Showing posts with label Authors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Authors. Show all posts

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Rudy Rucker

Rudolf von Bitter Rucker (born March 22, 1946) is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and philosopher, and is one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement. The author of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known for the novels in the Ware Tetralogy, the first two of which (Software and Wetware) both won Philip K. Dick Awards. At present he edits the science fiction webzine Flurb.

Early life

Rucker was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the great-great-great-grandson of the philosopher G. W. F. Hegel.[1]
Rucker attended St. Xavier High School before earning a B.A. in mathematics from Swarthmore College in 1967 and M.S. (1969) and Ph.D. (1973) degrees in mathematics from Rutgers University.[2]

Career

Rucker taught at the State University of New York at Geneseo from 1972–1978. Thanks to a grant from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Rucker taught math at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg from 1978–1980. He then taught at Randolph-Macon Women's College in Lynchburg, Virginia from 1980–1982, before trying his hand as a full-time author for four years. Inspired by an interview with Stephen Wolfram,[3] Rucker became a computer science professor at San José State University in 1986, from which he retired in 2004.[4] A mathematician with philosophical interests, he has written The Fourth Dimension; Geometry, Relativity and the Fourth Dimension; and Infinity and the Mind. Princeton University Press published new editions of Infinity and the Mind in 1995 and in 2005, both with new prefaces; the first edition is cited with fair frequency in academic literature.[citation needed]
As his "own alternative to cyberpunk," Rucker developed a writing style he terms Transrealism. Transrealism, as outlined in his 1983 essay "The Transrealist Manifesto," is science fiction based on the author's own life and immediate perceptions, mixed with fantastic elements that symbolize psychological change. Many of Rucker's novels and short stories apply these ideas. One example of Rucker's Transrealist works is Saucer Wisdom, a novel in which the main character is abducted by aliens. Rucker and his publisher marketed the book, tongue in cheek, as non-fiction.
His earliest Transrealist novel, White Light, was written during his time at Heidelberg. This Transrealist novel is based on his experiences at SUNY Geneseo.
Rucker often uses his novels to explore scientific or mathematical ideas; White Light examines the concept of infinity, while the Ware Tetralogy (written from 1982 through 2000) is in part an explanation of the use of natural selection to develop software (a subject also developed in his The Hacker and the Ants, written in 1994). His novels also put forward a mystical philosophy that Rucker has summarized in an essay titled, with only a bit of irony, "The Central Teachings of Mysticism" (included in Seek!, 1999).
His non-fiction book, The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul: What Gnarly Computation Taught Me About Ultimate Reality, the Meaning Of Life , and How To Be Happy summarizes the various philosophies he's believed over the years and ends with the tentative conclusion that we might profitably view the world as made of computations, with the final remark, "perhaps this universe is perfect."

Testimonials

Author William Gibson referred to Rudy Rucker as a National Treasure of American science fiction.[5]

Works

Fiction

Non-fiction

As editor

  • Mathenauts: Tales of Mathematical Wonder, Arbor House (1987)
List on Rucker's SJSU web page. With links to each book's web page.

References

  1. ^ The family tree of his mother's brother, Rudolf von Bitter.
  2. ^ Notable Names Database
  3. ^ "Rudy Rucker interviews Stephen Wolfram". Retrieved 2009-04-08.
  4. ^ Locus Online
  5. ^ DIGIMAG

External links

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Friday, 8 June 2012

Terry Brooks


Terry Brooks

 

Terence Dean "Terry" Brooks (born January 8, 1944) is an American writer of fantasy fiction. He writes mainly epic fantasy,[2] and has also written two movie novelizations. He has written 23 New York Times bestsellers during his writing career,[2] and has over 21 million copies of his books in print.[3] He is one of the biggest-selling living fantasy writers.[4]

