Greg Bear

American writer and illustrator

Greg Bear

Bear in 2016

Born| Gregory Dale Bear
(1951-08-20) August 20, 1951 (age 74)
San Diego, California, US
Occupation| Novelist
Genre| Science fiction, Speculative fiction
Notable works| Blood Music
Website
gregbear.com

Gregory Dale Bear (born August 20, 1951) is an American writer and illustrator best known for science fiction. His work has covered themes of galactic conflict (Forge of God books), artificial universes (The Way series), consciousness and cultural practices (Queen of Angels), and accelerated evolution (Blood Music, Darwin's Radio, and Darwin's Children). His most recent work is the 2021 novel The Unfinished Land. Greg Bear has written over 50 books in total. Greg Bear was also one of the five co-founders of the San Diego Comic-Con.

## Contents

* 1 Early life
* 2 Career
* 3 Personal life
* 4 Awards and accolades
* 5 Bibliography
* 5.1 Novels
* 5.1.1 Series
* 5.1.2 Series (non-originating author)
* 5.1.3 Non-series
* 5.2 Short fiction
* 5.3 Anthologies edited
* 5.4 Critical studies and reviews of Bear's work
* 6 References
* 7 External links

## Early life[edit | edit source]

Bear was born in San Diego, California. He attended San Diego State University (1968–1973), where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. At the university, he was a teaching assistant to Elizabeth Chater in her course on science fiction writing, and in later years her friend.[citation needed]

## Career[edit | edit source]

Bear is often classified as a hard science fiction author because of the level of scientific detail in his work. Early in his career, he also published work as an artist, including illustrations for an early version of the Star Trek Concordance and covers for Galaxy and F&SF.[1] He sold his first story, "Destroyers", to Famous Science Fiction in 1967.[1]

In his fiction, Bear often addresses major questions in contemporary science and culture and proposes solutions. For example, The Forge of God offers an explanation for the Fermi 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. In Queen of Angels, Bear examines crime, guilt, and punishment in society. He frames these questions around an examination of consciousness and awareness, including the emergent self-awareness of highly advanced computers in communication with humans. In Darwin's Radio and Darwin's Children, he addresses the problem of overpopulation with 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 brought up.

One of Bear's favorite themes is reality as a function of observation. In Blood Music, reality becomes unstable as the number of observers (trillions of intelligent single-cell organisms) spirals higher and higher. Anvil of Stars (sequel to The Forge of God) and Moving Mars postulate a physics based on information exchange between particles, capable of being altered at the "bit level." (Bear has credited the inspiration for the idea to Frederick Kantor's 1967 treatise "Information Mechanics" (see Digital physics)) In Moving Mars, that knowledge is used to remove Mars from the Solar System and transfer it to an orbit around a distant star.

Blood Music was first published as a short story (1983) and then expanded to a novel (1985). It has also been credited as the first account of nanotechnology in science fiction.[citation needed] More certainly, the short story is the first in science fiction to describe microscopic medical machines and to treat DNA as a computational system capable of being reprogrammed; that is, expanded and modified. In later works, beginning with Queen of Angels and continuing with its sequel, Slant, Bear gives a detailed description of a near-future nanotechnological society. The historical sequence continues with Heads, which may contain the first description of a so-called "quantum logic computer", as well as Moving Mars. The sequence also charts the historical development of self-awareness in artificial intelligence. Its continuing character Jill was inspired in part by Robert A. Heinlein's self-aware computer Mycroft HOLMES (High-Optional, Logical, Multi-Evaluating Supervisor) in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966).

Bear, Gregory Benford, and David Brin wrote a trilogy of prequel novels to Isaac Asimov's influential Foundation trilogy. Bear is credited for the middle book.

While most of Bear's work is science fiction, he has written in other fiction genres. Examples include Songs of Earth and Power (fantasy) and Psychlone (horror). Bear has described his Dead Lines, which straddles the line between science fiction and fantasy, as a "high-tech ghost story".[2] He has received many accolades, including five Nebula Awards and two Hugo Awards.[3]

Bear cites Ray Bradbury as 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.[4]

He also serves on the Board of Advisors for the Museum of Science Fiction.[5]

## Personal life[edit | edit source]

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 authors Poul and Karen Anderson. They have two children, Chloe and Alexandra. They reside near Seattle, Washington.[citation needed]

On September 23, 2014, Bear underwent surgery to repair an aortic artery dissection. The procedure included installation of a mechanical aortic valve.[6]

## Awards and accolades[edit | edit source]

* The story on which the novel Blood Music was based, published in the June 1983 issue of Analog, won the Best Novelette Nebula Award (1983)[7] and Hugo Award (1984).[8]
* "Tangents" won both the Hugo Award for Best Short Story and the Nebula Award for Best Short Story
* Darwin's Radio won the Endeavour Award in 2000.
* Hull Zero Three was short-listed for the Arthur C. Clarke (Book) Award in 2012.
* Hayakawa Award "Heads" Best Foreign Short Story (1996).
* Inkpot Award (1984)[9]
* Doris Lessing, winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in literature, wrote, "I also admire the classic sort of science fiction, like Blood Music, by Greg Bear. He's a great writer."[10]

## Bibliography[edit | edit source]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (July 2022)

|

### Novels[edit | edit source]

#### Series[edit | edit source]

Darwin

* Darwin's Radio (1999) Nebula Award winner, Hugo, Locus SF, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 2000[11]
* Darwin's Children (2003) Locus SF, Arthur C. Clarke, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 2004[12]

The Forge of God

* The Forge of God (1987) Hugo, and Locus SF Awards nominee, 1988;[13] Nebula Award nominee, 1986[14]
* Anvil of Stars (1992)

Songs of Earth and Power

* The Infinity Concerto (1984) Locus Fantasy Award nominee, 1985[15]
* The Serpent Mage (1986)
* Songs of Earth and Power (1994 – combines The Infinity Concerto and The Serpent Mage)

Quantico

* Quantico (2005)
* Mariposa (2009)

Quantum Logic

Novels in internal chronology:[16]

* Queen of Angels (1990) Hugo, Locus, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 1991[17]
* Slant (1997) John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee, 1998[18]
* Heads (1990)
* Moving Mars (1993) Nebula Award winner; Hugo, Locus SF, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 1994[19]

War dogs

* War dogs. Orbit. 2014.
* Killing Titan (2015)
* Take Back the Sky (2016)

The Way

* Eon (1985) Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee, 1987[20]
* Eternity (1988)
* Legacy (1995) Locus SF Award nominee, 1996[21]
* The Way of All Ghosts (1999)

#### Series (non-originating author)[edit | edit source]

The Foundation Series

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

Man-Kzin Wars

* The Man Who Would Be Kzin (with S.M. Stirling) (1991)

Halo
The Forerunner Saga (trilogy)

* Halo: Cryptum (2011) (Forerunner trilogy book 1)
* Halo: Primordium (2012) (Forerunner trilogy book 2)
* Halo: Silentium (2013) (Forerunner trilogy book 3) [22]

Star Trek: The Original Series

* Corona (1984)

Star Wars

* Rogue Planet (2000)

Foreworld Saga

* The Mongoliad (2012–2013[23])

#### Non-series[edit | edit source]

* Hegira (1979)
* Psychlone (1979)
* Beyond Heaven's River (1980)
* Strength of Stones (1981)
* Blood Music (1985) Hugo, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 1986;[14] British Science Fiction Award nominee, 1986;[14] Nebula Award nominee, 1985[15]
* Dinosaur Summer (1998) (winner 1999 Endeavour Award)
* Vitals (2002) John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee 2003[24]
* Dead Lines (2004)
* City at the End of Time (Gollancz edition published July 17, 2008;[25] Del Rey Books edition August 2008[26]) (Nominated for the Locus and Campbell Awards, 2009[27])
* Hull Zero Three (2010)
* The Unfinished Land (2021)

### Short fiction[edit | edit source]

* 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 Collected Stories of Greg Bear (2002)
* W3: Women in Deep Time (2003)
* Sleepside: The Collected Fantasies (November 2005)

### Anthologies edited[edit | edit source]

* New Legends (1995, with Martin H. Greenberg)
* Multiverse: Exploring Poul Anderson's Worlds (2014, with Gardner Dozois)
* Nebula Awards Showcase 2015 (2015)

### Critical studies and reviews of Bear's work[edit | edit source]

War dogs

* Sakers, Don (May 2015). "The Reference Library". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 135 (5): 104–107.

