Richard A. Lovett

Richard A. Lovett

Richard A. Lovett, 2009
Born October 28, 1953 (1953-10-28) (age 58)
Dixon, Illinois
Occupation Writer
Nationality American
Education Michigan State University B.A. (astrophysics) 1975; University of Michigan J.D. 1978, Ph.D. (economics) 1981
Genres Science fiction, Science, Sports, Profile, Humor, Journalism
Notable award(s) AnLab (seven times)
www.richardalovett.com

Richard A. Lovett (b. 1953, Dixon, Illinois) is an American science fiction author from Portland, Oregon.[1][2] He has written numerous short stories and factual articles that have appeared in multiple literary and scientific journals, including Analog Science Fiction and Fact, National Geographic News, Nature, New Scientist, and Psychology Today.[3][4][5]

Lovett is one of the most prolific and decorated writers in Analog's 80-year history. His first formal appearance in the magazine other than a 1993 letter to the editor was for "Tricorders, Yactograms and the Future of Analytical Chemistry: When 'Nano-' Isn't Small Enough" (April 1999), a science article. His first fiction appearance was the novelette "Equalization" (March 2003).[6]

Lovett first won the magazine's reader's choice award, the Analytical Laboratory (AnLab), in 2002 for a 2001 fact article, "Up in Smoke: How Mt. St. Helens Blasted Conventional Scientific Wisdom" (April 2001). Since then he has won the award a record seven times, two times for novelettes, one for a novella, and four times for science articles.[7][8] Including the 2011 awards,[9] he has also placed in the top five 26 additional times, more than any other Analog contributor.[10] As of the January/February 2012 issue, his work had appeared in the magazine 97 times,[11][12] placing him second place on the magazine's all-time on the contribution list.[13] In addition to writing fiction and science articles for the magazine, he has also written profiles (called Biologs) since 2006, and a series of how-to articles about writing short stories. These special features comprise about a quarter of his total contributions to the magazine.

His science fiction stories have also appeared in Nature, Abyss and Apex, Esli (Russian translation), Running Times, and Marathon & Beyond.

Contents

Coaching and sports writing

In addition to writing science fiction, Lovett is coach of Team Red Lizard, a 300-member running club in Portland, Oregon,[14] as well as two women qualified to compete for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Team.[15][16] He writes frequent features about distance running for Running Times magazine[17] and Marathon & Beyond,[18] and has written Olympic-related news articles and features for National Geographic News, Cosmos, and the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper. He has also cauthored two running books with marathon legend Alberto Salazar, plus two books on bicycle touring and one on cross-country skiing.[19]

Sports themes, particularly running, have infused five of his science fiction stories: "Equalization" (Analog, March 2003), "Original Sin" (Analog, June 2006), "Olympic Talent" (Nature, 5 July 2007),[20] "Excellence" (Analog, Jan/Feb 2009)., and "Jak and the Beanstalk" (Analog, Jul/Aug 2011). "Equalization" is the story of a futuristic 10,000-meter runner in a world in which runners are annually handicapped by mind/body swaps in which highly competitive individuals receive less-talented bodies; "Original Sin" centers around a memory-recording device that allows coaches to feel exactly what their runners feel in training; "Olympic Talent" and "Excellence" involve athletes who improve performance through gene doping, a technology in which gene therapy methods are used to enhance strength and endurance, and "Jak and the Beanstalk" centers around an endurance athlete who finds a way to climb a space elevator (the titular "beanstalk") all the way to geosynchronous orbit.

Bibliography

Incomplete - to be updated

Short fiction

Floyd and Brittney series

Non fiction

References

  1. ^ http://www.sfwa.org/member-links/member-list/
  2. ^ http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-winning-athletes/
  3. ^ http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/64891.Richard_A_Lovett
  4. ^ http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v448/n7149/full/448104a.html
  5. ^ http://www.abyssandapex.com/200704-heathercove.html
  6. ^ http://www.analogsf.com/aspnet_forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=699
  7. ^ http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/AnLabTallies.html
  8. ^ http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/AnLabWinsByYear.htm|
  9. ^ Analog, July/August 2010
  10. ^ http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/AnLabTallies.html
  11. ^ http://www.analogsf.com/aspnet_forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=699
  12. ^ Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Jan/Feb 2012, table of contents and 2011 story index
  13. ^ http://www.analogsf.com/aspnet_forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=699
  14. ^ http://www.redlizardrunning.com
  15. ^ http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/550961/Bernard-in-Olympic-marathon-trials.html?nav=11
  16. ^ http://redlizardrunning.com/2011/03/trls-amanda-rice-wins-shamrock-15k/
  17. ^ http://www.runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=19196
  18. ^ http://marathonandbeyond.com
  19. ^ Titles: Freewheelin': A Solo Journey Across America (1992), The Essential Touring Cyclist (1994, 2000 2d ed.), The Essential Cross-Country Skier, Alberto Salazar's Guide to Running (2001), Alberto Salazar's Guide to Road Racing (2002).
  20. ^ http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v448/n7149/full/448104a.html

External links