Biography

Brooks was born in the rural midwestern town of Sterling, Illinois, and spent a large part of his life living there.[5] He is an alumnus of Hamilton College, earning his B.A. in English literature in 1966.[5] He later obtained a J.D. from Washington and Lee University. He was a practicing attorney before becoming a full-time author and now resides in Seattle, Washington, with his wife, Judine.[5] Brooks' thorough familiarity with and love for the city of Seattle are clearly expressed in "A Knight of the Word" whose plot is set in that city.
Brooks had been a writer since high school, writing mainly in the genres of science fiction, western, fiction, and non-fiction.[5] One day, in his early college life, he was given a copy of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, which inspired him to write in one genre.[5] While Tolkien inspired the genre, Brooks stated at the Charlotte Literary Festival that he credits the inspiration of his style of writing to William Faulkner's works. With this inspiration, he then made his debut in 1977 with his first novel The Sword of Shannara.[5] This novel became the first fantasy book ever to appear on the New York Times bestseller list, where it stayed for five months.[5]
After finishing two sequels to The Sword of Shannara, Brooks moved on to the series which would become known as the Landover novels.[5] Brooks then wrote a four-book series titled The Heritage of Shannara.[5] For the next fourteen years, he wrote more Landover books, then went on to write The Word and Void trilogy. Continuing the Shannara series, Brooks wrote the prequel to The Sword of Shannara, titled First King of Shannara. He then wrote two series, The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara and High Druid of Shannara and recently finished a third, Genesis of Shannara, a trilogy bridging his Word and Void and Shannara series. His latest project, A Princess of Landover, was released in August 2009. Legends of Shannara, a duology taking place after the events of Genesis of Shannara, was recently completed. The first installment, entitled Bearers of the Black Staff, was released in August 2010. The second installment, The Measure of the Magic, was released in August 2011.

Novels versus short stories

After writing "Indomitable", a short story constituting an epilogue to The Wishsong of Shannara, Terry Brooks declared:
I find it much harder to write short stories than long fiction. I feel cramped by the lack of space and the dictates of the form. There is considerable difference in long and short fiction disciplines, and I am not good with the latter. I hope not to have to do many more of them, but you never know. I must have written Indomitable anywhere from four to five times, each effort different. Give me a five hundred page sprawl as an assignment any day.[6]

Bibliography

Note: The list below represents Terry Brooks' suggested reading order for new readers. [7] View the Shannara page for chronological order, but heed this note from the Terry Brooks site: "It is important to make a note right now for new readers. If as a new reader you read the novels in chronological order, you will be significantly spoiling your foray through Terry’s work."

Shannara series

The Original Shannara Trilogy

  1. The Sword of Shannara (1977)
  2. The Elfstones of Shannara (1982)
  3. The Wishsong of Shannara (1985)
  4. Indomitable (2012) (epilogue to Wishsong)
  5. Dark Wraith of Shannara (2008) (Graphic Novel, epilogue to Wishsong)

The Heritage of Shannara tetralogy

  1. The Scions of Shannara (1990)
  2. The Druid of Shannara (1991)
  3. The Elf Queen of Shannara (1992)
  4. The Talismans of Shannara (1993)

Prequel to the Original Shannara Trilogy

  1. First King of Shannara (1996)

Word & Void series

The Word & Void series precedes the action in Genesis of Shannara trilogy and serves as the very start of the Shannara saga.
  1. Running with the Demon (1997)
  2. A Knight of the Word (1998)
  3. Angel Fire East (1999)

The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy

  1. Ilse Witch (2000)
  2. Antrax (2001)
  3. Morgawr (2002)

High Druid of Shannara trilogy

  1. Jarka Ruus (2003)
  2. Tanequil (2004)
  3. Straken (2005)

Genesis of Shannara trilogy

  1. Armageddon's Children (August, 2006)
  2. The Elves of Cintra (August 28, 2007)
  3. The Gypsy Morph (August 26, 2008)[8]

Legends of Shannara duology

  1. Bearers of the Black Staff (August 2010)
  2. The Measure of the Magic (August 2011)

The Dark Legacy of Shannara trilogy

These books will take place 100 years after the events in the High Druid of Shannara trilogy.[9]
  1. The Wards of Faerie (August 2012)
  2. The Bloodfire Quest (March 2013)
  3. Book 3 (August 2013)

Shannara related works

Magic Kingdom of Landover series

Note: This is not part of the Shannara series.
  1. Magic Kingdom For Sale -- SOLD! (1986)
  2. The Black Unicorn (1987)
  3. Wizard at Large (1988)
  4. The Tangle Box (1994)
  5. Witches' Brew (1995)
  6. A Princess of Landover (August 18, 2009)[11]

Other

  • Imaginary Friends (1991) (short story published in anthology Once Upon a Time: A Treasury of Modern Fairy Tales)
  • Indomitable (2003) (short story published in anthology Legends II)
  • Why I Write About Elves (2005) (short story published as an Amazon short)
  • The Writers Complete Fantasy Reference: An Indispensable Compendium of Myth and Magic (Writer's Digest Books, 2000), with Michael J. Varhola
  • Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life (2003)
 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Posted by at No comments:
Labels:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)