Michael A. Burstein
Encyclopedia
Michael A. Burstein is an American writer of science fiction. He was born in New York City
, and grew up in the neighborhood of Forest Hills
in the borough
of Queens
. He attended Hunter College High School
in Manhattan
. In 1991 he graduated from Harvard College
(where he was a member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association
), with a degree in Physics
, and in 1993 he earned a Master's in Physics from Boston University
. In 1994 he attended the Clarion Workshop
. In 1995 he studied comic book
writing under Dennis O'Neil
at the School of Visual Arts
in Manhattan.
Burstein's first published story, "TeleAbsence," which appeared in the July 1995 issue of Analog, was nominated for the Hugo Award
and was chosen by the readers of Analog as the best short story published by the magazine in 1995. Two years later, Burstein won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer at the 1997 World Science Fiction Convention, LoneStarCon2. Burstein subsequently received Hugo nominations for "Broken Symmetry," "Cosmic Corkscrew," "Kaddish for the Last Survivor," (also a Nebula Award
nominee) "Spaceships," "Paying It Forward
," "Decisions," "Time Ablaze," "Seventy-Five Years," and "TelePresence," and a Nebula and Sturgeon Award
nomination for "Reality Check." His novella "Sanctuary" was chosen by the readers of Analog as the best novella published by the magazine in 2005 and was a nominee for the Nebula Award
. From 1998 to 2000, Burstein served as Secretary of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
. He chaired the final Nebula Script jury in 2008.
Burstein lives with his wife Nomi in the town of Brookline, Massachusetts
, where he is an elected Town Meeting
Member and Library Trustee. He has worked as a science teacher
at all levels, and edits science textbooks. He has given lectures and spoken at various science fiction conferences and libraries, and to groups at MIT
and Harvard
; and has been an active member of science fiction fandom
.
Burstein and his wife welcomed their first children, fraternal twin girls, on July 19, 2009.
Burstein is president of the Society for the Preservation of Pluto
as a Planet
, which goes by the acronym SP3. The group of astronomy buffs formed in the spring of 2006.
Burstein's short story collection I Remember the Future: The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein was released by Apex Publications on November 1, 2008. On February 19, 2010, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
announced that the title story from the collection had been nominated for the 2009 Nebula Award
for Best Short Story. Burstein currently contributes columns to the science fiction entertainment website SFScope
. With his wife, Burstein writes the Brookline Parent column for the Brookline Patch website.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and grew up in the neighborhood of Forest Hills
Forest Hills, Queens
Forest Hills is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States.-Neighborhood:The neighborhood is home to upper-middle class residents, of whom the wealthier residents often live in the neighborhood's Forest Hills Gardens area...
in the borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
of Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
. He attended Hunter College High School
Hunter College High School
Hunter College High School is a New York City secondary school for intellectually gifted students located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. It is administered by Hunter College, a senior college of the City University of New York. Although it is not operated by the New York City Department of...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. In 1991 he graduated from Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
(where he was a member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association
Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association
The Harvard–Radcliffe Science Fiction Association is a society based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1986, its purpose is to promote science fiction and aid in activity of those interested in the genre. Membership is open to current and former students at Harvard University...
), with a degree in Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, and in 1993 he earned a Master's in Physics from Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
. In 1994 he attended the Clarion Workshop
Clarion Workshop
Clarion is a six-week workshop for new and aspiring science fiction and fantasy writers. Originally an outgrowth of Knight and Wilhelm's Milford Writers' Conference, held at their home in Milford, Pennsylvania, USA, it was founded in 1968 by Robin Scott Wilson at Clarion State College in...
. In 1995 he studied comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
writing under Dennis O'Neil
Dennis O'Neil
Dennis J. "Denny" O'Neil is an American comic book writer and editor, principally for Marvel Comics and DC Comics in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of books until his retirement....
at the School of Visual Arts
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...
in Manhattan.
Burstein's first published story, "TeleAbsence," which appeared in the July 1995 issue of Analog, was nominated for the Hugo Award
Hugo 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 was chosen by the readers of Analog as the best short story published by the magazine in 1995. Two years later, Burstein won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer at the 1997 World Science Fiction Convention, LoneStarCon2. Burstein subsequently received Hugo nominations for "Broken Symmetry," "Cosmic Corkscrew," "Kaddish for the Last Survivor," (also a 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...
nominee) "Spaceships," "Paying It Forward
Paying It Forward (story)
"Paying It Forward" is a science fiction short story published in 2003 by Michael A. Burstein. It was nominated for the 2004 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.-Plot summary:...
," "Decisions," "Time Ablaze," "Seventy-Five Years," and "TelePresence," and a Nebula and Sturgeon Award
Theodore Sturgeon Award
The Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award is given each year for the best science fiction short story of the year and is the short fiction counterpart of the Campbell award , published in English....
nomination for "Reality Check." His novella "Sanctuary" was chosen by the readers of Analog as the best novella published by the magazine in 2005 and was a nominee for the 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...
. From 1998 to 2000, Burstein served as Secretary of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, or SFWA is a nonprofit association of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. It was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight under the name Science Fiction Writers of America, Inc. and it retains the acronym SFWA after a very brief use of the SFFWA...
. He chaired the final Nebula Script jury in 2008.
Burstein lives with his wife Nomi in the town of Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...
, where he is an elected Town Meeting
Town meeting
A town meeting is a form of direct democratic rule, used primarily in portions of the United States since the 17th century, in which most or all the members of a community come together to legislate policy and budgets for local government....
Member and Library Trustee. He has worked as a science teacher
Science education
Science education is the field concerned with sharing science content and process with individuals not traditionally considered part of the scientific community. The target individuals may be children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education comprises...
at all levels, and edits science textbooks. He has given lectures and spoken at various science fiction conferences and libraries, and to groups at MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
and Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
; and has been an active member of science fiction fandom
Science fiction fandom
Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or "fandom" of people actively interested in science fiction and fantasy and in contact with one another based upon that interest...
.
Burstein and his wife welcomed their first children, fraternal twin girls, on July 19, 2009.
Burstein is president of the Society for the Preservation of Pluto
Pluto
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
as a Planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
, which goes by the acronym SP3. The group of astronomy buffs formed in the spring of 2006.
Burstein's short story collection I Remember the Future: The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein was released by Apex Publications on November 1, 2008. On February 19, 2010, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, or SFWA is a nonprofit association of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. It was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight under the name Science Fiction Writers of America, Inc. and it retains the acronym SFWA after a very brief use of the SFFWA...
announced that the title story from the collection had been nominated for the 2009 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...
for Best Short Story. Burstein currently contributes columns to the science fiction entertainment website SFScope
SFScope
SFScope is an online trade journal devoted to entertainment news concerning speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It was founded by Ian Randal Strock in early 2007....
. With his wife, Burstein writes the Brookline Parent column for the Brookline Patch website.
Sources
- Burstein, M. (2004). About Michael A. Burstein. Retrieved Jul. 29, 2004. Permission was given to copy the information on this page into Wikipedia.