Barry B. Longyear
Encyclopedia
Barry B. Longyear born 1942 is a US
writer and novelist who resides in Maine
.
and Nebula Award
winning novella Enemy Mine
, which was subsequently made into an identically titled movie
and a novelization in collaboration with David Gerrold
. The story tells of an encounter between a human and an alien soldier, whose races are in a state of war. They are marooned together in space and have to come to grips with the universal problem of facing and accepting xenophobia
. A greatly expanded version of the original novella as well as two novels completing the trilogy, The Tomorrow Testament and The Last Enemy are gathered with additional materials into The Enemy Papers
.
The original novella, in part, helped Longyear to win the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer for 1980. He is the only writer to win the Hugo, the Nebula, and the Campbell in the same year. (Contrast the other SF "triple crown" winner: William Gibson
with the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Award in 1984.)
He also wrote the Circus World and Infinity Hold series, several stand-alone novels, numerous short stories, and two books for the Alien Nation
novelisation series. His trilogy "Infinity Hold," "Kill All the Lawyers," and "Keep the Law," was released in 2002 in a single paperback volume titled Infinity Hold 3 by the Author's Guild in a Backinprint.com edition. His recent Jaggers & Shad mystery stories, featuring two detectives in the Artificial Beings Crimes Division (Devon Office) are set mostly in Exeter and the surrounding Devon countryside and villages. The first of the tales, "The Good Kill" won the Analog AnLab award for Best Novella in 2006 and "Murder In Parliament Street" won the same award for 2007.
The Circus World series chronicles the path taken by a space-going circus troupe whose spaceship crashes, marooning them on a deserted planet with no contact with the outside world.
The Infinity Hold series poses, then answers the question of what type of society would arise from a mob of violent convicts dumped on a new planet with no police or government.
Saint Mary Blue is a thoughtful novel about the course of treatment of a man who has substance abuse and mental health issues, while resident in a treatment facility. While a work of fiction, it very accurately depicts different types of patients and a variety of behaviors.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer and novelist who resides in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
.
Career
He is best known for the HugoHugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
and Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
winning novella Enemy Mine
Enemy Mine
-Plot:Willis Davidge, a human fighter pilot, is stranded along with Jeriba Shigan, a Drac, on a hostile planet. The Drac are a race of aliens which are reptilian in appearance and reproduce asexually...
, which was subsequently made into an identically titled movie
Enemy Mine (film)
Enemy Mine is a 1985 science fiction film based on the story of the same title by Barry B. Longyear. It was produced by 20th Century Fox, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, and starred Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett, Jr...
and a novelization in collaboration with David Gerrold
David Gerrold
Jerrold David Friedman , better known by his pen name David Gerrold, is an American science fiction author who started his career in 1966 while a college student by submitting an unsolicited story outline for the television series Star Trek. He was invited to submit several premises, and the one...
. The story tells of an encounter between a human and an alien soldier, whose races are in a state of war. They are marooned together in space and have to come to grips with the universal problem of facing and accepting xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
. A greatly expanded version of the original novella as well as two novels completing the trilogy, The Tomorrow Testament and The Last Enemy are gathered with additional materials into The Enemy Papers
The Enemy Papers
The Enemy Papers is a short story collection by Barry B. Longyear containing the novella "Enemy Mine," later made into a feature-length film of the same name, along with two sequels: "The Last Enemy" and "The Tomorrow Testament." The volume also contains excerpts from the Drac holy book, a...
.
The original novella, in part, helped Longyear to win the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer for 1980. He is the only writer to win the Hugo, the Nebula, and the Campbell in the same year. (Contrast the other SF "triple crown" winner: William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
with the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Award in 1984.)