## References[edit | edit source]

1. ^ a b "Greg Bear: Continuing the Dialog", Locus, February 2000, p.4, 76–78.
2. ^ "interview". Fiction Writers of the Monterey Peninsula. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
3. ^ "Top SF/F Authors". Worlds Without End. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
4. ^ Adams, John Joseph (June 6, 2012). "Sci-Fi Scribes on Ray Bradbury: "Storyteller, Showman and Alchemist"". Wired. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
5. ^ "Funds sought for science fiction museum lift-off". USAToday.com. November 3, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
6. ^ Glyer, Mike (September 26, 2014). "Greg Bear Has Heart Surgery".
7. ^ The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1985. New York: Newspaper Enterprise Association, Inc. 1984. p. 415\. ISBN 0-911818-71-5.
8. ^ "1984 Award Winners & Nominees". Locus Awards Database. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
9. ^ Inkpot Award
10. ^ Doris Lessing: Hot Dawns, interview by Harvey Blume in Boston Book Review
11. ^ "2000 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
12. ^ "2004 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
13. ^ "1988 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
14. ^ a b c "1986 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
15. ^ a b "1985 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
16. ^ "Greg Bear: Discussion Board". Archived from the original on August 6, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
17. ^ "1991 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
18. ^ "1998 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
19. ^ "1994 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
20. ^ "1987 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
21. ^ "1996 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
22. ^ Upcoming4.me. "Third novel in the Forerunner Saga by Greg Bear, Halo : Silentium revealed". Upcoming4.me. Archived from the original on July 20, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
23. ^ Eaton, Kit (May 26, 2010). "The Mongoliad App: Neal Stephenson's Novel of the Future?". Fast Company. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
24. ^ "2003 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
25. ^ "Invalid Site". Archived from the original on October 12, 2014. Retrieved August 28, 2008.
26. ^ "Del Rey Online | City at the End of Time by Greg Bear". Archived from the original on August 4, 2008. Retrieved August 28, 2008.
27. ^ "2009 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved July 11, 2009.

## External links[edit | edit source]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Greg Bear.

* Official website
* 2010 Interview on the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy Podcast
* Interview with Greg Bear, By Dag R., February 1, 2000, at sffworld.com
* All of Greg Bear's audio interviews on the podcast The Future And You (in which he describes his expectations of the future)
* Greg Bear at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
* Greg Bear at the Internet Book List
* The 20th challenge of the society of digital artists, which made use of EON. In the about part it includes the chapters 1, 2, 10 and 33.
* Quantico: Official Website Archived February 28, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
* Complete list of sci-fi award wins and nominations by novel
* Interview with questions submitted by Reddit.com users
* Greg Bear on Worlds Without End
* Greg Bear at Library of Congress Authorities, with 51 catalog records

* v
* t
* e

Inkpot Award (1980s)

1980|

* Terry Austin
* Murray Bishoff
* Pat Boyette
* John Byrne
* National Film Board of Canada
* Ernie Chan
* Chris Claremont
* Shary Flenniken
* Mike Friedrich
* Rick Geary
* Don Glut
* S. Gross
* Al Hartley
* B. Kliban
* Jerry Muller
* Joe Orlando
* Fred Patten
* Don Phelps
* Richard Pini
* Wendy Pini
* David Raskin
* Scott Shaw!
* Jim Shooter
* John Stanley
* B. K. Taylor
* Osamu Tezuka
* Adam West
* Wally Wood

1981|

* Jerry Bails
* L. B. Cole
* Jim Fitzpatrick
* Dick Giordano
* Dave Graue
* Paul Gulacy
* Mary Henderson
* Karl Hubenthal
* Bil Keane
* Frank Miller
* Doug Moench
* Monkey Punch
* Dennis O'Neil
* Gary Owens
* Richard Rockwell
* Allen Saunders
* Julius Schwartz
* Mike Sekowsky
* Bill Sienkiewicz
* Dave Sim
* Alex Toth
* Morrie Turner
* Bill Woggon

1982|

* Bob Bindig
* Brian Bolland
* Russ Cochran
* David Cockrum
* Max Allan Collins
* Chase Craig
* Archie Goodwin
* Mike Grell
* Bruce Hamilton
* Jack Katz
* Howard Kazanjian
* Hank Ketcham
* Walter Koenig
* Richard Kyle
* Lee Marrs
* Frank Marshall
* John Pound
* Tony Raiola
* Steven Spielberg
* Leonard Starr
* Robert Williams

