Greg Bear

Gregory Dale Bear
Greg Bear (2005)
Born	Gregory Dale Bear (1951-08-20)August 20, 1951 San Diego,California, U.S.
Died	November 19, 2022(2022-11-19)(aged 71)
Occupation	Novelist
Genre	Science fiction
Notable works	Blood Music
Website
www.gregbear.com

Gregory Dale Bear(August 20, 1951 – November 19, 2022) was anAmericanscience fictionauthor. He wrote about war across the galaxy, artificial universes, consciousness, and evolution.

Biography

Bear was born inSan Diego, California.From 1968 to 1973 he attendedSan Diego State University,where he received aBachelor of Artsdegree. In 1975, he married Christina M. Nielson, but they divorced in 1981. He remarried in 1983, to Astrid Anderson, the daughter of science fiction authorPoul Anderson.They have two children, Erik and Alexandra. They live outside ofSeattle,Washington.

Career

Bear is often called ahard science fictionauthor because he uses many scientific details in his work.

Bear often answers major questions in contemporary science and culture with fictional solutions. For example,The Forge of Godtries to explain theFermi paradox.If the galaxy is filled with intelligences that could be very dangerous, young civilizations could only survive by staying quiet so nobody would notice them and attack. InQueen of AngelsBear examines crime, guilt and punishment in society. He does this by examining consciousness and awareness. Part of the novel is about highly advanced computers that begging to become intelligent and aware of themselves as they communicate with humans. In the two books "Darwin's Radio" and "Darwin's Children" he writes about the problem of overpopulation with a mutation the human genome making, basically a new series of humans. The books bring up the question of cultural acceptance of something brand new that cannot be stopped.

One of Bear's favorite themes is how observers effect or create reality. InBlood Musicreality becomes unstable as the number of observers–trillions of intelligent single-cell organisms–gets higher and higher. BothAnvil of Stars–a sequel toThe Forge of God–andMoving Marspropose a physics based on information exchange between particles, capable of being altered at the "bit level." (Bear has credited the inspiration for this idea to Frederick Kantor's 1967 treatise, "Information Mechanics." ) InMoving Marsthis knowledge is used to remove Mars from the solar system and transfer it to an orbit around a distant star.

Blood Music(first published as ashort storyin 1983, and expanded to a novel in 1985) has also been credited as being the first account ofnanotechnologyin science fiction. The short story described microscopic medical machines. He described DNA as a computer system that could be changed. InQueen of AngelsandSlant,Bear gives a detailed description of a near-future nanotechnological society. This historical sequence continues withHeads–which may contain the first description of a "quantum logic computer" –and withMoving Mars.These books also show the historical development of self-awareness in AIs. One AI character called Jill is in all of these books. Bear was influenced byRobert A. Heinlein's self-aware computer Mycroft Holmes ( "High-Optional, Logical, Multi-Evaluating Supervisor" ) inThe Moon Is a Harsh Mistresswhen creating Jill.

More recent works, such as the two novelsDarwin's RadioandDarwin's Childrenstick closely to the known facts ofmolecular biologyofvirusesandevolution.These books are about the impact of a strangediseasethat appears to make evolutionary transitions happen. Bear includes some very speculative ideas, but he wrote about them so carefully thatDarwin's Radiogained praise in the science journalNature.

Bear,Gregory Benford,andDavid Brinwrote a series of three novels that take place beforeIsaac Asimov's famousFoundationseries. Bear is named as the author of the second of the three books.

While most of Bear's writing isscience fiction,he also wrote in other genres. Two of his early works,The Infinity ConcertoandThe Serpent Mageare clearlyfantasies.These are now published together as one novel calledSongs of Earth and Power.Psychloneis horror. Bear called his storyDead Linesa "high-tech ghost story."He has received many accolades, including five Nebula awards and two Hugo awards for science fiction.

Death

Bear died from multiplestrokeson November 19, 2022, at the age of 71.

Works

Novels

Series

Darwin

• Darwin's Radio(1999) Nebula Awardwinner,Hugo, Locus SF, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 2000
• Darwin's Children(2003) Locus SF, Arthur C. Clarke, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 2004

The Forge of God

• The Forge of God(1987) Hugo, and Locus SF Awards nominee, 1988;Nebula Award nominee, 1986
• Anvil of Stars(1992)

Songs of Earth and Power

• The Infinity Concerto(1984) Locus Fantasy Award nominee, 1985
• The Serpent Mage(1986)
• Songs of Earth and Power(1994 - combinesThe Infinity ConcertoandThe Serpent Mage)

Quantico (books set before the Queen of Angels series)

• Quantico(2005)
• Mariposa(2009)

Queen of Angels

• Queen of Angels(1990) Hugo, Locus, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 1991
• /(also known asSlant;1997) John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee, 1998

The Way

• Eon(1985) Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee, 1987
• Eternity(1988)
• Legacy(1995) Locus SF Award nominee, 1996
• The Way of All Ghosts(1999)

Series he added to, but did not begin

The Foundation Series

• Foundation and Chaos(1998) (Second Foundation series: book 2)

Man-Kzin Wars

• The Man Who Would Be Kzin(withS.M. Stirling) (1991)

Star Trek:The Original Series

• Corona(1984)

Star Wars

• Rogue Planet(2000)

Non-series

• Psychlone(1979)
• Hegira(1979)
• Beyond Heaven's River(1980)
• Strength of Stones(1981)
• Blood Music(1985) Hugo, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 1986;British Science Fiction Award nominee, 1986;Nebula Award nominee, 1985
• Sleepside Story(1988)
• Heads(1990)
• Moving Mars(1993) Nebula Award winner; Hugo, Locus SF, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 1994
• New Legends(1995)
• Dinosaur Summer(1998) (winner 1999Endeavour Award)
• Country of the Mind(June 1998)
• Vitals(2002) John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee 2003
• Dead Lines(2004)
• City at the End of Time(Gollanczedition published 7/17/2008;Del Rey Booksedition August, 2008) (Nominated for the Locus and Campbell Awards, 2009)
• Hull Zero Three(to be released November 2010)
• The Mongoliad(expected 2010)

Short Fiction

Collections

• The Wind from a Burning Woman(1983)
• Early Harvest(February 1988)
• Tangents(1989)
• The Venging(1992)
• Bear's Fantasies(1992)
• W3 Women in deep time(2003)
• Sleepside: The Collected Fantasies(November 2005)

Other awards

• BeforeBlood Musicwas a novel, it was a story published in the June 1983 issue of Asimov's. It won the Best Novelette Nebula Award (1983) andHugo Award(1984).
• Darwin's Radiowon the Endeavor Award in 2000
• Hayakawa Award"Heads" Best Foreign Short Story (1996).

Praise from other authors

• Doris Lessing,winner of the 2007Nobel Prizein literature, wrote, "I also admire the classic sort of science fiction, likeBlood Music,by Greg Bear. He's a great writer. "

Other websites

• Greg Bear's Official Site
• All of Greg Bear's audio interviews on the podcastThe Future And You(in which he describes his expectations of the future)
• Quantico: Official WebsiteArchived2021-02-28 at theWayback Machine
• Complete list of sci-fi award wins and nominations by novel
• Greg Bearon Worlds Without End