. E. and The X-Files. His original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series and the Nebula Award-nominated Assemblers of Infinity, Anderson has published over 120 books, over 50 of which have been on US and international bestseller lists, and he has more than 23 million books in print worldwide. His wife is author Rebecca Moesta and they currently reside near Monument, Colorado. Kevin J. Anderson was born March 27,1962 in Racine, according to Anderson, The War of the Worlds greatly influenced him. He wrote his first story at eight years old entitled Injection, at ten, he bought a typewriter and has written ever since. In his freshman year in school, he submitted his first short story to a magazine. When it was accepted, they paid him in copies of the magazine, in his senior year, he sold his first story for money for $12.50. For 12 years Anderson worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Anderson would later marry Moesta, and frequently coauthors novels with both her and Beason. Andersons first novel, Resurrection, Inc. was published in 1988 and his 1993 collaboration with Beason, Assemblers of Infinity, was nominated for both a Nebula and Locus Award. Anderson wrote The X-Files novels Ground Zero, Ruins and Antibodies, Ground Zero reached #1 on the London Sunday Times Best Seller List and Ruins made the New York Times Best Seller list. Contracted to write novels in the Star Wars expanded universe, Anderson published the Jedi Academy trilogy in 1994 and he and Moesta also wrote the 14-volume Young Jedi Knights series from 1995 to 1998. In 1997, Anderson and Brian Herbert signed a $3 million deal with Bantam Books to coauthor a prequel trilogy to the 1965 novel Dune and its five sequels by Herberts deceased father, Frank Herbert. Starting with 1999s Dune, House Atreides, the ongoing Dune prequel series has expanded to ten novels to date, in 2011 Publishers Weekly called the series a sprawling edifice that Frank Herbert’s son and Anderson have built on the foundation of the original Dune novels. Between 2011 and 2014, Anderson and Herbert also released their Hellhole trilogy of novels unrelated to Dune, the following year he also wrote the novelization for the 2004 film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Between 2002 and 2008, Anderson published a seven novel original space opera series called The Saga of Seven Suns, in 2014 he began publishing a sequel trilogy called The Saga of Shadows. Anderson published four novels and two stories in his Dan Shamble, Zombie P. I. series between 2012 and 2014. In 2012, Anderson penned a novelization of Clockwork Angels, an album by the Canadian rock band Rush, in 2011, Anderson and Moesta founded their own publishing imprint, WordFire Press, to reissue some of their out-of-print books in paperback and/or e-book formats
8.
Isaac Asimov
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Isaac Asimov was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. He was known for his works of fiction and popular science. Asimov was a writer, and wrote or edited more than 500 books. His books have published in 9 of the 10 major categories of the Dewey Decimal Classification. Asimov wrote hard science fiction and, along with Robert A. Heinlein, Clarke, he was considered one of the Big Three science fiction writers during his lifetime. Asimovs most famous work is the Foundation Series, his major series are the Galactic Empire series. The Galactic Empire novels are set in earlier history of the same fictional universe as the Foundation series. He wrote hundreds of stories, including the social science fiction Nightfall. Asimov wrote the Lucky Starr series of juvenile science-fiction novels using the pen name Paul French, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as much nonfiction. Most of his science books explain scientific concepts in a historical way. He often provides nationalities, birth dates, and death dates for the scientists he mentions, as well as etymologies, Asimov was a long-time member and vice president of Mensa International, albeit reluctantly, he described some members of that organization as brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs. He took more joy in being president of the American Humanist Association, the asteroid 5020 Asimov, a crater on the planet Mars, a Brooklyn elementary school, and a literary award are named in his honor. His exact date of birth within that range is unknown, the family name derives from a word for winter crops, in which his great-grandfather dealt. This word is spelled озимые in Russian, and азімыя in Belarusian, phonetically, both words are almost identical because in Russian О in the first unstressed syllable is always pronounced as А. Accordingly, his name originally was Исаак Озимов in Russian, however, he was known in Russia as Ayzek Azimov. Asimov had two siblings, a sister, Marcia, and a brother, Stanley, who was vice-president of New York Newsday. His family emigrated to the United States when he was three years old, since his parents always spoke Yiddish and English with him, he never learned Russian, but he remained fluent in Yiddish as well as English. Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, Asimov taught himself to read at the age of five, after becoming established in the U. S. his parents owned a succession of candy stores, in which everyone in the family was expected to work
9.
Foreigner universe
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The Foreigner universe is a fictional universe created by science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. The series centers on the descendants of a ship lost in transit from Earth en route to found a new space station. It consists of a series of semi-encapsulated trilogy arcs that focus on the life of Bren Cameron, the human paidhi, currently eighteen novels have been published between 1994 and 2017. Cherryh has also self-published two ebook short story prequels to the series, Deliberations and Invitations, Cherryh calls the series First Contact. Trilogy arc 1 Foreigner -- Bren Cameron is whisked out of the capital and must deal with his new situation, Phoenix is carrying colonists and equipment to establish a new space station to extend Earths interstellar trade empire. Sketched in the preamble is the effort to refuel Phoenix in the environs of a hostile sun. Lost to this effort are many of the best and bravest of the crew, the habitable environment that the damaged starship can reach is the homeworld of the atevi, a green and living world, already populated by aliens with steam age technology. The humans build their station in orbit around the atevi world, the Pilots Guild, comfortable with the power it has accrued during the emergency, and stripped of its best elements by the battle to refuel, has become oppressive and oligarchic. When the refueled Phoenix leaves to explore the space and establish a further station the colonists become restless. On the surface the humans encounter the atevi, a race of ebon-skinned humanoids, Atevi possess no directly corresponding concept of liking or loving another person, but instead place utmost importance on a concept called man’chi, most directly analogous to loyalty. Manchi is not merely a construct, but is an intrinsic drive, a natural instinct to follow a leader. After an initial period of peaceful co-existence, cross-cultural misunderstandings lead to the War of the Landing, despite their vast technological advantage the colonists lose, and swiftly. In the aftermath of the war, the government abandons the island of Mospheira to allow the establishment of an enclave for the human colonists. Only one human, the paidhi, is allowed to live among atevi, all communication between the atevi and the humans is via this single point of contact. On the island of Mospheira the colonists prosper, the colonists on Mospheira are comfortable and self-absorbed. The atevi are close to parity, and have outpaced the humans in some areas. Against this background the main story of the first book of the series unfolds as, unknown to the main protagonist, paidhi Bren Cameron, Phoenix returns to orbit. The remaining books focus on the interrelations among Bren Cameron, Tabini, his associates, the human enclave of Mospheira, the humans aboard Phoenix
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C. J. Cherryh
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Carolyn Janice Cherry, better known by the pen name C. J. Cherryh, is an American writer of speculative fiction. She has written more than 60 books since the mid-1970s, including the Hugo Award-winning novels Downbelow Station and Cyteen and she is known for world building, depicting fictional realms with great realism supported by vast research in history, language, psychology, and archeology. Her series of novels set in the Alliance-Union universe, the Morgaine Stories, have sold in excess of 3 million copies. Cherryh appended a silent h to her name because her first editor, Donald A. Wollheim. Her initials, C. J. were used to disguise the fact that she was female at a time when almost all science fiction authors were male, the author has an asteroid,77185 Cherryh, named after her. Referring to this honor, the asteroids discoverers wrote of Cherryh, Cherryh was the Guest of Honor at FenCon IX in Dallas/Fort Worth on September 21–23,2012. Cherryh was born in 1942 in St. Louis, Missouri and raised primarily in Lawton and she began writing stories at the age of ten when she became frustrated with the cancellation of her favorite TV show, Flash Gordon. In 1964, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin from the University of Oklahoma, with specializations in archaeology, mythology. In 1965, she received a Master of Arts degree in classics from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, after graduation, Cherryh taught Latin, Ancient Greek, the classics, and ancient history at John Marshall High School in the Oklahoma City public school system. While her job was teaching Latin, her passion was the history, religion, during the summers, she would conduct student tours of the ancient ruins in England, France, Spain, and Italy. In her spare time, she would write, using the mythology of Rome, in fact, Cherryh did not consider writing short stories until after she had several novels published. Instead, Cherryh wrote novels in her time away from teaching. Initially, she met little success. In fact, she was forced to some of her early works when various publishers lost the manuscripts she submitted. Retyping from carbon copies of her manuscripts was cheaper than paying for photocopying and her breakthrough came in 1975 when Donald A. Wollheim purchased both manuscripts she had submitted to DAW Books, Gate of Ivrel and Brothers of Earth. It was a set of characters I’d invented when I was, oh, so it was an old favorite of my untold stories, and ended up being the first in print. The two novels were published in 1976, Gate of Ivrel preceding Brothers of Earth by several months, the books won her immediate recognition and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1977. Other companies that have published her novels include Baen Books, HarperCollins, Warner Books and she published six additional novels in the late 1970s