He also wrote the Circus World and Infinity Hold series, several stand-alone novels, numerous short stories, and two books for the Alien Nation
Alien Nation
Alien Nation may refer to:* Alien Nation , the 1988 motion picture, and several spin-off properties:** Alien Nation , the 1989–1990 television series, and five made-for-TV movies that continue its story:...
novelisation series. His trilogy "Infinity Hold," "Kill All the Lawyers," and "Keep the Law," was released in 2002 in a single paperback volume titled Infinity Hold 3 by the Author's Guild in a Backinprint.com edition. His recent Jaggers & Shad mystery stories, featuring two detectives in the Artificial Beings Crimes Division (Devon Office) are set mostly in Exeter and the surrounding Devon countryside and villages. The first of the tales, "The Good Kill" won the Analog AnLab award for Best Novella in 2006 and "Murder In Parliament Street" won the same award for 2007.
The Circus World series chronicles the path taken by a space-going circus troupe whose spaceship crashes, marooning them on a deserted planet with no contact with the outside world.
The Infinity Hold series poses, then answers the question of what type of society would arise from a mob of violent convicts dumped on a new planet with no police or government.
Saint Mary Blue is a thoughtful novel about the course of treatment of a man who has substance abuse and mental health issues, while resident in a treatment facility. While a work of fiction, it very accurately depicts different types of patients and a variety of behaviors.
Stand-alone novels
- Sea of GlassSea of Glass-Background:Thomas Windom is a child born into a future where the actions and lives of all human beings are predicted and controlled by a supercomputer named MAC III. His early childhood is spent locked away in his parents' home as an illegal child...
- The God Box
- Naked Came the Robot (1988) ISBN 0-445-20755-8
Novelettes
- Homecoming (Asimov's Science Fiction Oct 1979) (1980 Hugo nominee)
- Savage Planet (1981 Hugo & Locus nominee)
- Chimaera (1993 Locus nominee)
- The Death Addict (1994 Locus nominee)
- The Hangingstone Rat (2008 AnLab nominee)
- The Purloined Labradoodle (2009 AnLab nominee)
Enemy Mine series
- Enemy Mine (Asimov's Science Fiction Sep 1979) (1980 Hugo, Nebula & Locus winner)
- The Tomorrow Testament (1983)
- The Last Enemy (1997)
- Collected in The Enemy PapersThe Enemy PapersThe Enemy Papers is a short story collection by Barry B. Longyear containing the novella "Enemy Mine," later made into a feature-length film of the same name, along with two sequels: "The Last Enemy" and "The Tomorrow Testament." The volume also contains excerpts from the Drac holy book, a...
with additional material (1998) ISBN 1-56865-949-0
Infinity Hold series
- Infinity Hold 1989
- Infinity Hold\3 2002 (The complete IH trilogy: Infinity Hold, Kill All the Lawyers, and Keep the Law)
Circus World series
- Circus WorldCircus World (book)Circus World is a science fiction novel by Barry B. Longyear about a planet descended entirely from the population of a crashed spaceship carrying a circus...
(1980) - City of Baraboo (1980)
- Elephant Song (1981)
Jaggers & Shad mystery series
- "The Good Kill" Analog Magazine November, 2006
- "The Hangingstone Rat" Analog Magazine October, 2007
- "The Purloined Labradoodle" Analog Magazine January/February 2008
- "Murder In Parliament Street" Analog Magazine November, 2007
Recovery works
- The Monopoly Man Fantasy & Science Fiction, January 2009
- Yesterday's Tomorrow: Recovery Meditations For Hard Cases Hazelden, 1997
- Saint Mary Blue (Novel set in a treatment facility) SteelDragon Press, 1988
Writing instruction
- Science-Fiction Writer's Workshop-I
- The Write Stuff Online Writing Seminar
Short story collections
- Manifest Destiny (including "Enemy Mine" and others in the same future history)
- It Came from Schenectady
Short fiction
External links
- Bibliography at SciFanSciFanSciFan is an online database for fans of science fiction and fantasy books.The site provides detailed bibliographies, linking books together into series' where appropriate and, in turn, grouping series by universe...
- Barry B. Longyear's Webmansion
- Review of City of Baraboo by Aaron V. Humphrey
- Bibliography
- Biography (short)