George Alec Effinger

George Alec Effinger(January 10, 1947 – April 27, 2002) was an Americanscience fiction author,born inCleveland,Ohio.

George Alec Effinger
Born	(1947-01-10)January 10, 1947 Cleveland, Ohio
Died	April 27, 2002(2002-04-27)(aged 55) New Orleans, Louisiana
Pen name	O. Niemand, Susan Doenim
Occupation	Novelist, short story writer
Genre	science fiction,cyberpunk
Notable works	When Gravity Fails

Writing career

Effinger was born inCleveland,Ohio,on January 10, 1947.His father was aUnited States Navyveteran and his mother was aprostitute,and he grew up very poor.

He attended Yale University on a scholarship,but he failedorganic chemistryand dropped out of the pre-med program. He moved to New York City and began writing. His first wife, Diana, sometimes babysat forDamon KnightandKate Wilhelm,a married couple who were bothscience fictionwriters. He joined theClarion Writers' Workshopwhich they sponsored.

Effinger's first three stories were published in the first Clarion anthology in 1971.His first published story was "The Eight-Thirty to Nine Slot" inFantasticin 1971. During his early period, he also published under a variety ofpseudonyms.

His first novel,What Entropy Means to Me(1972), was nominated for theNebula Award.He achieved his greatest success with the trilogy ofMarîd Audrannovels set in a 22nd-centuryMiddle East,with cybernetic implants and modules allowing individuals to change their personalities or bodies. The novels are in fact set in a thinly veiled version of theFrench QuarterofNew Orleans.The three published novels wereWhen Gravity Fails(1987),A Fire in the Sun(1989), andThe Exile Kiss(1991); Effinger also contributed to the computer gameCircuit's Edge(1990), based onWhen Gravity Fails.He began a fourth Budayeen novel,Word of Night,but completed only the first two chapters. Those two chapters were reprinted in the anthologyBudayeen Nights(2003) which has all of Effinger's short material from the Marîd Audran setting.

His novelette "Schrödinger's Kitten"(1988) received both theHugoand theNebula Award,as well as the JapaneseSeiun Award.A collection of his stories was published posthumously in 2005, entitledGeorge Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth;includes the complete stories Effinger wrote under the pseudonym "O. Niemand" and many of Effinger's best-known stories. Each O. Niemand story is a pastiche in the voice of a different major American writer (Flannery O'Connor,Damon Runyon,Mark Twain,etc.), all set on the asteroid city of Springfield. "Niemand" is from the German word for "nobody", and the initial O was intended by Effinger as a visual pun for Zero, and possibly also as a reference to the author O. Henry.

Other stories he wrote were the series of Maureen (Muffy) Birnbaum parodies, which placed apreppyinto a variety of science fictional, fantasy, and horror scenarios.

He made brief forays into writingcomic booksin the early 1970s, mostly inMarvel Comics' science fiction, fantasy, and horror titles; and again in the late 1980s, including the first issue of a series of his own creation entitledNeil and Buzz in Space & Time,about two fictional astronauts who travel to the edge of the universe to find it contains nothing but an ocean planet with a replica of a small New Jersey town on its only island. The first issue was the only issue, and the story ended on a cliffhanger. It was released byFantagraphics.He also wrote a story based in theZorkuniverse.

Personal life

Effinger was known to close friends as "Piglet", a nickname from his youth which he later came to dislike.

Throughout his life, Effinger suffered from health problems. These resulted in enormous medical bills which he was unable to pay, resulting in a declaration ofbankruptcy.BecauseLouisiana's system of law descends from theNapoleonic Coderather thanEnglish Common Law,the possibility existed that copyrights to Effinger's works and characters might revert to his creditors, in this case the hospital. However, no representative of the hospital showed up at the bankruptcy hearing, and Effinger regained the rights to all his intellectual property.

Effinger suffered a hearing loss of about 70% due to childhood infections, only helped about the last 10 years of his life by hearing aids. He did not drive most of his life, and only got a driver's license at about age 39 for check-cashing purposes.

Effinger met his first wife Diana in the 1960s. He was married from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s to artist Beverly K. Effinger, and from 1998 to 2000 to fellow science fiction authorBarbara Hambly.He died inNew Orleans, Louisiana.