11.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
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Legend of the Galactic Heroes, also known as LOTGH, is a series of science fiction novels written by Yoshiki Tanaka. In humanitys distant future, two interstellar states - the monarchic Galactic Empire and the democratic Free Planets Alliance - are embroiled in a never-ending war. The story focuses on the exploits of rivals Reinhard von Lohengramm and Yang Wen Li as they rise to power and fame in the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance respectively. An anime adaptation of the novels, produced by Kitty Films and animated for the most part by Artland and Magic Bus, There is also a manga based on the novels, with art by Katsumi Michihara. In addition, there are video game adaptations with the most recent release in 2008 being a real-time strategy game. He also moves the capital of the Empire to the planet Odin and these people set up the Free Planets Alliance, a democratic republic, using the Space Era calendar, founding the Alliance in SE 527/IC 218/AD3327 on the planet Heinessen. In SE 640/IC 331/AD3440 the first battle between the Empire and Alliance occurs, resulting in a major Alliance victory, the two realms have been at war ever since. A third realm is also set up, the Dominion of Fezzan and it technically remains a part of the Empire and pays tribute, but it also maintains a relationship with the Alliance. The story is staged in the distant future within our own Milky Way Galaxy, a portion of the galaxy is filled with terraformed worlds inhabited by interstellar traveling human beings. For 150 years two mighty space powers have intermittently warred with each other, the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance. Within the Galactic Empire, based on mid 19th century Prussia and he is driven by the desire to free his sister Annerose, who was taken by the Kaiser as a concubine. Later, he not only to end the corrupt Goldenbaum dynasty but also to defeat the Free Planets Alliance. In the Free Planets Alliance Star Fleet is another genius, Yang Wen Li and he originally aspired to become a historian through a military academy, and joined the tactical division only out of need for tuition money. He was rapidly promoted to an admiral because he demonstrated excellence in military strategy in a number of decisive battles and he becomes the archrival of Reinhard, though they highly respect one another. Unlike Reinhard he is known for his underdog victories and accomplishments in overcoming seemingly impossible odds. As a historian, Yang often predicts the motives behind his enemies and narrates the history of his world. One of his famous quotes is, There are few wars between good and evil, most are between one good and another good, besides the two main heroes, the story is full of vivid characters and intricate politics. All types of characters, from nobility, admirals and politicians
12.
Ender's Game
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Enders Game is a 1985 military science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. Set in Earths future, the novel presents an imperiled mankind after two conflicts with the buggers, an alien species. The book originated as the short story Enders Game, published in the August 1977 issue of Analog Science Fiction, elaborating on characters and plot lines depicted in the novel, Card later wrote additional books to form the Enders Game series. Reception of the book has generally been positive and it has also become suggested reading for many military organizations, including the United States Marine Corps. Enders Game won the 1985 Nebula Award for best novel and the 1986 Hugo Award for best novel and its sequels, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind and Ender in Exile, follow Enders subsequent travels to many different worlds in the galaxy. In addition, the later novella A War of Gifts and novel Enders Shadow take place during the time period as the original. A film adaptation of the name written for the screen and directed by Gavin Hood. It has also adapted into two comic series. Humanity, having begun to explore the Universe and master interplanetary spaceflight, the discovery of a bugger forward base in the asteroid Eros leads to war between the species and the destruction of a bugger colonizing force. The battle to recapture Eros results in the discovery of advanced alien technology, political conflicts on Earth between three ruling parties, the Hegemon, Polemarch, and Strategos, are put aside in the face of the threat from the buggers. Ostensibly in preparation for the third invasion, an International Fleet is established. Increasingly advanced starships are built and secretly launched to attack the home worlds. To develop commanders capable of defeating the much larger forces, the I. F. creates a crash training program for children with the best strategic minds. Protagonist Andrew Ender Wiggin is one of the schools trainees and he has a close bond with his sister Valentine, but fears his brother Peter, a highly intelligent sociopath. The I. F. remove Enders monitoring device, seemingly ending his chances of Battle School, Ender beats up Stilson before the fight is broken up, unknown to Ender, the fight was fatal to Stilson. When explaining his actions to I. F, colonel Hyrum Graff, Ender states his belief that, by showing superiority now, he has prevented future struggle. Graff, on hearing of this, offers Ender a place in the Battle School, situated in Earths orbit, the cadets participate in competitive war simulations in zero gravity, where Enders innovations overwhelm his opponents. Graff promotes Ender to a new army composed of raw recruits and he forms bonds of friendship, loyalty and trust with several of his current and former squad members
13.
Orson Scott Card
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Orson Scott Card is an American novelist, critic, public speaker, essayist, and columnist. He writes in several genres but is known best for science fiction and his novel Enders Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the only author to win both science fictions top U. S. prizes in consecutive years. A feature film adaptation of Enders Game, which Card co-produced, was released in late October 2013 in Europe and on November 1,2013, a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, Card is a practicing member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In addition to producing a body of fiction works, he has also offered political, religious. Card is the son of Willard Richards Card and Peggy Jane, the third of six children, Card was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Santa Clara, California as well as Mesa, Arizona and Orem, Utah. He served as a missionary for the LDS Church in Brazil and graduated from Brigham Young University, for part of the 1970s Card worked as an associate editor of the Ensign, an official magazine of the LDS Church. Card lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, a place that has played a significant role in Enders Game, Card began his writing career primarily as a poet, studying with Clinton F. Larson at BYU. He also explored fiction writing, beginning with stories that eventually evolved into The Worthing Saga, meanwhile, he took part-time employment as a proofreader at BYU Press, then made the jump to full-time employment as a copy editor. In 1976, in the midst of a paid role performing in the churchs musical celebrating Americas Bicentennial, he secured employment as an assistant editor at the Ensign and it was while working at Ensign that Card published his first piece of fiction. His short story Gert Fram appeared in the July 1977 fine arts issue of that magazine under the pseudonym Byron Walley and he wrote the short story Enders Game while working at the BYU press, and submitted it to several publications. The idea for the novel of the same title came from the short story about a school where boys can fight in space. It was eventually purchased by Ben Bova at Analog Science Fiction and Fact and he returned to full-time employment as the book editor for Compute. Magazine in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1983, in October of that year, a new contract for the Alvin Maker trilogy allowed him to return to freelancing. Enders Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead were both awarded the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, making Card the only author to win both of science fictions top prizes in consecutive years. Card has also announced his plan to write Shadows Alive, a book that connects the Shadow series and he later also wrote the first formic war saga, Earth Unaware, Earth Afire, and Earth Awakens as a prequel to the Ender novels. This trilogy relays, among other things, the history of Mazer Rackham, the film was made several years later, and released in 2013, with Asa Butterfield in the title role and Gavin Hood directing. He collaborated with Star Wars artist Doug Chiang on Robota and with Kathryn H. Kidd on Lovelock and he has since branched out into other areas of fiction with novels such as Lost Boys, Treasure Box and Enchantment. Other works include the novelization of the James Cameron film The Abyss, outside the world of published fiction, Card contributed dialog to at least three video games, Loom, The Secret of Monkey Island and The Dig in the early 1990s
14.
