Science Fiction Authors & Awards Lenses
I've been reading science fiction most of my life. Although I do read other stuff, I'd say probably 80% of the bookshelf space in my apartment is devoted to science fiction collected over the years.
I remember reading a short story collection my sister had. I was in my mid-teens. But it wasn't until I was 18 that I checked out the science fiction shelves in the local library. I borrowed Isaac Asimov's I, Robot, read his other robot stories and went on to his Foundation trilogy (there were only the three novels in that series back then). I went on to read Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, and many more authors active up through the 1960s. I kept reading SF almost exclusively through the '70s and into the '80s. I broadened my interest over time, but never really stopped reading SF.
When I moved to the Portland, OR area in 2000, one of the first places I went was Powell's Books downtown. They have a huge selection of SF and Fantasy, probably more than I'd ever seen in one store before. The nice part is Powell's sells used books right alongside the new books, so occasionally I'd come across some rare gems. Since 2000 I've been reading more SF.
When I got interested in Squidoo, my first lens was about Spider Robinson because I've been involved in some online forums devoted to his books and his philosophy of "Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased" that is part of his Callahan's Saloon series. I created lenses for a few other SF authors who didn't have them yet, plus Jasper Fforde, whose "daft novels" as he calls them, have science fiction elements in them.
In December 2007 I created a couple of series of lenses, one for the Hugo Awards and one for the Nebula Awards, with each category divided into full or partial decades.
I remember reading a short story collection my sister had. I was in my mid-teens. But it wasn't until I was 18 that I checked out the science fiction shelves in the local library. I borrowed Isaac Asimov's I, Robot, read his other robot stories and went on to his Foundation trilogy (there were only the three novels in that series back then). I went on to read Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, and many more authors active up through the 1960s. I kept reading SF almost exclusively through the '70s and into the '80s. I broadened my interest over time, but never really stopped reading SF.
When I moved to the Portland, OR area in 2000, one of the first places I went was Powell's Books downtown. They have a huge selection of SF and Fantasy, probably more than I'd ever seen in one store before. The nice part is Powell's sells used books right alongside the new books, so occasionally I'd come across some rare gems. Since 2000 I've been reading more SF.
When I got interested in Squidoo, my first lens was about Spider Robinson because I've been involved in some online forums devoted to his books and his philosophy of "Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased" that is part of his Callahan's Saloon series. I created lenses for a few other SF authors who didn't have them yet, plus Jasper Fforde, whose "daft novels" as he calls them, have science fiction elements in them.
In December 2007 I created a couple of series of lenses, one for the Hugo Awards and one for the Nebula Awards, with each category divided into full or partial decades.
Spider Robinson
Callahan's Saloon, the Stardance Trilogy and more
Spider Robinson is a science fiction author best known for his stories of Callahan's saloon, its regular patrons, and the two bars that succeeded it. He also is known for the Stardance trilogy, novels of zero-gravity dance and alien contact, written with his wife Jeanne.Spider Robinson: Callahan's Saloon and More
The Stardance Project
Jeanne Robinson has long wanted to make zero-gravity dance a reality. She was on the short list for going into space in the 1980's until the Challenger disaster ended the Civilian in Space project. Currently, she and her husband, science fiction author Spider Robinson, are working with others to make a movie based on the concept.The idea began in the 1970s when Spider decided to write about dance in space. The result was the Hugo and Nebula award-winning novella "Stardance." Over the years the idea has resulted in three books and the concept for a full-length motion picture based on those books.
The Stardance Project
John Varley
The Eight Worlds, Gaea Trilogy, colonizing Mars
John Varley was one of the first writers to be called "The New Heinlein." "This flattered and troubled him, since the Old Heinlein was a major role model - and not yet dead." (from his website) He has won many awards, including four for "Press Enter []."He has written stories and novels about his Eight Worlds, where aliens kicked humans off Earth, and the surviving humans live on Luna, Mars, and other places in the Solar System except around Jupiter, where the aliens came from. Humans have undergone various modifications to adapt, and gender changing is relatively easy and common.
John Varley - Science Fiction Author
Allen Steele
Tales of Near Space, Coyote
Allen Steele is a science fiction author born January 19, 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been a staff writer for newspapers in Massachusetts, Missouri, Tennessee, and Washington, DC. He and his wife now live in western Massachusetts.He has written of humankind's ventures into Earth orbit, to the Moon, Mars, and the asteroid belt, an area he calls Near Space. He has also written a series about the colonization of a moon, Coyote, orbiting a gas giant planet 46 light years from Earth.
Allen Steele
Jasper Fforde
Thursday Next, Nursery Crimes, Shades of Grey
Jasper Fforde is a British writer known for his five novels about Thursday Next, literary detective, and the Nursery Crimes series.Thursday Next lives in an alternate England circa 1985. It's a world where airships rule the skies, extinct animals have been cloned (Thursday has a pet dodo, Pickwick), and people can read themselves into books, which is how Thursday manages to save a great novel in The Eyre Affair.