Works

Novels (non-series)

• What Entropy Means to Me(1972)
• Relatives(1973)
• Nightmare Blue(1975) (withGardner Dozois)
• Felicia(1976)
• Those Gentle Voices: A Promethean Romance of the Spaceways(1976)
• Death in Florence(1978) (akaUtopia 3)
• Heroics(1979)
• The Wolves of Memory(1981)
• Shadow Money(1988)
• The Red Tape War(1990) (withMike ResnickandJack L. Chalker)
• The Zork Chronicles(1990)
• Look Away(1990) (novella)
• Schrödinger's Kitten(1992)
• Trinity: Hope Sacrifice Unity
• The League of Dragons: A Castle Falkenstein Novel(1998)

Nick of Time series

• The Nick of Time(1985)
• The Bird of Time(1986)

Marîd Audran series

• When Gravity Fails(1987)
• A Fire in the Sun(1989)
• The Exile Kiss(1991)
  • The Audran Sequence(omnibus)
• Budayeen Nights(short stories, 2003)

Planet of the ApesTelevision series adaptations

• Man the Fugitive(1974)
• Escape to Tomorrow(1975)
• Journey Into Terror(1975)
• Lord of the Apes(1976)

Collections

• Mixed Feelings(1974)
• Irrational Numbers(1976)
• Dirty Tricks(1978)
• Idle Pleasures(1983) (science fiction sports stories)
• Author's Choice Monthly Issue 1: The Old Funny Stuff(1989)
• Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson(1993)
• George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth(2005)
  • stories selected and introduced by friends, fellow writers and editors
• A Thousand Deaths(2007)
  • the novelThe Wolves of Memoryplus 7 additional Sandor Courane stories (6 uncollected)

Short stories

• "The First Step," (as John K. Diomede)Haunt of Horror(digest) #1 (Marvel, June 1973)
• "The Jewel in the Ash," (as John K. Diomede)Haunt of Horror(digest) #2 (Marvel, August 1973)
• "Heartstop,"Haunt of Horror(magazine) #1 (Marvel, May 1974)
• "And Us, Too, I Guess" (novella) (collected inChains of the Sea,published 1974)
• "Prince Pat" (1992) (collected inMike Resnick's alternate history anthologyAlternate Kennedys)
• "Albert Schweitzer and the Treasures of Atlantis" (1993) (collected in Mike Resnick's alternate history anthologyAlternate Warriors)
• "Shootout at Gower Gulch" (1994) (collected in Mike Resnick's alternate history anthologyAlternate Outlaws)
• "Mars: The Home Front"(1996)
• "The Last Full Measure"

Comics

• "Wasteland—on a Weirdling World" (featuringGullivar Jones,Warrior of Mars),Creatures on the Loose#18 (Marvel, July 1972)
• "The Long Road to Nowhere" (featuring Gullivar Jones),Creatures on the Loose#19 (Marvel, September 1972)
• "Moon of Madness, Moon of Fear!",Chamber of Chills#1 (Marvel, November 1972)
• "What Price Victory?" (featuring Gullivar Jones),Creatures on the Loose#20 (Marvel, November 1972)
• "More Than Blood!",Journey into Mystery#2 (Marvel, December 1972)
• "Two Worlds to Win!" (featuring Gullivar Jones),Creatures on the Loose#21 (Marvel, January 1973)
• "All the Shapes of Fear!",Chamber of Chills#3 (Marvel, March 1973)
• "Thongor! Warrior of Lost Lemuria!" (featuringThongor!Warrior of Lost Lemuria!),Creatures on the Loose#22 (Marvel, March 1973)
• "Where Broods the Demon!" (featuring Thongor),Creatures on the Loose#23 (Marvel, May 1973)
• "Red Swords, Black Wings!" (featuring Thongor),Creatures on the Loose#24 (Marvel, July 1973)
• "The Wizard of Lemuria!" (featuring Thongor),Creatures on the Loose#25 (Marvel, September 1973)
• "The Mouse Alone!" (featuring the YoungGray Mouser),Sword of Sorcery#5 (DC Comics, Nov.-Dec. 1973)
• "More Than Blood!" inDoomsday#17 (K. G. Murray, July 1974)
• "All the World Wars at Once!",Fantastic Four#161 (Marvel, August 1975) (credit is only for the title of the issue)
• "Neil & Buzz in Space and Time" #1 (Fantagraphics, April 1989)

Note:The titles of the first two books of theMarîd Audran seriesare both taken fromBob Dylanlyrics. "When Gravity Fails" is from the song "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"and" A Fire in the Sun "from"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue".Permission was denied to use a Dylan quote for the third book's title, so Effinger chose a public domain quote fromShakespeare.

References

Notes

Sources

• "George Effinger, 55, Who Laced Science Fiction With Dark Humor".The New York Times.May 2, 2002.RetrievedApril 1,2010.

External links

• Effinger on Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America site
• List of his publications on FantasticFiction.co.uk
• Tribute page that includes FAQ
• George Alec Effingerat theInternet Speculative Fiction Database