Vorkosigan Saga
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The Vorkosigan Saga is a series of science fiction novels and short stories set in a common fictional universe by American author Lois McMaster Bujold. The first of these was published in 1986 and the most recent in 2016, works in the series have received numerous awards and nominations, including three Hugo award wins. Bujold’s approach varies, sometimes crossing genres, all the novels include humor and comedy, sometimes very black and juxtaposed with tragic deaths or losses. She mixes military adventure, political thriller, romance, and the whodunit in various proportions. The point of view characters include women, a gay man, and a pair of brothers, one of whom is disabled, an important concern of the series is medical ethics. The author focuses on problems of identity, particularly the role of the physical in determining personhood. Some stories explore the relationships among child-rearing, pair-bonding, and sexual activity, the various forms of society and government Bujold presents often reflect contemporary politics. Miles Vorkosigan, the protagonist of most of the series, is the son of a Betan mother, as in Isaac Asimovs earlier Foundation series, humanity has colonized a galaxy in which there are no competing intelligent species. The first successful colony was Beta, since that time, dozens of planets now host divergent, evolving cultures. Travel between star systems is possible by wormholes, spatial anomalies which allow instantaneous “jumps” between widely separated locations. The systems are known collectively as the Wormhole Nexus, typically wormholes are bracketed by space stations, military or commercial, which provide ports for jump travel. Stations may be owned by governments, or by specific commercial organizations. Most star systems have at most one planet which has been made habitable for humans, in most cases, there is a single government which dominates the entire planet. Both Cetaganda and Barrayar have empires, acquired by conquering other planets via neighboring wormholes, the Betan Survey Service, in which Cordelia Naismith is a captain at the beginning of Shards of Honor, maps unexplored sectors of the Nexus and explores new systems for habitable planets. Bujold pays token attention to the variations in time units from planet to planet. Moreover, days are calculated in terms of a “standard hour” no matter how long they are, Bujold herself has commented that her posited system is neither technologically nor economically feasible, but is rather a convenience for storytelling. Some inventions, such as the replicator, have an important thematic role. Many of her devices, however, simply give a futuristic gloss to the life of the distant future
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Lois McMaster Bujold
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Lois McMaster Bujold is an American speculative fiction writer. She is one of the most acclaimed writers in her field, having won the Hugo Award for best novel four times, matching Robert A. Heinleins record and her novella The Mountains of Mourning won both the Hugo Award and Nebula Award. In 2011 she was awarded the Skylark Award, in 2013 she was awarded the Forry Award. The bulk of Bujolds works comprises three separate series, the Vorkosigan Saga, the Chalion Series, and the Sharing Knife series. Bujold is the daughter of Robert Charles McMaster and attributes her early interest in fiction, as well as certain aspects of the Vorkosigan Saga. He was editor of the monumental Nondestructive Testing Handbook generally referred to as McMaster on Materials, Bujold writes that her experience growing up with a world-famous father is reflected in the same experience that her characters have of growing up in the shadow of a Great Man. Having observed this tendency in both genders, she wonders why it is called great mans son syndrome, and never great mans daughters syndrome. Her brother, an engineer like their father, helped provide details to support her writing of Falling Free. She is divorced and has two children, her daughter Anne Bujold is a Portland, Oregon metal artist, welder, lois Bujold wrote three books before The Warriors Apprentice was accepted after four rejections. The Warriors Apprentice was the first book purchased, though not the first Vorkosigan book written, on the strength of The Warriors Apprentice, Baen Books agreed to a three-book deal to include the two bracketing novels. Thus began her career in writing in science fiction, by 2010, Baen Books claimed to have sold 2 million copies of Bujolds books. The series also includes prequels starring Miles parents, along with companion novels centered on secondary characters. Earlier titles are generally firmly in the opera tradition with no shortage of battles, conspiracies. In A Civil Campaign, Bujold explores yet another genre, a high-society romance with a plot that pays tribute to Regency romance novelist Georgette Heyer and it centers on a catastrophic dinner party, with misunderstandings and dialogue justifying the subtitle A Comedy of Biology and Manners. The author has stated that the structure is modeled after the Horatio Hornblower books. In themes and echoes, they also reflect Dorothy L. Sayers mystery character Lord Peter Wimsey, most recent printings of her Vorkosigan tales do include an appendix at the end of each book, summarizing the internal chronology of the series. Bujold has discussed her own views on the reading order for the Vorkosigan series in her blog. Bujold also wanted to break into the genre, but met with early setbacks
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Iain Banks
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Iain Banks was a Scottish author. He wrote mainstream fiction under the name Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, after the publication and success of The Wasp Factory, Banks began to write on a full-time basis. His first science book, Consider Phlebas, was released in 1987. His books have been adapted for theatre, radio and television, in 2008, The Times named Banks in their list of The 50 greatest British writers since 1945. In April 2013, Banks announced that he had cancer and was unlikely to live beyond a year. Banks was born in Dunfermline, Fife, to a mother who was an ice skater. An only child, Banks lived in North Queensferry until the age of nine, Bankss family then moved to Gourock due to the requirements of his fathers work. When someone introduced him to science fiction by giving him Kemlo, after attending Gourock and Greenock High Schools, Banks studied English, philosophy and psychology at the University of Stirling. After graduation Banks chose a succession of jobs that left him free to write in the evenings and these posts supported his writing throughout his twenties and allowed him to take long breaks between contracts, during which time he travelled through Europe and North America. He was an expediter analyser for IBM, a technician for the British Steel Corporation, Banks decided to become a writer at the age of 11. He completed his first novel The Hungarian Lift-Jet at 16 and his second novel TTR during his first year at Stirling University in 1972, after the publication and success of The Wasp Factory, Banks began to write full-time. His editor at Macmillan, James Hale, advised him to one book a year. His second novel Walking on Glass was published in 1985, the Bridge followed in 1986, and Espedair Street, published in 1987, was later broadcast as a series on BBC Radio 4. His first published fiction book Consider Phlebas was released in 1987 and was the first of several novels of the acclaimed Culture series. Banks cited Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C, clarke, Brian Aldiss, M. John Harrison and Dan Simmons as literary influences. The Crow Road, published in 1992, was adapted as a BBC television series, Banks continued to write both science fiction and mainstream novels, with his final novel The Quarry published in June 2013, the month of his death. Banks published work under two names and his parents had intended to name him Iain Menzies Banks, but his father made a mistake when registering the birth and Iain Banks became the officially registered name. Despite this error, Banks used the name and submitted The Wasp Factory for publication as Iain M. Banks
17.
