Jack McDevitt

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Jack McDevitt
Born 1935 (age 72–73)
Occupation Novelist, Short story writer
Nationality American
Writing period 1981 - present
Genres Science Fiction
Influences
Official website

Jack McDevitt (born 1935) is an award-winning American science fiction author whose novels frequently deal with attempts to make contact with alien races, and with archaeology or xenoarchaeology.

McDevitt's first published story was "The Emerson Effect" in The Twilight Zone Magazine in 1981. Two years later, he published his first novel, The Hercules Text, about the discovery of an intelligently conceived signal whose repercussions threaten human civilization. This novel set the tone for many of McDevitt's following novels, which focused on making first contact. Frequently this theme is mixed with both trepidation before the unknown and a sense of wonder at the universe.

With The Engines of God (1994), McDevitt introduced the idea of a universe that was once teeming with intelligent life, but contains only their abandoned artifacts by the time humans arrive on the scene. Although it was initially written as a standalone novel, the main character of The Engines of God, pilot Priscilla Hutchins, has since appeared in five more books, Deepsix (2001), Chindi (2002), Omega (2003), Odyssey (2006), and Cauldron (2007). The mystery surrounding the destructive "Omega Clouds" (which are introduced in The Engines of God) is left unexplored until Omega.[1]

McDevitt's novels frequently raise questions which he does not attempt to answer. He prefers to leave ambiguities to puzzle and intrigue his readers: "Some things are best left to the reader's very able imagination." [2]

His novel Seeker won the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novel, given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He has been nominated for the Nebula Award fourteen times; Seeker is his only win.[3][4]

Contents

[edit] Biography

McDevitt went to LaSalle College, where a short story of his won the annual Freshman Short Story Contest and was published in the school's literary magazine, Four Quarters. As McDevitt explained in an interview, "I was on my way. Then I read David Copperfield and realized I could never write at that level, and therefore I should find something else to do. I joined the Navy, drove a cab, became an English teacher, took a customs inspector's job on the northern border, and didn't write another word for a quarter-century." He returned to writing when his wife, Maureen, encouraged him to try his hand at it in 1980. As of 2007, McDevitt lives near Brunswick, Georgia. In 2005, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Novels, series

[edit] Novels, stand-alone

[edit] Short stories

(partial list)

  • The Emerson Effect (1981)
  • Cryptic (1983)
  • Promises to Keep (1984)
  • Tidal Effects (1984)
  • In the Tower (1987)
  • The Fort Moxie Branch (1988)
  • Time's Arrow (1989)
  • Whistle (1989)
  • Lake Agassiz (1991)
  • "Ships in the Night" (1993)
  • Midnight Clear (1993)
  • Talk Radio (1993)
  • Time Travelers Never Die (1996)
  • Dead in the Water (1999)
  • Good Intentions (1999) (with Stanley Schmidt)
  • Oculus (2002)

[edit] Collections

[edit] Introductions

  • Pellucidar (Bison Frontiers of Imagination) (2002)

[edit] Awards and nominations

  • Nebula Best Short Story nominee (1983) : "Cryptic"
  • Philip K. Dick Award (special citation) (1986) : "The Hercules Text"
  • Nebula Best Short Story nominee (1988) : "The Fort Moxie Branch"
  • Hugo Best Short Story nominee (1989) : "The Fort Moxie Branch"
  • International UPC Science Fiction Award winner (1993) : "Ships in the Night" (first English language winner)[2]
  • Nebula Best Novella nominee (1996) : "Time Travelers Never Die"
  • Hugo Best Novella nominee (1997) : "Time Travelers Never Die"
  • Nebula Best Novel nominee (1997) : Ancient Shores
  • Nebula Best Novel nominee (1998) : Moonfall
  • Nebula Best Novelette nominee (1999) : "Good Intentions" (co-writer Stanley Schmidt)
  • Nebula Best Novel nominee (2000) : Infinity Beach
  • Nebula Best Short Story nominee (2002) : "Nothing Ever Happens in Rock City"
  • Nebula Best Novel nominee (2003) : Chindi
  • Campbell Award winner (2004) : Omega
  • Nebula Best Novel nominee (2004) : Omega
  • Nebula Best Novel nominee (2005) : Polaris
  • Nebula Best Novel winner (2006) : Seeker

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Author's Comment: Omega
  2. ^ Author's Comment: Omega
  3. ^ Nebula winner
  4. ^ Jack McDevitt. Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards. Locus. Retrieved on 2008-04-05.

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME McDevitt, Jack
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION American novelist, Short story writer
DATE OF BIRTH 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH