Mike Resnick

Michael Diamond Resnick (born Chicago, March 5, 1942), far better known as Mike Resnick, is a popular and prolific science fiction author. The winner of 5 Hugo Awards plus other major awards in the USA, France, Japan, Spain, Croatia and Poland, he currently stands 4th on the Locus list of science fiction's all-time top award winners. He is also a long-time participant in science fiction fandom. Always in demand as a speaker, he has been the Guest of Honor at some 30 science fiction conventions, and Toastmaster at a dozen more. During his "starving-writer" and "starving-editor" days back in the 1960s and early 1970s, he wrote more than 200 "adult" novels under pseudonyms, edited seven tabloid newspapers, and edited a trio of men's magazines. He also produced a weekly column on horse racing for more than a decade, and for eleven years wrote a monthly column on purebred collies, which he and Carol (to whom he has been married since 1961) bred and exhibited with remarkable success. His daughter, Laura Resnick, is also an award-winning and very popular science fiction and fantasy author.

Themes

Two notable trends run through the majority of Resnick's science fiction work. The first is his love of fable and legend. Many of his stories read like legends, featuring larger-than-life characters with colorful names like "The Widowmaker", "Lucifer Jones", "The Forever Kid", and "Catastrophe Baker". Their adventures are often similarly legendary. Resnick is also interested in the formation of history and legend, and sometimes includes bards as characters. The book The Outpost deals most with these themes, as it includes a story told from multiple perspectives and a bard who openly intends to exaggerate and edit his accounts to make them more interesting. Resnick's books in this vein bear some resemblance to Westerns, but are clearly science fiction.

The other main theme in Resnick's work is Africa - African history, African culture, colonialism and its aftermath, and traditionalism. He has visited Africa often, and draws on this experience. Some of his science fiction stories are allegories of African history and politics. Other stories are actually set in Africa or have African characters.

If he has another distinguishing feature, it's that he loves humor and writes it frequently -- some 6 novels and 50 stories at last count. Even his most grim and serious stories have frequent unexpected bursts of humor in them.

Since 1988 he has become almost as prolific an editor as a writer, with well over 40 anthologies to his credit. He has also sold screenplays based on his novels to Miramax and Capella, and usually has from 4 to 6 properties under option to Hollywood on any given day.

His work has been translated into French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Hebrew, Russian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Czech, Dutch, Swedish, Romanian, Finnish, Castilian, Slovakian, Chinese, and Croatian.

Selected bibliography

The Birthright Universe

The Book of Man (1982) - vignettes chronicling the rise and fall of mankind in the galaxy. Some 30 novels and 20 shorter works have been set in the future created in this book.
The Soul Eater (1981) - a cross between Moby Dick and The Flying Dutchman, and according to Science Fiction Review, "the damndest love story I've ever read."
Walpurgis III (1982) - the story of three man, one who is evil, one who does evil, and one who worships evil, on a planet populated by covens and Satanists.
Sideshow (1982) - aliens visit the earth, disguised as freaks in a sideshow.
The Three-Legged Hootch Dancer (1983) - more adventures of the sideshow as it goes out into the galaxy.
The Wild Alien Tamer (1983) - more adventures of the galactic sideshow and carnival.
The Best Rootin' Tootin' Shootin' Gunslinger in the Whole Damned Galaxy (1983) - the final adventure of the galactic carnival.
Eros Ascending (1984) - a strange love story set aboard the Velvet Comet, an orbiting brothel.
Eros at Zenith (1984) - a murder mystery set aboard the Velvet Comet.
Eros Descending (1985) - a religious leader is obsessed by alien prostitutes aboard the Velvet Comet.
Eros at Nadir (1986) - a hack writer is commissioned to create a totally false musical about the Velvet Comet.
Santiago (1986) - story of a legendary outlaw of the future.
The Dark Lady (1987) - an art dealer investigates a mysterious painting.
Ivory: A Legend of Past and Future - the search for a pair of tusks that covers thousands of years and dozens of worlds.
Paradise (1989) - a history of the discovery, settlement, exploitation and eventual fate of a planet and its native race. A science fictional allegory of Kenya.
Soothsayer (1991) - the existence of a little girl with the gift of precognition threatens the galaxy
Oracle (1992) - the precognative girl, now in her late teens, is the object of a galaxywide hunt.
Purgatory (1992) - a history of the discovery, settlement, exploitation and eventual fate of a planet and its native race. A science fictional allegory of Zimbabwe.
Prophet (1993) - the precognative girl, now a grown woman, faces her greatest enemy.
Inferno (1993) - a history of the discovery, settlement, exploitation and eventual fate of a planet and its native race. A science fictional allegory of Uganda.
A Miracle of Rare Design (1994) - a science fictional allegory of the life of Sir Richard Burton.
Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge (1995) - alien archaeologists study the extinct race of man and try to understand him.
The Widowmaker (1996) - story of the clone of a famous bounty hunter.
The Widowmaker Reborn (1997) - story of the famed bounty hunter's second clone.
The Widowmaker Unleashed (1998) - story of the original Widowmaker as an old man.
A Hunger in the Soul (1998) - a science fictional allegory of Stanley and Livingstone.
The Outpost (2001) - hilarious tall tales find their way into galactic history.
The Return of Santiago (2003) - the myth of Santiago is resurrected a century after the death of the original.
A Gathering of Widowmakers (2005) - the Widowmaker and his two clones must make peace long enough to face an alien threat.
Starship: Mutiny (2005) - a maverick second officer is forced to mutiny to save innocent lives.
Starship: Pirate (2006) - an outlaw military ship must make its way as a pirate vessel.
Starship: Mercenary (2007) - further adventures of the good ship Teddy R.

