Greg Bear

Gregory Dale Bear (born August 20, 1951) is a science fiction author. His work has covered themes of galactic conflict (Forge of God books), artificial universes (Eon series) and accelerated evolution (Blood Music, Darwin's Radio, and Darwin's Children). Bear, Gregory Benford, and David Brin also wrote a trilogy of prequel novels to Isaac Asimov's famous Foundation trilogy with Bear credited for the middle book in the trilogy.

Bear was born in San Diego, California. From 1968 to 1973 he attended San Diego State University, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. In 1975, he married Christina M. Nielson, but they divorced in 1981. He remarried in 1983, to Astrid Anderson, the daughter of science fiction author Poul Anderson. They have two children, Erik and Alexandra.

Work

The scientific details in his work are such that he is usually classified as a hard science fiction author, but not all of the speculations in his works are equally rigorous. For example, the mathematics in the Eon series, such as the "pi meter", are dubious at best and The Forge of God interprets the Gaia theory freely in ways that might be considered questionable by most scientists. One of his pet themes, visible in Moving Mars and Blood Music, is reality as a function of the observer. In both novels reality is altered by a manipulation of the relationship. In Moving Mars it is done to remove Mars from solar orbit to a distant star, whereas in Blood Music reality becomes unstable as the number of observers - trillions of intelligent single-cell organisms - spirals higher and higher.

More recent works such as the Darwin's Radio/Darwin's Children pair of novels which deal with the impact of a strange disease which appears to drive evolutionary transitions, stick closely to the known facts of molecular biology of viruses and evolution. While some fairly speculative ideas are entertained (it is after all, fiction) they are introduced in such a rigorous and disciplined way within the context of the cutting edge of those disciplines, that Darwin's Radio gained praise in the science journal Nature.

While most of Bear's work is science fiction, two of his early works, The Infinity Concerto and The Serpent Mage which are now published together as one novel Songs of Earth and Power are clearly fantasies, and Psychlone is horror. First and foremost Bear is an author of works of speculative fiction which are intended to entertain and inspire, and the sheer audacity of the scope and vision which he has exhibited throughout his career make him one of science fiction's most well-respected authors. New readers wanting to familiarize themselves with his writing could start with the award winners from the list below: Blood Music, Moving Mars, and Darwin's Radio serve as a fine introduction to Greg Bear's fascinating body of work.

Bibliography

Collection of Short Stories

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)

Darwin

Darwin's Radio (1999) (winner 2000 Nebula award for best novel and 2000 Endeavour Award)
Darwin's Children (2003)

The Eon Series

The Forge of God series

The Forge of God (1987)
Anvil of Stars (1992)

Second Foundation Series

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

Songs of Earth and Power

The Infinity Concerto (1984)
The Serpent Mage (1986)
Songs of Earth and Power (1994 - combines The Infinity Concerto and The Serpent Mage)

Star Trek: The Original Series

Corona (1991)

Star Wars

''Rogue Planet (2000)

Queen of Angels

A group of novels featuring a shared history and some common characters.

Queen of Angels (1990)
Heads (1990)
Moving Mars (1993) (won the 1994 Nebula award for best novel)
/ (aka Slant) (1997)

Non-series Novels

Psychlone (1979)
Hegira (1979)
Beyond Heaven's River (1980)
The Strength of Stones (1981)
Blood Music (1985) (won the 1984 Nebula award for best novella, and the Hugo award)
Sleepside Story (1988)
New Legends (1995)
Dinosaur Summer (1998) (winner 1999 Endeavour Award)
Country of the Mind (June 1998)
Vitals (2002)
Dead Lines (2004)
Quantico (2005)

External links

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