Algis Budrys

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Algis Budrys
Born January 9, 1931
Königsberg, East Prussia
Died June 9, 2008 (aged 77)
Evanston, Illinois, USA
Occupation Novelist, Short-story Writer, Editor, Critic
Genres Science fiction
Notable work(s) The Falling Torch, Rogue Moon, Who?

Algis Budrys (January 9, 1931June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-born American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under pen name "Frank Mason", "Alger Rome", "John A. Sentry", and "William Scarff".

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[edit] Biography

Budrys was born Algirdas Jonas Budrys in Königsberg in East Prussia. He was the son of the consul-general of the Lithuanian government (the pre-World War II government still recognized after the war by the United States, even though the Soviet-sponsored government was in power throughout most of Budrys's life). His family was sent by the Lithuanian government to the United States in 1936 when Budrys was 5 years old.

Budrys was educated at the University of Miami, and later at Columbia University in New York. His first published science fiction story was "The High Purpose", which appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in 1952. Beginning in 1952 Budrys worked as editor and manager for such science fiction publishers as Gnome Press and Galaxy Science Fiction. Some of his science fiction in the 1950s was published under the pen name "John A. Sentry", a reconfigured Anglification of his Lithuanian name. Among his other pseudonyms in the SF magazines of the 1950s and elsewhere, several revived as bylines for vignettes in his magazine Tomorrow Speculative Fiction, is "William Scarff". He also used the pen name "Alger Rome" in his collaborations with Jerome Bixby.

Budry's 1960 novella Rogue Moon was nominated for a Hugo Award, and was later anthologized in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two (1973). His Cold War science fiction novel Who? was adapted for the screen in 1973. In addition to numerous Hugo Award and Nebula Award nominations, Budrys won the Science Fiction Research Association's 2007 Pilgrim Award for lifetime contributions to speculative fiction scholarship.

Budrys was married with 4 sons and last resided in Evanston, Illinois. He died of metastatic malignant melanoma on June 9, 2008.[1]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Novels

[edit] Collections (Fiction, Essays, and mixed)

  • The Unexpected Dimension (1960)
  • Budrys' Inferno (1963)
  • The Furious Future (1963)
  • Blood and Burning (1978)
  • Benchmarks: Galaxy Bookshelf (1984)
  • Writing to the Point (1994)
  • Outposts: Literatures of Milieux (1996)
  • Entertainment (1997)
  • The Electric Gene Machine (2000)

[edit] Short Stories

  • "The Stoker and the Stars" (as John A. Sentry, in Astounding Science Fiction Feb. 1959)
  • "Be Merry" (1966) published in If (magazine), December 1966, Vol. 16, No. 12, Issue 109.

[edit] Audio Recording

  • 84.2 Minutes of Algis Budrys (1995), Unifont (Budrys's own company). Released on cassette, this featured Budrys reading his short stories "The Price", "The Distant Sound of Engines", "Never Meet Again", and "Explosions!".

[edit] Magazine

  • Tomorrow Speculative Fiction (1993–2000); initially edited by Budrys and published by Pulphouse Publishing, with its second issue it was published and edited by Budrys with assistance from Kandis Elliott under the Unifont rubric. It ceased publication as a paper and ink magazine and became a webzine late in the decade.

[edit] Anthologies

  • L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Vol. III (1987)
  • L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Vol. 6 (1990)
  • L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Vol 12 (1996)
  • L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Vol. 16 (2000)
  • L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Vol 19 (2003)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jensen, Trevor. "Tapped human side of science fiction", chicagotribune.com, 2008-06-11. Retrieved on 2008-06-11. 

[edit] External links