Hyperion Cantos
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The Hyperion Cantos is a series of science fiction novels by Dan Simmons. Within the fictional storyline, the Hyperion Cantos is a poem written by the character Martin Silenus. All four novels were nominated for various science fiction awards. An event series is being developed by Bradley Cooper, Graham King, first published in 1989, Hyperion has the structure of a frame story, similar to Geoffrey Chaucers Canterbury Tales and Giovanni Boccaccios Decameron. The story weaves the interlocking tales of a group of travelers sent on a pilgrimage to the Time Tombs on Hyperion. The travelers have been sent by the Church of the Final Atonement, alternately known as the Shrike Church, as they progress in their journey, each of the pilgrims tells their tale. This book concludes the story begun in Hyperion and it abandons the storytelling frame structure of the first novel, and is instead presented primarily as a series of dreams by John Keats. The story commences 272 years after the events in the previous novel, few main characters from the first two books are present in the later two. The main character is Raul Endymion, an ex-soldier who receives a sentence after an unfair trial. He is rescued by Martin Silenus and asked to perform a series of rather extraordinarily difficult tasks, the main task is to rescue and protect Aenea, a messiah coming from the distant past via time travel. The Catholic Church has become a dominant force in the human universe, the group of Aenea, Endymion, and A. Bettik evades the Churchs forces on several worlds, ending the story on Earth. This final novel in the series finishes the story begun in Endymion, expanding on the themes in Endymion as Raul and Aenea battle the church and it then inspired his short story Remembering Siri, which eventually became the nucleus around which Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion formed. After the quartet was published came the short story Orphans of the Helix, Orphans is currently the final work in the Cantos, both chronologically and internally. The original Hyperion Cantos has been described as a novel published in two volumes, published separately at first for reasons of length. A large number of elements are acknowledged by Simmons to be inspired by elements of Out of Control, The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems. The Hyperion series has many echoes of Jack Vance, explicitly acknowledged in one of the later books, the title of the first novel, Hyperion, is taken from one of Keatss poems, the unfinished epic Hyperion. Similarly, the title of the novel is from Keats poem Endymion. Quotes from actual Keats poems and the fictional Cantos of Martin Silenus are interspersed throughout the novels, Simmons goes so far as to have two artificial reincarnations of John Keats play a major role in the series
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Stephen R. Donaldson
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Stephen Reeder Donaldson is an American fantasy, science fiction and mystery novelist, most famous for The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, his ten-novel fantasy series. He earned his bachelors degree from The College of Wooster and a Masters degree from Kent State University and he currently resides in New Mexico. In the United Kingdom he is usually called Stephen Donaldson, Donaldson spent part of his youth in India, where he attended what is now the Kodaikanal International School. He was attending Kent State University as a student at the time of the Kent State shootings on May 4,1970. Though he was not on campus at the time of the shootings, his apartment was one and a half blocks away, Donaldson does not like to discuss the incident, as he finds the memories disturbing. Donaldson is a fan of opera, and has said that he love that direct expression of emotion in beautiful sound. In 1994, he gained a black belt in Shotokan karate, Donaldson is part of the generation of fantasy authors which came to prominence in the 1970s and early 1980s. Like that of many of his peers, his writing is influenced by the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. However, Donaldsons stories show a range of other influences, including Mervyn Peake, C. S. Lewis, Robert E. Howard. Donaldson is also a fan of Roger Zelaznys Amber novels. Also, in the Gradual Interview section of his website, Donaldson mentions his extensive study of Joseph Conrad, Henry James and William Faulkner to further develop his narrative style. Donaldsons most celebrated series is The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, which centers on a cynical leper, shunned by society, who is destined to become the heroic savior of an alternative Earth. Covenant struggles against the tyrannical Lord Foul, who intends to break the physical universe in order to escape his bondage and wreak revenge upon his arch enemy, the Chronicles were originally published as two trilogies of novels between 1977 and 1983. According to his current publisher, Putnams, those two series sold more than 10 million copies, a third series, The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, began publication in 2004 with the novel The Runes of the Earth. With the second book of series, Fatal Revenant, Donaldson again attained bestseller status when the book reached number 12 on the New York Times Bestseller List in October 2007. The first concerns an ensign in the United Mining Companies Police, Morn Hyland, each of the epics takes place against the backdrop of a threat to human survival itself from an alien species called the Amnion who use genetic mutation as a way to assimilate and overcome. Trade in raw materials is carried out with the Amnion in exchange for technology, some illegals trade in Amnion territorial space, referred to as forbidden space, out of bounds to the UMCP by treaty. Donaldson wrote the series in part to be a reworking of Wagners Ring Cycle, the Gap of the title refers to the faster-than-light drives used by the space vessels in order to cross great distances, an instantaneous occurrence similar to the notion of folding space
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Stephen Baxter (author)
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Stephen Baxter is a British hard science fiction author. He has degrees in mathematics and engineering, strongly influenced by SF pioneer H. G. Wells, Baxter has been a distinguished Vice-President of the international H. G. Wells Society since 2006. His fiction falls into three categories of original work plus a fourth category, extending other authors writing, each has a different basis, style. Baxters Future History mode is based on research into hard science and these stories begin in the present day and end when the Milky Way galaxy collides with Andromeda five billion years in the future. The central narrative is that of Humanity rising and evolving to become the second most powerful race in the universe, next to the god-like Xeelee. The Manifold Trilogy is another example of Baxters future history mode, in 2013, Baxter released his short story collection entitled Universes which featured stories set in Flood/Ark, Jones & Bennet and Anti-Ice universes. Baxter signed a contract for two new books, titled Proxima and Ultima, both of which are names of planets, and they were released in 2013 and 2014, a second category in Baxters work is based on readings in evolutionary biology and human/animal behaviour. Elements of this appear in his histories, but here it is the focus. The major work in this category is Evolution, which imagines the evolution of humanity in the Earths past, a third category of Baxters fiction is alternate history, based on research into history. These stories are more human, with characters portrayed with greater depth, the novel Anti-Ice is an earlier example of Baxters blending of alternate history with science fiction. In 2009, Baxter became a judge for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History, another category, outside of the main body of Baxters independent work, is sequels and installments of science-fiction classics. His first novel to achieve wide recognition was The Time Ships, the Time Odyssey series, a trilogy co-authored with Arthur C. Clarke, is connected to Clarkes four Space Odyssey novels, another novel is based on a synopsis written by Clarke, The Light of Other Days. Baxter has also published a Doctor Who novel, The Wheel of Ice, in 2010, Baxter began working on a new series with Terry Pratchett. This collaboration has produced five books, The Long Earth, The Long War, The Long Mars, The Long Utopia, Baxter has also written non-fiction essays and columns for such publications as Critical Wave and the British SF Associations Matrix. Baxters story Last Contact was nominated for the 2008 Hugo Award for best short story, Baxter taught maths, physics, and information technology before becoming a full-time author in 1995. He is also an engineer and fellow of the British Interplanetary Society. Stephen Baxters official website Stephen Baxter at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