1983|

* Douglas Adams
* Maeheah Alzmann
* Jim Aparo
* Don Bluth
* Floyd Gottfredson
* Norman Maurer
* George Pérez
* Arn Saba
* Dan Spiegle
* Joe Staton
* James Van Hise
* Cat Yronwode

1984|

* Murphy Anderson
* Román Arámbula
* Greg Bear
* Fae Gates Desmond
* Stan Drake
* John Field
* Rick Hoberg
* Greg Jein
* Ollie Johnston
* Brant Parker
* Robert Shayne
* Curt Swan
* Frank Thomas
* Jim Valentino
* Al Williamson

1985|

* Brent Anderson
* Ben Bova
* David Brin
* Jack Cummings
* Jack Davis
* Alan Moore
* Dan O'Bannon
* Tom Orzechowski
* John Rogers
* Alex Schomburg
* Walt Simonson

1986|

* Poul Anderson
* Marion Zimmer Bradley
* Dave Gibbons
* Jean "Moebius" Giraud
* Gilbert Hernandez
* Jaime Hernandez
* Denis Kitchen
* Steve Leialoha
* Marty Nodell
* Harvey Pekar
* Mark Stadler
* Dave Stevens

1987|

* Steve Ditko
* Harlan Ellison
* Larry Geeck
* Ward Kimball
* Deni Loubert
* Bill Messner-Loebs
* Mike Peters
* Bill Schanes
* Steve Schanes
* Robert Silverberg
* Art Spiegelman
* Bernie Wrightson
* Ray Zone

1988|

* Frank Alison
* Robert Asprin
* Mike Baron
* Lynda Barry
* John Bolton
* Jules Feiffer
* Raymond E. Feist
* Matt Groening
* Gary Groth
* George R. R. Martin
* Mike Pasqua
* Steve Rude
* Marie Severin
* Matt Wagner

1989|

* Richard Alf
* Robert Crumb
* Howard Cruse
* Kevin Eastman
* Lee Falk
* Ron Goulart
* Walt Kelly
* Peter Laird
* Syd Mead
* Andre Norton
* Jerry Robinson
* Diana Schutz
* Janet Tait
* Ron Turner
* Gahan Wilson

* Complete list
* 1970s
* 1980s
* 1990s
* 2000s
* 2010s

* v
* t
* e

Nebula Award for Best Novel

1966–1980|

* Dune by Frank Herbert (1966)
* Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany and Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (1967)
* The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany (1968)
* Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin (1969)
* The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (1970)
* Ringworld by Larry Niven (1971)
* A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg (1972)
* The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov (1973)
* Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (1974)
* The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (1975)
* The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (1976)
* Man Plus by Frederik Pohl (1977)
* Gateway by Frederik Pohl (1978)
* Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre (1979)
* The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke (1980)

1981–2000|

* Timescape by Gregory Benford (1981)
* The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe (1982)
* No Enemy But Time by Michael Bishop (1983)
* Startide Rising by David Brin (1984)
* Neuromancer by William Gibson (1985)
* Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (1986)
* Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (1987)
* The Falling Woman by Pat Murphy (1988)
* Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold (1989)
* The Healer's War by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (1990)
* Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (1991)
* Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick (1992)
* Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (1993)
* Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (1994)
* Moving Mars by Greg Bear (1995)
* The Terminal Experiment by Robert J. Sawyer (1996)
* Slow River by Nicola Griffith (1997)
* The Moon and the Sun by Vonda N. McIntyre (1998)
* Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman (1999)
* Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler (2000)

2001–2020|

* Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear (2001)
* The Quantum Rose by Catherine Asaro (2002)
* American Gods by Neil Gaiman (2003)
* Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon (2004)
* Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold (2005)
* Camouflage by Joe Haldeman (2006)
* Seeker by Jack McDevitt (2007)
* The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (2008)
* Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin (2009)
* The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (2010)
* Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis (2011)
* Among Others by Jo Walton (2012)
* 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (2013)
* Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (2014)
* Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (2015)
* Uprooted by Naomi Novik (2016)
* All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders (2017)
* The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin (2018)
* The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (2019)
* A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker (2020)

2021–present|

* Network Effect by Martha Wells (2021)
* A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark (2022)

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template