Other SF

The Goddess of Ganymede (1967) - an Edgar Rice Burroughs pastiche.
Pursuit on Ganymede (1968) - sequel.
Redbeard (1969) - a Robert E. Howard-type barbarian doesn't fare well in the future.
Battlestar Galactica #5: Galactica Discovers Earth (1980) -- novelization of the teleplay.
The Branch (1984) - the true Jewish Messiah shows up in the middle of the 21st Century.
Adventures (1985) - tales of Lucifer Jones, a freewheeling, likeable scoundrel. Set in Africa in the early 1900s.
Second Contact (1990) - a lawyer for the space service must defend a captain who killed two crew members because (he claims) they were aliens.
Bully! (1990) - Theodore Roosevelt tries to bring Democracy to the Congo in 1910.
The Red Tape War (1991) - funny round-robin novel written in collaboration with Jack L. Chalker and George Alec Effinger.
Exploits (1992) - tales of Lucifer Jones in Asia.
Lucifer Jones (1992) - paperback combining Exploits and Encounters
Encounters (1993) - tales of Lucifer Jones in Europe.
Kirinyaga: A Fable of Utopia (1998) - a future witch doctor tries to preserve traditional African culture in a designed Utopia. The most-honored book in science fiction history, with 64 domestic and foreign awards and nominations.
Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Amulet of Power (2003) - fantasy novel based on the computer game.
Dragon America: Revolution (2005) - alternate history in which America is populated with dragons rather than mammals.
Lady With an Alien (2005) - Young adult novel of a time traveling teenager who visits the Renaissance and forms a friendship with Leonardo da Vinci.

Short Story Collections

Unauthorized Autobiographies (1984) - short story collection
Through Darkest Resnick with Gun and Camera (1990) - short story collection.
Stalking the Wild Resnick (1991) - short story collection.
Pink Elephants and Hairy Toads (1991) - short story collection.
Th e Alien Heart (1991) - short story collection.
Will the Last Person to Leave the Planet Please Shut Off the Sun? (1992) - short story collection.
A Safari of the Mind (1995) - short story collection.
Solo Flights Through Shared Worlds (1996) - short story collection.
An Alien Land (1998) - short story collection.
Magic Feathers: The Mike and Nick Show (2000) - short story collection, all co-authored with Nick DiChario.
In Space No One Can Hear You Laugh (2000) - short story collection.
Hunting the Snark and Other Stories (2002) - short story collection.
With a Little Help From My Friends (2002) - short story collection. 26 stories, each a collaboration with a different author.
New Dreams for Old (2006) - short story collection.

Fantasy

Stalking the Unicorn (1987) - in which a private detective in New York City is led into an alternate, fantastical New York City on New Years' Eve.
The Moebius Trip (2007) - Young adult novel about the fantasy world of Salvador Dali.

Other Works

Dog in the Manger (1997) - a contemporary hard-boiled detective novel.

Putting It Together (2000) - a book on how to write science fiction.

I Have This Nifty Idea (2001) - a book on how to write outlines and synopses for novels, and how to pitch them to editors.

Once a Fan (2002) - collection of articles from various fanzines.

The Science Fiction Professional (2002) - the first 7 years of his "Ask Bwana" columns, answering questions from hopeful writers.

Resnick at Large (2003) - collection of articles from professional magazines.

Resnick Abroad (2006) - collected travel essays, mostly from Africa.

A Club in Montmartre (2006) - young adult novel about Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.