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Honorverse
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The Honorverse refers to the military science fiction book series, its two sub-series, two prequel series, and anthologies created by David Weber and published by Baen Books. They are centred on the space navy career of the principal protagonist Honor Harrington, the books have made The New York Times Best Seller list. The series follows Honor Harrington, military heroine and later, influential politician, during a time of extreme interstellar change and tension. Most of the more than 20 novels and anthology collections cover events between 4000 and 4022 AD with PD dating beginning with a dispersal to the stars from our sun in 2103 AD. The main series novels are set primarily in a timeline beginning 40 years after Harringtons birth on October 1,3962 AD, the political makeup and history of the series frequently echoes actual history, particularly that of Europe in the last half of the second millennium. The series is modeled on the Horatio Hornblower series by C. S. Forester. Weber originally planned for Harrington to die in the fifth book, in this scenario, proxies for Manticore and Haven oppose the same hidden enemy, the genetic slavers and powers behind the government and corporations of the planet of Mesa. The Mesan Alignments navy has new technology and conducts an attack on Manticore in 1922 PD during the twelfth mainline novel. This makes the staunchly anti-genetic-slavery star nations of Haven, Manticore, the Crown of Slaves sub-series books and last two mainline Honorverse novels detail the rising extent of this threat. The thirteenth mainline novel, A Rising Thunder, ties together events in both sub-series and synchronizes the timeline of each sub-series with Honor Harringtons mainline novels, many of Webers books are available at the Baen Free Library, chapters of some texts are otherwise available online. Early daughter colonies also spawned colonies, forming networks of related populations. Long-established and advanced daughter colonies like Beowulf mounted a variety of rescue missions, for a time, the cultural centre moved off the Earth as it took about 500 years for the planetary economy to recover its pre-eminence within its shell of highly populated, highly developed planets. Located in the centre of the spherical Solarian League, Earths Old Chicago eventually re-emerged as the nominal League Capital, by the Gregorian calendar currently in use, the Honorverse novels are dated beginning with year 2103 A. D. —the epoch date of the Diasporas beginning. The FTL hyperspace propulsion system in the stories is around 600 years old at the period in which the novels are placed. Analogous to prevailing winds creating certain favoured trade routes, the relatively static fixed gravity waves form favoured travel paths, a lack of gravity waves in some regions means that they must be plodded across by relatively slower means. Within each hyperband, ships have a speed limited by particle densities that, at high relative speeds. Better physical shielding or a better particle shield generator enables faster speeds within the band, on which speed, multiplied by that bands multiplier. Merchant ships have immense size and thin walls with no physical shielding, as well as cheaper, relatively weak particle shield generators
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David Weber
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David Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He has written several science-fiction and fantasy series, the best known of which is the Honor Harrington science-fiction series. His first novel, which he worked on with Steve White, born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 24,1952, Weber began writing while in fifth grade. Some of Webers first jobs within the world began after high school when he worked as copywriter, typesetter, proofreader. He later earned a degree and M. A. in history. Webers first published novels grew out of his work as a designer for the Task Force game Starfire. Weber wrote short stories set in the Starfire universe for Task Force Games Nexus magazine and this book was the first in a tetralogy that continued through their last collaboration, The Shiva Option, which made The New York Times Best Seller List. Weber was influenced by C. S. Forester, Patrick OBrian, Keith Laumer, H. Beam Piper, Robert A. Heinlein, Roger Zelazny, Christopher Anvil and Anne McCaffrey He has in turn influenced such writers as Steve White, John Ringo, Eric Flint and Walter Jon Williams. Webers novels range from fantasy to space opera to alternate history and military science fiction with in-depth characterization. A lifetime military history buff, David Weber has carried his interest of history into his fiction and he is said to be interested in most periods of history, with a strong emphasis on the military and diplomatic aspects. Weber prefers to write about strong characters and he develops a characters background story in advance in considerable detail because he wants to achieve that degree of comfort level with the character. Weber has said he writes primarily in the evenings and at night and he makes a habit of Tuckerizing people from fandom, particularly in the Honor Harrington books. In 2008, Weber donated his archive to the Department of Rare Books, Weber and his wife, Sharon, live in Greenville, South Carolina with their three children and a passel of dogs. Weber belongs to the American Small Business Association, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, official website David Weber at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Baen Books catalogue for David Weber
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Catherine Asaro
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Catherine Ann Asaro is an American science fiction and fantasy author. She is best known for her books about the Ruby Dynasty, Catherine Asaro was born on November 6,1955 in Oakland, California and grew up in El Cerrito, California. She attended Kennedy High School in Richmond, California as part of the Richmond Voluntary Integration Plan. She has a B. S. with highest honors in chemistry from UCLA, an M. A. in physics, when not writing and making appearances at conventions and signings, Asaro teaches math, physics, and chemistry. She also teaches a gifted program in math and science at the Yang Academy in Gaithersburg and her students have placed at the top levels in numerous national competitions, including the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad and the United States of America Mathematical Talent Search. Asaro is a member of SIGMA, a tank of speculative writers that advises the government as to future trends affecting national security. She is also known for her advocacy of bringing girls and women into STEM fields and for challenging gender roles, a former ballet and jazz dancer, Catherine Asaro has performed with dance companies and in musicals on both coasts and in Ohio. She founded and served as director and a principal dancer for two dance groups at Harvard, The Mainly Jazz Dance Company and the Harvard University Ballet. After she graduated, her students took over Mainly Jazz. She has completed two terms as president of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and during her tenure established the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and her husband is John Kendall Cannizzo, an astrophysicist at NASA. They have one daughter, a dancer who studied maths at the University of Cambridge. Asaro is known as a science fiction writer for the scientific depth of her work. Asaro is noted as one of the few science fiction writers who also has a doctorate in hard science. Asaro is also noted for including sophisticated mathematical concepts in her fiction, the method of space travel used in the Skolian Empire books comes from a paper Asaro wrote on complex variables and special relativity that appeared in the American Journal of Physics. Her novel The Quantum Rose is an allegory to quantum scattering theory and is dedicated to her doctoral advisors and mentors in the subject, Alex Dalgarno, Kate Kirby, the novella Aurora in Four Voices includes topics ranging from Fourier series to integration problems in calculus. The Diamond Star Project is a collaboration between Catherine Asaro and the rock musicians Point Valid, the project resulted in a CD, Diamond Star, which is a soundtrack for the book, Diamond Star. The novel tells the story of Del-Kurj, a Ruby Dynasty prince who would rather be a singer than sit on the throne. The lyrics to the appear in the novel Diamond Star and were the inspiration for the CD
23.
