John Barnes (author)

Cover of the fourth novel (2008) in Barnes' Thousand Cultures series. Cover art by John Harris (artist).

John Barnes (born 1957 in Angola, Indiana) is an American science fiction author.

Writing

Two of his novels, The Sky So Big and Black and The Duke of Uranium have been reviewed as having content appropriate for a young adult readership, comparing favorably to Robert A. Heinlein's "juvenile" novels.^[1] He has contributed to the Internet Evolution website.

Personal life

Barnes's hometown is Bowling Green, Ohio. Barnes earned a B.A. degree from Washington University, an M.A. degree from the University of Montana, and a Ph.D. degree in theater from the University of Pittsburgh. He has taught at Western State College. He lives in Colorado.^[2][3]

Bibliography

Century Next Door series

• Orbital Resonance (1991)
• Kaleidoscope Century (1995)
• Candle (2000)
• The Sky So Big and Black (2002)

Thousand Cultures series

The four novels in the Thousand Cultures series include the theme of the effects of globalization, at an interstellar scale, on isolated societies.

• A Million Open Doors (1992)
• Earth Made of Glass (1998)
• The Merchants of Souls (2001)
• The Armies of Memory (2006)

Time Raider series

• Wartide (1992)
• Battle Cry (1992)
• Union Fires (1992)

Timeline Wars series

• Patton's Spaceship (1997)
• Washington's Dirigible (1997)
• Caesar's Bicycle (1997)
• Timeline Wars (1997) (omnibus volume)
• Upon Their Backs, to Bite 'Em - A crossover story included in Drakas! (2000)

Jak Jinnaka series

• Duke of Uranium (2002)
• A Princess of the Aerie (2003)
• In the Hall of the Martian King (2003)

Daybreak series

• Directive 51 (2010)
• Daybreak Zero (2011)
• The Last President (2013)

The Last President was originally scheduled for 2012. Barnes has written that the delay was caused by disagreements between him and the publisher over the direction the series was taking. As of 2012, plans are for The Last President to be the final book in the series published by Ace, with future volumes self-published. Barnes is considering re-writing the first two books to make them more consistent with his original conception of the series.^[4]

Other books

• The Man Who Pulled Down the Sky (1987)
• Sin of Origin (1988)
• Mother of Storms (1994)
• Encounter With Tiber, with Buzz Aldrin (1996)
• One For the Morning Glory (1996)
• Apocalypses and Apostrophes (1998) (short story collection also published as Apocalypses and Apostrophes^[5])
• Finity (1999)^[6]
• The Return, with Buzz Aldrin (2001)
• Gaudeamus (2004)
• Payback City (2007) (thriller, written in 1997, self-published e-book)
• Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973 (2009) (non-sf novel, a Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book)
• Losers in Space (2012) (YA/SF)
• Raise the Gipper! (2012) (sf/fantasy/political satire)^[7]

Short fiction

• The Birds and the Bees and the Gasoline Trees (2010) (short story, in Engineering Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan)^{[8][9][10][11]}

Awards

• Nebula Award Best Novel nominee (1992) : Orbital Resonance
• Nebula Award Best Novel nominee (1993) : A Million Open Doors
• Hugo Award Best Novel nominee (1995) : Mother of Storms
• Nebula Award Best Novel nominee (1996) : Mother of Storms
• Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book (2010): Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance 1973

See also

• One True, fictional artificial intelligence central to the Century Next Door series.

References

1. Review, The Sky So Big and Black and The Duke of Uranium reviews at Locus
2. "Amazon.com: John Barnes: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle". amazon.com.
3. "Blogger: User Profile: John Barnes". blogger.com.
4. "Amazon.com Customer Discussions > John Barnes forum Has Daybreak 3 - "The Last President" been cancelled???".
5. "Bibliography: Apocalypses and Apostrophes". Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
6. • Finity review, x, y, z, t: dimensions of science fiction, Damien Broderick, 2004, p. 152
7. John Barnes. "Approachably Reclusive". thatjohnbarnes.blogspot.com.
8. Tilton, Lois (December 7, 2010). "Lois Tilton reviews Short Fiction, early December". Locus. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
9. Seel, Nigel (April 11, 2011). "Book Review: Engineering Infinity (ed) Jonathan Strahan". ScienceFiction.com. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
10. Waters, Robert E. (March 8, 2011). "Engineering Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan". Tangent. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
11. http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-birds-and-the-bees-and-the-gasoline-trees/

External links

• John Barnes at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Barnes home page
• Barnes personal weblog
• Barnes weblog (old, inactive)
• 2008 interview at HardSF website