Anthologies Edited

Shaggy B.E.M. Stories (1988)

Alternate Presidents (1992)

Alternate Kennedys (1992)

Inside the Funhouse (1992)

Aladdin: Master of the Lamp (1992) - co-edited with Martin H. Greenberg.

Whatdunits (1992)

More Whatdunits (1993)

Future Earths: Under African Skies (1993) - co-edited with Gardner Dozois.

Alternate Warriors (1993)

By Any Other Fame (1993)

Dinosaur Fantastic (1993) - co-edited with Martin H. Greenberg.

Christmas Ghosts (1993)

Under South American Suns (1993) - co-edited with Gardner Dozois.

Deals With the Devil (1994) - co-edited with Loren D. Estelman.

Alternate Outlaws (1994)

Alternate Worldcons (1994)

Witch Fantastic (1995)

Alternate Tyrants (1995)

Sherlock Holmes in Orbit (1996)

Again, Alternate Worldcons (1996)

Alternate Tyrants (1997)

Girls for the Slime God (1997)

Alternate Skiffy (1997)

Return of the Dinosaurs (1997)

Women Writing Science Fiction as Men (2003)

Men Writing Science Fiction as Women (2003)

Stars (2003) - co-edited with Janis Ian.

New Voices in Sciencee Fiction (2003)

I, Alien (2005)

Down These Dark Spaceways (2005)

The Collected Worldcon Guest of Honor Speeches (2006)- co-edited with Joe Siclari.

Wars That Didn't Quite Happen (2006)

Space Cadets (2006)

This is My Funniest (2006)

Nebula Awards Showcase, 2007 (2007)

Alien Crimes (2007)

The Dragon Done It (2007)- co-edited with Eric Flint

Collections Edited

''The Passage of the Light: The Recursive Fiction of Barry N. Malzberg" (1994) - co-edited with Anthony R. Lewis

''Dimensions of Sheckley" by Robert Sheckley (2002)

Series Edited

Library of African Adventure (St. Martin's Press)

African Nature Notes and Reeminiscences by F. C. Selous (1993)

John Boyes, King of the Wa-Kikuyu by John Boyes (1993)

Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa by Arthur Neumann (1994)

Resnick Library of African Adventure (Alexander Books)

Killers in Africa by Alexander Lake (1995)

Hunter's Choice by Alexander Lake (1996)

A Blonde in Africa by Laura Resnick (1996)

The Company of Adventurers by John Boyes (1997)

Jungle Man by Major P. J. Pretorius (2000)

John Boyes, King of the Wa-Kikuyu by John Boyes (2000)

A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa by F. C. Selous (2001)

Elephants and Ivory by John Alfred Jordan (2001)

Teddy Roosevelt in Africa by Diverse Hands (in press)

Resnick Library of Worldwide Adventure (Alexander Books)

Tombs, Travel and Trouble by Louis Griswold (1998)

Musk, Hashish and Blood by Hector France (2001)

Fairy Lands of the South Seas by Nordhoff and Hall (2001)

Mystic Isles of the South Seas by Frederick O'Brien (2002)

White Shadows on the South Seas by Federick O'Brien (in press)

Green Hell by Julian Dugard (in press)

Selected Awards

Hugo Award for "Kirinyaga"

Hugo Award for "The Manamouki"

Hugo Award for "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge"

Hugo Award for "The 43 Antarean Dynasties"

Hugo Award for "Travels With My Cats"

Nebula Award for "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge"

Homer Award for "The Manamouki"

Homer Award for "Song of a Dry River"

Homer Award for "Mwalimu in the Squared Circle"

Homer Award for "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge"

Homer Award for "When the Old Gods Die"

Homer Award for "Bibi" (co-authored with Susan Shwartz)

Homer Award for Kirinyaga: A Fable of Utopia

Homer Award for "Hothouse Flowers"

Homer Award for "Hunting the Snark"

Homer Award for "The Elephants on Neptune"

Asimov's Poll for "The 43 Antarean Dynasties"

Asimov's Poll for "Hunting the Snark"

Asimov's Poll for "The Elephants on Neptune"

Asimov's Poll for "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"

Asimov's Poll for "Travels With My Cats"

Skylark Award for Lifetime Achievement in Science Fiction

Locus Award for "When the Old Gods Die"

S.F. Chronicle Poll for "Kirinyaga"

S.F. Chronicle Poll for "For I have Touched the Sky"

S.F. Chronicle Poll for "Bully!"

S.F. Chronicle Poll for "The Manamouki"

S.F. Chronicle Poll for "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge"

S.F. Chronicle Poll for "Bibi"

Alexander Award for "Winter Solstice"

Golden Pagoda Award for "The Manamouki"

American Dog Writers Award for "The Last Dog"

American Dog Writers Award for "Blue"

Ignotus Award (Spain) for "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge"

Ignotus Award (Spain) for "The 43 Antarean Dynasties"

El Melocoton Mechanico Award (Spain) for "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"

Tour Eiffel Award (France) for The Dark Lady

Prix Ozone Award (France) for "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge"

Prix Ozone Award (France) for "How I Wrote the New Testament, Brought Forth the Renaissance, and Birdied the 17th Hole at Pebble Beach"

Hayakawa Award (Japan) for "For I Have Touched the Sky"

Seuin-sho Award (Japan) for Kirinyaga: A Fable of Utopia

Sfinks Award (Poland) for "For I Have Touched the Sky"

Sfinks Award (Poland) for "When the Old Gods Die"

Nowa Fantastyka Poll (Poland) for "Kirinyaga"

Futura Poll (Croatia) for "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge"

Complete List of Hugo Nominations

1989 - "Kirinyaga" (winner)

1990 - "For I Have Touched the Sky"

1991 - "The Manamouki" (winner)

1991 - "Bully!"

1992 - "Winter Solstice"

1992 - "One Perfect Morning, With Jackals"

1993 - "The Lotus and the Spear"

1994 - Best Editor

1994 - "Mwalimu in the Squared Circle"

1995 - Best Editor

1995 - "Barnaby in Exile"

1995 - "A Little Knowledge"

1995 - "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge" (winner)

1996 - "When the Old Gods Die"

1996 - "Bibi" (with Susan Shwartz)

1997 - "The Land of Nod"

1998 - "The 43 Antarean Dynasties" (winner)

2000 - "Hothouse Flowers"

2000 - "Hunting the Snark"

2001 - "The Elephants on Neptune"

2001 - "Redchapel"

2001 - Putting It Together

2002 - "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"

2002 - I Have This Nifty Idea...

2004 - "Robots Don't Cry"

2005 - "Travels With My Cats" (winner)

2005 - "A Princess of Earth"

2006 - "Down Memory Lane"

Short Fiction (Stories, Novelettes, Novellas)

"The Last Dog"

"Blue"

4 "Isaac Intrepid" vignettes, in collaboration with Lou Tabakow)

"Beachcomber"

"Watching Marcia"

"The Fallen Angel"

"God and Mr. Slatterman"

"Me and My Shadow"

"Stalking the Unicorn with Gun and Camera"

"Death is an Acquired Trait"

"The Toymaker and the General"

"Beibermann's Soul"

"King of the Blue Planet"

"The Crack in the Cosmic Egg"

"The Inn of the Hairy Toad"

"Kirinyaga"

"Inquiry into the Auction of the U.S.A."

"His Award-Winning Science Fiction Story"

"Slice of Life"

"For I Have Touched the Sky"

"Neutral Ground"

"Costigan's Wager"

"Balance"

"Bwana"

"Was It Good for You, Too?"

"Museum Piece"

"How I Wrote the New Testament, Brought Forth the Renaissance, and Birdied the 17th Hole at Pebble Beach"

"The Manamouki"

"Origins"

"The Nine Lives of Isaac Intrepid"

"Frankie the Spook"

"One Perfect Morning, With Jackals"

"Bully!"

"Posttime in Pink" "Pawns"

"Malish"

"Over There"

"Song of a Dry River"

"Winter Solstice"

"A Little Night Music"

"Monsters of the Midway"

"Mrs. Hood Unloads"

"The Bull Moose at Bay"

"Classifieds" "Revolt of the Sugar Plum Fairies"

"Trading Up" (collaboration with Barbara Delaplace)

"Final Solution"

"Editor Meacham and the Fate Worse Than Death"

"The Light That Blinds, The Claws That Catch"

"The Lotus and the Spear"

"The Pale Thin God"

"Lady in Waiting"

"The B Team"

"Every Man a God" (collaboration with Barry Malzberg)

"Excerpt from the Diary of Dr. Morris Finklestein"

"The Trials and Tribulations of Myron Blumberg, Dragon"

"The Blue-Nosed Reindeer"

"Mwalimu in the Squared Circle"

"Stop Press"

"Ghosts" (collaboration with Barry Malzberg)

"Stanley the Eighteen-Percenter"

"The Summer of My Discontent"

"Super Acorns" (collaboration with Lawrence Schimel)

"The Tarnished Diamond"

"Birdie" (collaboration with N. DiChario)

"Barnaby in Exile"

"A Little Knowledge"

"Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge"

"Alien Radio"(collab. with N. DiChario)

"Pleasantly Pink" (collaboration with DiChario)

