Algis Budrys

Algis Budrys
Algis Budrys at the 1985 Clarion Science Fiction Writing Workshop
Born	January 9, 1931 Königsberg, East Prussia
Died	June 9, 2008(2008-06-09) (aged 77) Evanston, Illinois, USA
Occupation	Novelist, Short-story writer, editor, Critic
Genre	Science fiction
Notable works	The Falling Torch, Rogue Moon, Who?

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

Biography

Called "AJ" by friends, Budrys was born Algirdas Jonas Budrys in Königsberg in East Prussia. He was the son of Jonas Budrys, the consul general of the Lithuanian government,^[1] (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 to the United States by the Lithuanian government in 1936 when Budrys was 5 years old. During most of his adult life, he held a captain's commission in the Free Lithuanian Army.

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 wrote several stories under the names "Ivan Janvier" or "Paul Janvier." He also used the pen name "Alger Rome" in his collaborations with Jerome Bixby.

Budrys'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. In 2009, he was the recipient of one of the first three Solstice Awards presented by the SFWA in recognition of his contributions to the field of science fiction.^[2]

Budrys was also a critic for Galaxy Science Fiction^[3] and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, a book editor for Playboy, a longtime teacher at the Clarion Writers Workshop and an organizer and judge for the Writers of the Future awards. In addition, he worked as a publicist; in a famous publicity stunt, he erected a giant pickle on the proposed site of the Chicago Picasso during the time the newly arriving sculpture was embroiled in controversy.^[4]

Budrys was married to Edna Duna; they had four sons. He last resided in Evanston, Illinois. He died at home, from metastatic malignant melanoma on June 9, 2008.^[5]

Bibliography

Novels

• False Night (1954)
• Man of Earth (1956)
• Who? (1958)
• The Falling Torch (1959)
• Rogue Moon (1960)
• Some Will Not Die (1961) (an expanded and restored version of False Night)
• The Iron Thorn (1967) (as serialized in If; revised and published in book form as The Amsirs and the Iron Thorn). On a bleak forbidding planet, humans hunt Amsirs – flightless humanoid birds – and vice versa. After one young hunter makes his first kill, he's initiated into the society's secrets. Still, he figures there are secrets the human race has forgotten altogether, and begins to hunt for answers.
• Michaelmas (1977)
• Hard Landing (1993)
• The Death Machine (2001) (originally published as Rogue Moon against Budrys's wishes)

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)
• Benchmarks Continued: F&SF "Books" Columns 1975-1982 (2012)
• Benchmarks Revisited: F&SF "Books" Columns 1983-1986 (2013)
• Benchmarks Concluded: F&SF "Books" Columns 1987-1993 (2013)

Short stories

• "The High Purpose" (1952) in Astounding Science Fiction
• "Walk to the World" (1952) in Space Science Fiction, Nov 1952
• "The Congruent People" (1953) in Star Science Fiction Stories No. 2 (edited by Frederik Pohl), 1953
• "Protective Mimicry" in Galaxy Science Fiction, 1953.
• "Riya's Foundling" (1953) in Science Fiction Stories, 1953.

• "The End of Summer" (1954) in Astounding Science Fiction; also published in the short story anthology Penguin Science Fiction (edited by Brian Aldiss, 1961).

• "Ironclad" in Galaxy Science Fiction", 1954.

• "Citadel" (1955) in Astounding Science Fiction, February 1955.

• "The War is Over" ( 1957) – first appeared in "Astounding Science Fiction" Feb. 1957. Also published in the short story anthology "13 Great stories of Science-Fiction" (edited by Groff Conklin, 1960.)

• "The Barbarians" (1958) (as John Sentry) in If, February 1958.

• "The Stoker and the Stars" (1959) (as John A. Sentry) in Astounding Science Fiction, February 1959.

• "The Price" (1960) – first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1960. Also published in the short story anthology The War Book (edited by James Sallis, 1969).

• "For Love" (originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1962) – appears in The Seventh Galaxy Reader edited by Frederik Pohl (Doubleday Science Fiction, 1964).

• "Be Merry" (1966) published in If, December 1966, Vol. 16, No. 12, Issue 109.

• "The Master of the Hounds" (1966) first published in The Saturday Evening Post and an Edgar Award nominee.

• "Nobody bothers Gus" (1955) published in SF The Best of The Best Part Two, March 1968.

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!".

Interviews

• Taking Your Chances (1990) in Leading Edge #20/21^[6]

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.

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)

References

6. Williams, Mark. "The Alien Novelist." Technology Review 111, 6. (Nov/Dec 2008). pp. 80–84

External links

• Algis Budrys at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Bibliography in SciFan
• Brief autobiography
• Algis Budrys profile at NNDB
• Interview with Algis Budrys
• Algis Budrys at the Internet Movie Database
• Algis Budrys at American Science Fiction: Classic Novels of the 1950s—includes original story version of "Who?" and an essay on Who? by Tim Powers, as well as an interview, images, cover art, and audio files
• Obituary by John Clute in The Independent website
• Frederik Pohl on Budrys: Part One, Part Two
• A reading of an excerpt from Budrys' story "Die, Shadow!" on YouTube
• Works by Algis Budrys at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Algis Budrys at Internet Archive
• Works by Algis Budrys at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

Authority control WorldCat VIAF: 93054017 LCCN: n79060196 ISNI: 0000 0001 1477 6860 GND: 105027103 SUDOC: 082943435 BNF: cb11894449z (data) NDL: 00434733