Alastair Reynolds
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Alastair Preston Reynolds is a British science fiction author. He specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. He spent his years in Cornwall, moved back to Wales before going to Newcastle. Afterwards, he earned a PhD from St Andrews, Scotland, in 1991, he moved to Noordwijk in the Netherlands where he met his wife Josette. There, he worked for the European Space Research and Technology Centre until 2004 when he left to pursue writing full-time and he returned to Wales in 2008 and lives near Cardiff. Reynolds wrote his first four published science fiction stories while still a graduate student, in 1989–1991, they appeared in 1990–1992. In 1991 Reynolds graduated and moved from Scotland to the Netherlands to work at ESA and he then started spending much of his writing time on a first novel, which eventually turned into Revelation Space, while the few short stories he submitted from 1991–1995 were rejected. This ended in 1995 when his story Byrd Land Six was published, as of 2011 he has published over forty shorter works and nine novels. Most of Reynoldss novels contain multiple storylines that originally appear to be completely unrelated, although most characters appear in more than one novel, the works set within this future timeline rarely have the same protagonists twice. Often the protagonists from one work belong to a group that is regarded with suspicion or enmity by the protagonists of another work. In this universe, extraterrestrial sentience exists but is elusive, the trilogy consisting of Revelation Space, Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap deal with humanity coming to the attention of the Inhibitors and the resultant war between them. According to Alastair himself, no sequel will ever be made on Century Rain and it contains an alternative interpretation of the Fermi paradox, intelligent sentient life in this universe is extremely scarce. The Prefect marked a return to the Revelation Space universe, like Chasm City, it is a stand-alone novel within the Revelation Space universe. It is set prior to any of the other Revelation Space novels and it was published in the United Kingdom on 2 April 2007. House of Suns is a novel set in the same universe as his novella Thousandth Night from the One Million A. D. anthology. It was released in the UK on 17 April 2008 and in the US on 2 June 2009, Reynolds described it as Six million years in the future, starfaring clones, tensions between human and robot metacivilisations, King Crimson jokes. Terminal World, published in March 2010 was described by Reynolds as a kind of steampunk-tinged planetary romance, as with Century Rain, Reynolds has said that he does not plan any further work in the universe of Terminal World. In June 2009 Reynolds signed a new deal, worth £1 million, the first book is entitled Blue Remembered Earth
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The Saga of Seven Suns
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The Saga of Seven Suns is a series of seven space opera novels written by Kevin J. Anderson and published between 2002 and 2008. The series chronicles the war that erupts when humans inadvertently ignite the fury of a hidden empire of elemental aliens known as the hydrogues. Internal conflict is sparked within both the human and Ildiran empires as other ancient elemental races reappear to renew their own ancient war with the hydrogues. A sequel trilogy, The Saga of Shadows, so far includes the novels The Dark Between the Stars, Blood of the Cosmos and Eternitys Mind. In the future, the race has colonized multiple planets in the Spiral Arm. Though ostensibly ruled by kings, the Hansa is actually controlled by its Chairman, the Ildirans themselves, psychically linked to their leader the Mage-Imperator, have become stagnant and eschew both expansion and innovation. As the series begins, the arrogant Hansa Chairman Basil Wenceslas begins grooming a replacement for the aging King Frederick, the most prominent human world aside from Earth is Theroc, a planet covered in semi-sentient worldtrees that is quietly independent from the Hansa. Their brutal retaliation and forced cessation of ekti collection threaten to cripple both the human and Ildiran civilizations, and serve as a declaration of war. The aggression of the hydrogues reawakens the verdani, the entities who had fled to Theroc after losing an ancient war with the hydrogues. Meanwhile, the Ildiran Mage-Imperator Cyroch struggles to hide his races secrets, and the amnesiac black Klikiss robots, left behind after their parent races mysterious destruction, have secrets of their own. The war escalates simmering rivalries among the factions and ignites a schism in the Ildiran consciousness. Later, the fire-based faeros and aquatic wentals also reappear as the war with their ancient hydrogue enemies escalates. The long-held secrets of the Ildirans and the Klikiss robots are revealed amidst much destruction, Hidden Empire is the first book in The Saga of Seven Suns series by Kevin J. Anderson, published on July 24,2002. Publishers Weekly called it a launch of a new series and a fascinating future epic. Harriet Klausner of TheBestReviews. com wrote, The tale grabs the audience from the start as Kevin J. Anderson, blends the players and worlds into the thrilling plot. Thus, the audience does not receive an extended prologue as often seen in first novels, instead readers obtain a powerful futuristic epic that contains a robust stand-alone story line yet provides a puissant cliffhanger that will keep the audience wanting to continue non-stop. However SF Signal described it as A rather pedestrian space opera that nonetheless has some cool ideas. The only other intelligent species in the galaxy are the Ildirans, an ancient civilization at its peak
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The Saga of Shadows
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The Saga of Shadows is a planned trilogy of space opera novels written by Kevin J. Anderson. First announced in 2011, it is a sequel to Andersons seven-book series, the first novel, The Dark Between the Stars, was released by Tor Books on June 3,2014. The second book in the series, Blood of the Cosmos, was published on June 2,2015, the third novel, called Eternitys Mind, was released on September 13,2016. In 2015, The Dark Between the Stars received a nomination for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Anderson published the seven-volume The Saga of Seven Suns series from 2002 to 2008. Discussing the forthcoming sequel trilogy, he said in January 2013 that despite the series length, I kept files and files of even bigger ideas that deserved full treatment, but I had to wait for the right time. After the Seven Suns series was completed, Anderson published the Terra Incognita fantasy trilogy, Anderson announced the new trilogy on his blog in December 2011. He added, I love having a story this big to play with, the new Confederation has governed human civilization across its many colonized planets since the end of the Elemental War, and relations between the humans and Ildirans are harmonious. The Dark Between the Stars is the first book in The Saga of Shadows trilogy by Kevin J. Anderson, the trilogy is a sequel to Andersons seven-book series, The Saga of Seven Suns. Anderson revealed the title in 2013, and subsequently chronicled its progress on his blog. In April 2015 the novel was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, twenty years after the Elemental War, humanity is governed by the benevolent Confederation, and relations with the alien Ildirans have returned to their pre-war harmony. Kirkus Reviews also said of the novel, With a cast of thousands, it’s hard to remember who anybody is or what they do. Blood of the Cosmos is the book in The Saga of Shadows trilogy by Kevin J. Anderson. The trilogy is a sequel to Andersons seven-book series, The Saga of Seven Suns, Anderson revealed the novels title on his blog in June 2014, and subsequently chronicled its progress. Eternitys Mind is the book in The Saga of Shadows trilogy by Kevin J. Anderson. The trilogy is a sequel to Andersons seven-book series, The Saga of Seven Suns, Anderson announced the title of the novel on his blog in January 2015. Kevin J. Andersons web site Kevin J. Anderson at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
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Commonwealth Saga
