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Greg Bear

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Greg Bear
Bear in 2016
Bear in 2016
BornGregory Dale Bear
(1951-08-20)August 20, 1951
San Diego,California, U.S.
DiedNovember 19, 2022(2022-11-19)(aged 71)[1][2][3]
OccupationNovelist
EducationSan Diego State University(BA)
GenreScience fiction,Speculative fiction
Notable worksBlood Music
Website
gregbear.com

Gregory Dale Bear(August 20, 1951 – November 19, 2022) was an American writer and illustrator best known for science fiction.[4]His work covered themes ofgalactic conflict(Forge of Godbooks), parallel universes (The Wayseries),consciousnessandcultural practices(Queen of Angels), and acceleratedevolution(Blood Music,Darwin's Radio,andDarwin's Children). His last work was the 2021 novelThe Unfinished Land.Greg Bear wrote over 50 books in total.[5]

Early life

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Greg Bear was born inSan Diego,California.He attendedSan Diego State University(1968–1973), where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. At the university, he was ateaching assistanttoElizabeth Chaterin her course on science fiction writing, and in later years her friend.[citation needed]

Career

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Bear is often classified as ahard science fictionauthor because of the level of scientific detail in his work.[5]Early in his career, he also published work as an artist, including illustrations for an early version of the reference bookStar Trek Concordanceand covers for periodicalsGalaxyandF&SF.[6]He sold his first story, "Destroyers", toFamous Science Fictionin 1967.[6]

In his fiction, Bear often addresses major questions in contemporary science and culture and proposes solutions. For example,The Forge of Godoffers an explanation for theFermi paradox,supposing that the galaxy is filled with potentially predatory intelligences and that young civilizations that survive are those that do not attract their attention but stay quiet. InQueen of Angels,Bear examines crime, guilt, and punishment in society. He frames these questions around an examination of consciousness and awareness, including theemergent self-awareness of highly advanced computersin communication with humans. InDarwin's RadioandDarwin's Children,he addresses the problem ofoverpopulationwith a mutation in the human genome making, basically, a new series of humans. The question of cultural acceptance of something new and unavoidable is also indicated.

One of Bear's favorite themes is reality as a function ofobservation.InBlood Music,reality becomes unstable as the number of observers (trillions of intelligent single-cell organisms) spirals higher and higher.Anvil of Stars(sequel toThe Forge of God) andMoving Marspostulate a physics based on information exchange between particles, capable of being altered at the "bit level."[a]InMoving Mars,that knowledge is used to remove Mars from the Solar System and transfer it to an orbit around a distant star.

Blood Musicwas first published as a short story (1983) and then expanded to a novel (1985). It has also been credited as the first account ofnanotechnologyin science fiction.[citation needed]More certainly, the short story is the first in science fiction to describe microscopic medical machines and to treatDNAas a computational system capable of being reprogrammed, that is, expanded and modified. In later works, beginning withQueen of Angelsand continuing with its sequel,Slant,Bear gives a detailed description of a near-future nanotechnological society. This historical sequence continues withHeads—which may contain the first description of a so-called "quantum logic computer" —and withMoving Mars.The sequence also charts the historical development ofself-awarenessinartificial intelligence.Its continuing character Jill was inspired in part byRobert A. Heinlein's self-aware computer Mycroft HOLMES inThe Moon Is a Harsh Mistress(1966).

Bear,Gregory Benford,andDavid Brinwrote a trilogy of prequel novels toIsaac Asimov's influentialFoundationtrilogy. Bear is credited with the middle book namedFoundation and Chaos.

While most of Bear's work is science fiction, he has written in other fiction genres. Examples includeSongs of Earth and Power(fantasy) andPsychlone(horror). Bear has described hisDead Lines,which straddles the line between science fiction and fantasy, as a "high-techghost story".[7]He has received many accolades, including fiveNebula Awardsand twoHugo Awards.[8]

Bear citedRay Bradburyas the most influential writer in his life. He met Bradbury in 1967 and had a lifelong correspondence. As a teenager, Bear attended Bradbury lectures and events in Southern California.[9]

He also served on the Board of Advisors for theMuseum of Science Fiction.[10]Bear was also one of the five co-founders of theSan Diego Comic-Con.[11]

Personal life and death

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In 1975, Bear married Christina M. Nielson; they divorced in 1981. In 1983, he married Astrid Anderson, the daughter of the science fiction and fantasy authorsPoulandKaren Anderson.They had two children, Chloe and Alexandra, and resided nearSeattle,Washington.[12]

Bear died on November 19, 2022, at the age of 71, from multiple strokes, caused by clots that had been hiding in a falselumenof the anterior artery to the brain since a surgery in 2014.[13]After being on life support for two days and not expected to recover, per hisadvance healthcare directive,life support was withdrawn.[14][15]

Awards and accolades

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Bibliography

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Novels

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Series

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Darwin
  • Darwin's Radio(1999) Nebula Award winner, Hugo, Locus SF, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 2000[22]
  • Darwin's Children(2003) Locus SF, Arthur C. Clarke, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 2004[23]
The Forge of God
Songs of Earth and Power
Quantico
Quantum Logic

Novels in internal chronology:[27]

  • Queen of Angels(1990) Hugo, Locus, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 1991[28]
  • Slant(1997) John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee, 1998[29]
  • Heads(1990)
  • Moving Mars(1993) Nebula Award winner; Hugo, Locus SF, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 1994[30]
War dogs
  • War dogs.Orbit. 2014.
  • Killing Titan(2015)
  • Take Back the Sky(2016)
The Way

Series (non-originating author)

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The Foundation Series
Man-Kzin Wars
Halo
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Wars
Foreworld Saga

Non-series

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Short fiction

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  • Hardfought(1983)
Collections
  • The Wind from a Burning Woman(1983, vt The Venging 1992)
  • Early Harvest(February 1988)
  • Tangents(1989)
  • Bear's Fantasies(1992)
  • The White Horse Child(1993)
  • The Collected Stories of Greg Bear(2002)
  • W3: Women in Deep Time(2003)
  • Sleepside: The Collected Fantasies(November 2005)

Anthologies edited

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Critical studies and reviews of Bear's work

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War dogs
  • Sakers, Don(May 2015). "The Reference Library".Analog Science Fiction and Fact.Vol. 135, no. 5. pp. 104–107.