The Nursery Crimes series features Detective Jack Spratt and Sergeant Mary Mary of the Reading Police Department. In The Big Over Easy they are called on to find out who did in Humpty Dumpty. In The Fourth Bear they're on the hunt for missing journalist Goldie Hatchett, last seen by three bears who like their porridge hot, cold, and just right. Meanwhile there's a crazed Gingerbreadman on the loose.
Jasper Fforde
Todd McCaffrey, Dragon Harper
Tales from Pern continue
Todd McCaffrey was born as the middle child to Anne McCaffrey on April 27, 1956. So when his mother began writing about the planet Pern, its dragons and their dragonriders, he was about the same age as a young candidate who might take his first stand on the Hatching Grounds, hoping to Impress a hatchling and form a life-long bond with a hatchling who would grow into a mighty fire-breathing battler of the deadly Thread. He literally grew up with dragons as his mother developed the complex society of Pern with its Holders, Crafters and Weyr-dwelling Dragonriders.Todd McCaffrey
The Year's Best Science Fiction
Annual Collections edited by Gardner Dozois
Gardner Dozois is best known in science fiction circles for two things. He was the editor of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, which he also co-founded in 1976. Since 1984 he has edited 25 editions of The Year's Best Science Fiction a collection of short stories and novelettes (a novelette is defined by the World Science Fiction Society as 7,500 to 17,500 words long), and novellas (defined by the WSFS as 17,500 to 40,000 words long) that often includes stories that have won or been nominated for major SF awards.This lens currently lists all the stories in all volumes from the Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection back to the Eighth Annual Collection. The remaining seven volumes will be listed soon. Stories that have won or been nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards are noted. This is an improvement over the Wikipedia entries for the series, which only lists Hugo Award winners for some years and does not have an entry for seven volumes.
The Year's Best Science Fiction
The Twilight Zone
The Classic SF Television Anthology Series
The Twilight Zone, a science fiction anthology television series created and narrated by Rod Serling, aired from 1959 to 1964, with a total of 156 episodes shown. It was the most successful series of its kind, and the term "twilight zone" became a popular expression to describe unexpected, strange and unsettling events and experiences.The series followed in the footsteps of radio dramas such as X Minus One and The Weird Circle. Serling was also inspired by radio dramas of the 1930s and 1940s written by Norman Corwin, who used the medium to tackle serious social issues.
The Twilight Zone
Hugo Awards
Voted on by fans who join Worldcon since 1953
The Hugo Awards, named for Hugo Gernsback, pioneering editor of Amazing Stories, are presented at the World Science Fiction Society's Worldcon each year for works published the previous year.The awards were first presented at the 1953 Worldcon in Philadelphia. Previously there had been voting by WSFS members in several categories since the first Worldcon in 1939, but no awards were given. In 1953 the awards were thought of as a one-time event, so there were no awards in 1954. Starting in 1955, awards have been given every year. Known formally as the Annual Science Fiction Achievment Award initially, but unofficially and more popularly as the Hugo Awards, the nickname was adopted as the official name in 1993.
These lenses list the Hugo winners and nominees by decade with short synopses for the winners. All books have links to Amazon.com as well as Amazon.co.uk where available.
Hugo Awards - Novels - 2000s
Hugo Awards - Novels - 1990s
Hugo Awards - Novels - 1980s
Hugo Awards - Novels - 1970s
Hugo Awards - Novels - 1960s
Hugo Awards - Novels - 1950s
Hugo Awards - Movies & TV Shows
Nebula Awards
Voted on by members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America since 1965
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. was founded in 1965 by SF author and editor Damon Knight. It was originally known as the Science Fiction Writers of America and the acronym SFWA was kept when the name changed, so the single "F" does double duty.The organization's first secretary-treasurer, Lloyd Biggle, Jr. suggested an annual anthology be published, and this idea became the basis for the Nebula Awards, first given for the year 1965, when Frank Herbert's Dune won as best novel.
The Nebula Awards are voted on only by active members of SFWA. In order to be eligible for membership, an author must have sold at least three published works and been paid a minimum of $250 total for them.
These lenses list the Nebula winners and nominees by decade with short synopses for the winners. All books have links to Amazon.com as well as Amazon.co.uk where available.
Nebula Awards - Novels - 2000s
Nebula Awards - Novels - 1990s
Nebula Awards - Novels - 1980s
Nebula Awards - Novels - 1970s
Nebula Awards - Novels - 1960s
Comments for MobyD's Science Fiction Lenses
Don't forget to bookmark and rate this lens! You can do that following the comments.
BevsPaper wrote...
SF isn't usually a genre that I would pick up to read, however you have peaked my interest and I'm intrigued with Spider Robinson's Callahan's Saloon. I think I'll give it a try.
I recently read some pretty good fantasy books, also a genre I neglected in the past. I've found my tastes are changing and I'm open to new frontiers.
Posted May 22, 2009
Cari_Kay wrote...
I grew up with science fiction addicts. We had an entire library of books in our home. I read them sporadically but never quite made it to the obsession level :) Great lens...brought back a lot of memories for me.
Posted January 30, 2009
MobyD wrote...
in reply to susannaduffy Clearly you have excellent taste! :)
Posted January 27, 2009
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