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The Commonwealth Saga is a series of science fiction novels by British science fiction writer Peter F. Hamilton. This saga consists of the novels Pandoras Star and Judas Unchained, preceded by Misspent Youth which takes place 340 years before Pandoras Star, two additional novels, set in the time before The Void Trilogy, were released in 2014 and 2016. Like Hamiltons earlier The Nights Dawn Trilogy, the Commonwealth Saga is a space opera that extends across dozens of worlds. On a distant planet, Astronomer Dudley Bose performs the first detailed observations of an event known as the Dyson Pair Enclosure. Two stars, located roughly 1,000 light years from Earth, the theory is that they have been enclosed inside Dyson spheres. Boses investigations reveal that the enclosing of Dyson Alpha and Dyson Beta occurred quickly and simultaneously, was it for protection or to protect those outside the spheres. To investigate, the Commonwealth builds its first interstellar ship, the Second Chance, commanded by Wilson Kime, one of the first men to walk on Mars, using a self-enclosed flowing wormhole for propulsion, the Second Chance travels to Dyson Alpha. As they arrive and begin to explore what appears to be a generator, it is shut down by an unknown mechanism. Inside the first imprisoned star system is an incredibly warlike and aggressive species and they consist of intelligent immotiles that breed and control vast armies of sub-sentient motiles via electronically extended neural interfaces. The few immotiles constantly vie with each other for territories and resources, Primes had colonised Dyson Beta using slower-than-light starships and enslaved its native inhabitants in the process. As they were no longer under the control of Alphas Primes, the war appears to have continued until the barrier was erected around the stars by forces unknown. After capturing two members of the Second Chance, one of whom was Dudley Bose, the Primes eventually discover the location of the Commonwealth. Upon learning of the Commonwealths existence, the dominant immotile grouping, MorningLightMountain, Judas Unchained, the second part of the Commonwealth Saga, picks up where Pandoras Stars abrupt ending left off. The story begins with the human resistance that exists on what remains of the Commonwealth worlds attacked by the Primes. Human resistance forces have two ways to fight back, using the Prime weapons against the invaders, and disrupting communication between the slave caste and the commanding caste of the Primes. Eventually, the human forces decide that there can be no solution to the conflict than to commit genocide. However, it is revealed that the Primes are planning a larger invasion. As the war rages, the human forces begin to build much faster, better armed, ships and these weapons function by converting the entire rest mass of an object into energy, and are thus capable of destroying an entire planet
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Peter F. Hamilton
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Peter F. Hamilton is a British author. He is best known for writing space opera, as of the publication of his tenth novel in 2004, his works had sold over two million copies worldwide. Peter F. Hamilton was born in Rutland, England on 2 March 1960 and he said in an interview, I did science at school up to age eighteen, I stopped doing English, English literature, writing at sixteen, I just wasnt interested in those days. After he started writing in 1987 he sold his first short story to Fear Magazine in 1988 and his first novel, Mindstar Rising, was published in 1993, followed by A Quantum Murder and The Nano Flower. After this he wrote a space opera, called The Nights Dawn Trilogy. As of 2008 he still lives in Rutland, near Rutland Water, with his wife Kate, daughter Sophie and he is currently working on a new trilogy of books set in a new universe collectively titled Salvation. Official website The Unisphere | A Peter F. Hamilton Fan Site Peter F. Hamilton at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
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James S. A. Corey
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James S. A. Corey is the pen name used by collaborators Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. The first and last name are taken from Abrahams and Francks middle names, respectively, the name is also meant to emulate many of the space opera writers of the 1970s. In Germany, their books are published under the name James Corey with the middle initials omitted, under that name they wrote Leviathan Wakes, the first science fiction novel in a series called The Expanse. Leviathan Wakes was nominated for the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novel, each year the authors release another novel in the series, Calibans War, Abaddons Gate, and Cibola Burn. Abaddons Gate won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, orbit Books signed Corey to write additional books in the Expanse series to bring the total to nine. The fifth book in the series, Nemesis Games, was released on June 2,2015, as other authors in recent years have done, between each pair of full-length books they published shorter works in the series. The first, a story entitled The Butcher of Anderson Station. A 69-page novella, Gods of Risk followed, and was released as an eBook on September 2012, a short story entitled Drive was released in November 2012 as a part of the anthology Edge of Infinity. Another novella, The Churn, was released April 29,2014, all are set in The Expanse series. R. George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois Silver and Scarlet, Star Wars Insider #148 The Drones, Popular Science Rates of Change, Meeting Infinity, ed
29.
Ann Leckie
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Ann Leckie is an American author and editor of science fiction and fantasy. Her 2013 debut novel Ancillary Justice won the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Novel as well as the Nebula Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the sequels Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy each won the Locus and Nebula Awards. Having grown up as a science fiction fan in St. Louis, Missouri, one of her few publications from that time was an unattributed bodice-ripper in True Confessions. In 2005, Leckie attended the Clarion West Writers Workshop, studying under Octavia Butler, after that, she wrote Ancillary Justice over a period of six years, it was picked up by Orbit in 2012. Leckie has published short stories, including in Subterranean Magazine, Strange Horizons. Her short stories have been selected for inclusion in years best collections, such as The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy and she edited the science fiction and fantasy online magazine Giganotosaurus from 2010 to 2013, and is assistant editor of the PodCastle podcast. She served as the secretary of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America from 2012 to 2013. It follows Breq, the survivor of a starship destroyed by treachery. The sequel, Ancillary Sword, was published in October 2014, nights Slow Poison and She Commands Me and I Obey are short stories set in the same universe. In 2015, Orbit Books purchased two additional novels from Leckie, the first, Provenance, is scheduled for publication on 3 October 2017 and is set in the Imperial Radch universe. The second is an science fiction novel. CS1 maint, Date format Review of Ancillary Justice, Award 2013, Nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award 2014, Finalist for the John W. She has since held various jobs, including as a waitress, a receptionist, a land surveyor and she is married to David Harre, with whom she has a son and daughter, and lives with her family in St. Louis, Missouri. Official website Ann Leckie at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Ann Leckie at the Science Fiction Awards Database
30.
Flash Gordon
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Flash Gordon is the hero of a space opera adventure comic strip created by and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7,1934, the strip was inspired by, the Flash Gordon comic strip has been translated into a wide variety of media, including motion pictures, television and animated series. The latest version, a Flash Gordon television series, appeared on the Syfy channel in the United States in 2007–2008. At first King Features tried to purchase the rights to the John Carter of Mars stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs, however, King Features then turned to Alex Raymond, one of their staff artists, to create the story. Raymonds first samples were dismissed for not containing enough action sequences, Raymond reworked the story and sent it back to the syndicate, who accepted it. Raymond was partnered with ghostwriter Don Moore, an experienced editor, Raymonds first Flash Gordon story appeared in January 1934, alongside Jungle Jim. The Flash Gordon strip was well received by readers, becoming one of the most popular American comic strips of the 1930s. Like Buck Rogers, the success of Flash Gordon resulted in numerous licensed products being sold, including books, colouring books. The comic strip follows the adventures of Flash Gordon, a polo player and Yale University graduate. The story begins with Earth threatened by a collision with the planet Mongo, Dr. Zarkov invents a rocket ship to fly into space in an attempt to stop the disaster. Half mad, he kidnaps Flash and Dale and they travel to the planet, landing on the planet, and halting the collision, they come into conflict with Ming the Merciless, Mongos evil ruler. They are joined in early adventures by Prince Thun of the Lion Men. Eventually, Ming is overthrown, and Mongo is ruled by a council of leaders led by Barin, Flash and friends return to Earth and have some adventures before returning to Mongo and crashing in the kingdom of Tropica, then reuniting with Barin and others. Flash and his friends travel to worlds and return to Mongo. In the 1950s, Flash became an astronaut who travelled to other planets besides Mongo, the long story of the Skorpii War takes Flash to other star systems, using starships that are faster than light. After Raymonds tenure, later created new enemies for Flash to combat. Austin Briggs created Kang the Cruel, Mings callous son, Prince Polon, who had the power to shrink or enlarge living creatures, the unscrupulous Queen Rubia, and Pyron the Comet Master were among the antagonists introduced during Mac Raboys run. The Skorpi, a race of alien shape shifters who desired to conquer the galaxy, were recurring villains in both the Mac Raboy and Dan Barry stories, the Skorpi space-fighter ace Baron Dak-Tula became a periodic nemesis of Flash in the late 1970s stories
31.