"The Adventure of the Pearly Gates"

"Working Stiff" (collaboration with Nicholas DiChario)

"The Kemosabee"

"My Girl"

"The Most Beautiful Girl Alive" (collaboration with N. DiChario)

"Metamorphosis"

"Squonking" (collaboration with N. DiChario)

"Genesis: The Rejected Canon"

"The Sweet Sad Love Song of Fred and Wilma"(collaboration with Nicholas DiChario)

"How Jerry Phipps Won His Hugo"

"The Shiksa" (collaboration with Lawrence Schimel)

"disIllusions" (collaboration with Lawrence Schimel)

"When the Old Gods Die"

"The Land of Nod"

"Darker Than You Wrote"

"Merdinus" (collaboration with Linda Dunn)

"Mrs. Vamberry Takes A Trip"

"The Joy of Hats"(collaboration with Nick Dichario)

"The Starving Children on Mars" (collaboration with Louise Rowder)

"The Roosevelt Dispatches"

"Bibi"(collaboration with Susan Shwartz)

"Card Shark"

"The Gefilte Fish Girl"

"My Brother's Keeper"(collaboration with Jack Nimersheim)

"Hearts of Stone" (collaboration with Lyn Nichols)

"Redchapel"

"Of Flame and Air" (collaboration with Josepha Sherman)

"Sagittarius Rising" (collaboration with Ann Marston)

"The Fighting 35th's Last Stand at the Delores Proud Apple Valley School for the Blind"(collaboration with Nick DiChario)

"Fascinatin' Rhythm" (collaboration with DiChario)

"The 43 Antarean Dynasties"

"STAN" (collaboration with Ron Collins)

"Me and Galahad" (collaboration with Adrienne Gormley)

"Interview With the Almighty"

"A Buzzard Named Rabinowitz"

"Hothouse Flowers"

"Why Martians are Attracted to Big-Breasted Women"

"Hunting the Snark"

"Full Circle" (collaboration with Kristine Kathryn Rusch)

"Boot Hill" (collaboration with Catherine Asaro)

"The Elephants on Neptune"

"Even Butterflies Can Sting"

"Ocean's Eleven" (collaboration with Tom Gerencer)

"Nicobar Lane"

"Redchapel"

"Flower Children of Mars" (collaboration with M. Shayne Bell)

"The Demons of Jupiter's Moons" (collaboration with Mark Stafford)

"A Moment of Your Time" (collaboration with Dean Wesley Smith)

"The Shackles of Freedom" (collaboration with Tobias S. Buckell)

"Old MacDonald Had a Farm"

"Like Father, Like Son"(collaboration with B.J. Galler-Smith)

"Like Small Feet Following" (collaboration with Robyn Herrington)

"The Chinese Sandman"

"Approaching Sixty"(collaboration with Barry Malzberg)

"Water-Skiing Down the Styx" collaboration with Janis Ian)

"The Amorous Broom"

"Here's Looking at You, Kid"

"The Burning Spear at Twilight"

"Robots Don't Cry"

"Unsafe at Any Speed"

"Dobchek, Lost in the Funhouse" (collaboration with Kay Kenyon)

"Reflections in Black Granite" (collaboration with Michael A. Burstein)

"Society's Goy"

"Me"

"Swimming Upstream in the Wells of the Desert" (collaboration with Susan R. Matthews)

"Travels With My Cats"

"Game Face" (collaboration with Robert Sheckley)

"Keepsakes"

"The Boy Who Cried 'Dragon!'"

“A Princess of Earth”

“A Muse With Burning Eyes” (collaboration with B. D. Faw)

“El Presidente”

“Cobbling Together a Solution”

“Guardian Angel”

“The One That Got Away”

“Before the Beginning” (collaboration with Harry Turtledove)

“The Island of Annoyed Souls”

“Nowhere in Particular”

“Down Memory Lane”

“The God Biz”

“The Hermit of the Skies” (colleboration with Paul Crilley)

“Prevenge” (collaboration with Kevin J. Anderson)

“Two Hunters in Manhattan”

“Catastrophe Baker and the Cole Equations”

“Harry, Larry, Barry & Frankie”

“Occupational Hazard”

“Great Unreported Breakthroughs #163”

“A Small Skirmish in the Culture War” (collaboration with James Patrick Kelly)

“Solomon’s Choice” (collaboration with Nancy Kress)

“Distant Replay”

"Jellyfish" (collaboration with David Gerrold"

"All the Things You Are"

External links

Official Mike Resnick website
Bibliography - cleaner and easier to read than the one at the official site.
Mike Resnick Manuscripts Collection, The University of South Florida-Tampa Special Collections Department

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