Explanatory notes

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  1. ^Bear has credited the inspiration for the idea toFrederick Kantor's 1967 treatise "Information Mechanics" (seeDigital physics).

References

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  1. ^"Sci-fi Novelist Greg Bear Has Passed Away".November 20, 2022.
  2. ^"Halo Author Greg Bear Passes Away Age 71".November 20, 2022.
  3. ^"Greg Bear: News".Greg passed away peacefully yesterday, surrounded by his loving family. [...] Greg Bear 8/20/1951–11/19/2022
  4. ^Holland, Steve (December 29, 2022)."Greg Bear obituary".The Guardian.London.RetrievedDecember 21,2023.
  5. ^ab"SFE: Bear, Greg".The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.RetrievedNovember 26,2022.
  6. ^ab"Greg Bear: Continuing the Dialog",Locus,February 2000, pp. 4, 76–78.
  7. ^ "interview".fwomp.com.Fiction Writers of the Monterey Peninsula.RetrievedJuly 11,2009.
  8. ^ "Top SF/F Authors".WorldsWithoutEnd.com.RetrievedJuly 11,2009.
  9. ^Adams, John Joseph (June 6, 2012)."Sci-Fi Scribes on Ray Bradbury:" Storyteller, Showman and Alchemist "".Wired.RetrievedOctober 20,2015.
  10. ^"Funds sought for science fiction museum lift-off".USAToday.com.November 3, 2013.RetrievedSeptember 7,2014.
  11. ^Robbins, Gary (November 22, 2022)."Greg Bear, prize-winning sci-fi author and Comic-Con co-founder, dies at 71".San Diego Union-Tribune.RetrievedNovember 26,2022.
  12. ^"Greg Bear, 1951-2022: Best-selling writer influenced sci-fi world, on and off the page".November 20, 2022.
  13. ^Glyer, Mike (November 20, 2022)."Pixel Scroll 11/19/22 Scroll And Deliver, Your Pixels Or Your Life!".File 770.RetrievedNovember 20,2022.
  14. ^Bear, Astrid (November 18, 2022)."Update on Greg".Facebook.RetrievedNovember 20,2022.
  15. ^Glyer, Mike (November 20, 2022)."Greg Bear (1951-2022)".File 770.RetrievedNovember 20,2022.
  16. ^The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1985.New York: Newspaper Enterprise Association, Inc. 1984. p. 415.ISBN0-911818-71-5.
  17. ^ "1984 Award Winners & Nominees".Locus Awards Database.Archived fromthe originalon June 5, 2011.RetrievedJuly 11,2009.
  18. ^"1987 Hugo Awards".July 24, 2015.
  19. ^"Greg Bear".
  20. ^Inkpot Award
  21. ^Doris Lessing: Hot Dawns,interview by Harvey Blume in Boston Book Review.
  22. ^ "2000 Award Winners & Nominees".Worlds Without End.RetrievedJuly 11,2009.
  23. ^ "2004 Award Winners & Nominees".Worlds Without End.RetrievedJuly 11,2009.
  24. ^ "1988 Award Winners & Nominees".Worlds Without End.RetrievedJuly 11,2009.
  25. ^abc "1986 Award Winners & Nominees".Worlds Without End.RetrievedJuly 11,2009.
  26. ^ab "1985 Award Winners & Nominees".Worlds Without End.RetrievedJuly 11,2009.
  27. ^"Greg Bear: Discussion Board".Archived fromthe originalon August 6, 2011.RetrievedJuly 14,2011.
  28. ^"1991 Award Winners & Nominees".Worlds Without End.RetrievedJuly 11,2009.
  29. ^ "1998 Award Winners & Nominees".Worlds Without End.RetrievedJuly 11,2009.
  30. ^"1994 Award Winners & Nominees".Worlds Without End.RetrievedJuly 11,2009.
  31. ^ "1987 Award Winners & Nominees".Worlds Without End.RetrievedJuly 11,2009.
  32. ^ "1996 Award Winners & Nominees".Worlds Without End.RetrievedJuly 11,2009.
  33. ^Upcoming4.me."Third novel in the Forerunner Saga by Greg Bear, Halo: Silentium revealed".Upcoming4.me. Archived fromthe originalon July 20, 2012.RetrievedJuly 18,2012.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  34. ^Eaton, Kit (May 26, 2010)."The Mongoliad App: Neal Stephenson's Novel of the Future?".Fast Company.RetrievedJuly 4,2010.
  35. ^ "2003 Award Winners & Nominees".Worlds Without End.RetrievedJuly 11,2009.
  36. ^"Invalid Site".Archived fromthe originalon October 12, 2014.RetrievedAugust 28,2008.
  37. ^"Del Rey Online | City at the End of Time by Greg Bear".Archived fromthe originalon August 4, 2008.RetrievedAugust 28,2008.
  38. ^ "2009 Award Winners & Nominees".Worlds Without End.RetrievedJuly 11,2009.
  39. ^Briefly reviewed byDon Sakersin the April 2016 issue ofAnalog,pp.105–108.
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