Alex Raymond
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Alexander Gillespie Alex Raymond was an American cartoonist, best known for creating Flash Gordon for King Features in 1934. The strip was adapted into many other media, from a series of movie serials to a 1970s television series. Raymonds father encouraged his love of drawing from an age, leading him to become an assistant illustrator in the early 1930s on strips such as Tillie the Toiler. He left the strips in 1944 to join the Marines, saw combat in the Pacific Ocean theater in 1945 and was demobilized in 1946, upon his return from serving during World War II, Raymond created and illustrated the much-heralded Rip Kirby, a private detective comic strip. In 1956, Raymond was killed in a car crash at the age of 46, he was survived by his wife and he became known as the artists artist and his much-imitated style can be seen on the many strips he illustrated. Numerous artists have cited Raymond as an inspiration for their work, including comic artists Jack Kirby, Bob Kane, Russ Manning, george Lucas cited Raymond as a major influence for Star Wars. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1996, Maurice Horn stated that Raymond unquestionably possessed the most versatile talent of all the comic strip creators. He has also described his style as precise, clear, carl Barks described Raymond as a man who could combine craftsmanship with emotions and all the gimmicks that went into a good adventure strip. Raymonds influence on other cartoonists was considerable during his lifetime and did not diminish after his death, Raymond was born in New Rochelle, New York, the son of Beatrice W. and Alexander Gillespie Raymond. He was raised in the Roman Catholic faith and his father was a civil engineer and road builder who encouraged his sons love of drawing from an early age, even covering one wall of his office in the Woolworth Building with his young sons work. After the death of his father when he was 12, he felt that there was not as viable a future in art as he had hoped and attended Iona Prep on an athletic scholarship. Raymonds first job was as a clerk in Wall Street. In the wake of the 1929 economic crisis, he enrolled in the Grand Central School of Art in New York City, Raymond was influenced by a variety of strip cartoonists and magazine illustrators, including Matt Clark, Franklin Booth and John La Gatta. From late 1931 to 1933, Raymond assisted Lyman Young on Tim Tylers Luck, both the daily strip and the Sunday page, turning it into one of the most eye-catching strips of the time. Concurrently, Raymond assisted Chic Young on Blondie, according to King Features, syndicate president Joe Connolly gave Raymond an idea. Based on fantastic adventures similar to those of Jules Verne, alongside ghostwriter Don Moore, a pulp-fiction veteran, Raymond created the visually sumptuous science-fiction epic comic strip Flash Gordon. It was Flash Gordon that would outlast the others, quickly develop an audience far surpassing that of Buck Rogers, Alex Raymond has stated, I decided honestly that comic art is an art form in itself. It reflects the life and times more accurately and actually is more artistic than magazine illustration—since it is entirely creative
32.
Farscape
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Farscape is an Australian-American science fiction television series, produced originally for the Nine Network. The series was conceived by Rockne S. OBannon and produced by The Jim Henson Company, the Jim Henson Company was responsible for the various alien make-up and prosthetics, and two regular characters are entirely Creature Shop creations. Although the series was planned for five seasons, it was cancelled after production had ended on its fourth season. Co-producer Brian Henson later secured the rights to Farscape, paving the way for a three-hour miniseries to wrap up the cliffhanger, titled Farscape, The Peacekeeper Wars, in 2007, it was announced that the creator was returning for a web-series but production has been repeatedly delayed. A comic book miniseries was released in December 2008 that was in continuity with both the series and the hoped-for webisodes, in February 2014 it was reported that a screenplay for a new Farscape movie was in development. At WonderCon 2014, Rockne S. OBannon confirmed to Nerdacy that a Farscape movie is in development, Farscape features a diverse ensemble of characters who are initially escaping from corrupt authorities in the form of a militaristic organization called the Peacekeepers. The protagonists live inside a large bio-mechanical ship called Moya, which is a living entity, on the same day, another stranger is picked up by Moya, a stranded Peacekeeper named Aeryn Sun. Despite his best intentions, John makes enemies, the primary of these is known as Scorpius, the series was originally conceived in the early 1990s by Rockne S. OBannon and Brian Henson under the title Space Chase. The series is told in a format, with each episode involving a self-contained story while contributing to a larger storyline. Nearly the entire cast originates from Australia and New Zealand, with the exception of Ben Browder, Farscapes characters frequently make use of slang such as frell, dren and hezmana as a substitute for English expletives. Farscape first ran on the Australian TV Channel Nine Network and the Canadian YTV channel, then in the US on the Sci-Fi Channel, the series’ original broadcast on Sci-Fi was noted for its erratic scheduling, with hiatuses lasting months often occurring mid-season. Earth astronaut John Crichton is unexpectedly hurled to a part of the Milky Way galaxy via a wormhole. He is dropped into the middle of an attempt by Moya, a living spaceship, from the militaristic Peacekeepers. In the chaos he has a collision with a Peacekeeper fighter. Although the escape is successful, the Peacekeeper Captain, Bialar Crais, fixates on Crichton as the murderer of the pilot – his brother –, the various crew have no common goal, each only wishing to go home. Unfortunately to avoid Craiss pursuit they have to travel into the Uncharted Territories, the other crew also have little respect for Crichton, seeing him only as a primitive hoo-man who does not understand even the basic tenets of life in space. Various episodes explore the back stories. Aeryn begins to learn that the Peacekeepers are not always as correct as she had believed, Zhaan is forced to bring up the dark side she had worked to suppress
33.
Rockne S. O'Bannon
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Rockne S. OBannon is an American television writer, screenwriter and producer. OBannon has created five original television series and his next notable achievement was his original series seaQuest DSV which ran for three seasons. OBannons most critically acclaimed success was the space epic Farscape on Syfy which ran for four seasons and spun off into a mini-series, a book series. Since Farscape, hes created the hit TV show Defiance and CWs Cult, hes also written and produced for Constantine, Revolution and V among others. OBannon prides himself on delivering shows that truly are, in their own way, really unique, hes won multiple Saturn Awards and been nominated for other awards such as a Hugo Award and a WGA Award. OBannon was brought onto ABCs reboot of V as a producer and writer in late 2010 thorough early 2011. He worked in the room for the second season but V wasnt renewed for a third. Early in 2011, Syfy bought OBannons pilot script for Defiance, part of Defiances concept was combining a TV show with a massively multiplayer online developed by Trion Worlds Online. Beyond being the creator of the series, OBannon was originally slated to be the show-runner and executive producer. He stayed with the production for nearly 9 months, until it was announced the CW had placed an order to make Cult in January 2012 nearly seven years after the networks predecessor had bought it. With both of his projects slated to go on the air, OBannon chose to follow his passion project. OBannon originally wrote Cult in the aftermath of Farscape and watching the legions of fans mobilize to save the show, I saw this phenomenon with fans rallying around the show. Okay, what if there wasnt this wonderfully warm sci-fi adventure show, what kind of fans would that bring in. Thats what started me down the path of creating Cult, when asked about leaving Defiance for Cult, Rockne responded, It was a difficult transition for me because I really did and do love “Defiance, ” but “Cult” is really my baby. Cult went into production shortly after in February 2012, and an order was placed May 11,2012. The entire 13 episode order was filmed at once, Cult initially aired on Tuesday nights, but only drew low ratings from the teen-centric network. The second half of the season was moved to Friday nights, CW canceled the series with 6 episodes remaining to air, they later aired them and the series is on Netflix. Still, Cult was a unique viewer experience designed to break the fourth wall, Rockne explained the appeal of the show, The show, itself, is kind of invading your space, because its not letting you just passively watch it
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