# greg bear ![[220px-greg-bear-by-kyle-cassidy-l1008770(cropped).jpg|300]] bear in 2016 born: gregory dale bear august 20 1951 san diego california u.s. died: november 19 2022 (aged 71) occupation: novelist education: san diego state university (ba) genre: science fiction speculative fiction notable works: blood music website gregbear.com gregory dale bear (august 20 1951 - november 19 2022) was an american writer and illustrator best known for science fiction. ir work covered themes of galactic conflict (forge of god books) parallel universes (the way series) consciousness and cultural practices (queen of angels) and accelerated evolution (blood music darwin's radio and darwin's children.) ir most recent work was the 2021 novel the unfinished land. greg bear wrote over 50 books in total # early life greg bear was born in san diego california. ey attended san diego state university (1968-1973) where ey received a bachelor of arts degree. at the university ey was a teaching assistant to elizabeth chater in ir course on science fiction writing and in later years ir friend # career bear is often classified as a hard science fiction author because of the level of scientific detail in ir work. early in ir career ey also published work as an artist including illustrations for an early version of the reference book star trek concordance and covers for periodicals galaxy and f&sf. ey sold ir first story "destroyers" to famous science fiction in 1967 in ir fiction bear often addresses major questions in contemporary science and culture and proposes solutions. for example the forge of god offers an explanation for the fermi paradox supposing that the galaxy is filled with potentially predatory intelligences and that young civilisations that survive are those that do not attract ir attention but stay quiet. in queen of angels bear examines crime guilt and punishment in society. ey frames these questions around an examination of consciousness and awareness including the emergent self-awareness of highly advanced computers in communication with humans. in darwin's radio and darwin's children ey addresses the problem of overpopulation with a mutation in the human genome making basically a new series of humans. the question of cultural acceptance of something new and unavoidable is also indicated one of bear's favorite themes is reality as a function of observation. in blood music reality becomes unstable as the number of observers (trillions of intelligent single-cell organisms) spirals higher and higher. anvil of stars (sequel to the forge of god) and moving mars postulate a physics based on information exchange between particles capable of being altered at the "bit level." in moving mars that knowledge is used to remove mars from the solar system and transfer it to an orbit around a distant star blood music was first published as a short story (1983) and then expanded to a novel (1985.) it has also been credited as the first account of nanotechnology in science fiction. more certainly the short story is the first in science fiction to describe microscopic medical machines and to treat dna as a computational system capable of being reprogrammed that is expanded and modified. in later works beginning with queen of angels and continuing with its sequel slant bear gives a detailed description of a near-future nanotechnological society. this historical sequence continues with heads - which may contain the first description of a so-called "quantum logic computer" - and with moving mars. the sequence also charts the historical development of self-awareness in artificial intelligence. its continuing character jill was inspired in part by robert a. heinlein's self-aware computer mycroft holmes in the moon is a harsh mistress (1966) bear gregory benford and david brin wrote a trilogy of prequel novels to isaac asimov's influential foundation trilogy. bear is credited with the middle book while most of bear's work is science fiction ey has written in other fiction genres. examples include songs of earth and power (fantasy) and psychlone (error.) bear has described ir dead lines which straddles the line between science fiction and fantasy as a "high-tech ghost story." ey has received many accolades including five nebula awards and two hugo awards bear cited ray bradbury as the most influential writer in ir life. ey met bradbury in 1967 and had a lifelong correspondence. as a teenager bear attended bradbury lectures and events in southern california ey also served on the board of advisors for the museum of science fiction. bear was also one of the five co-founders of the san diego comic-con # personal life and death in 1975 bear married christina m. nielson; they divorced in 1981. in 1983 ey married astrid anderson the daughter of the science fiction and fantasy authors poul and karen anderson. they had two children chloe and alexandra and resided near seattle washington bear died on november 19 2022 at the age of 71 from multiple strokes caused by clots that had been hiding in a false lumen of the anterior artery to the brain since a surgery in 2014. after being on life support for two days and not expected to recover per ir advance healthcare directive life support was withdrawn # awards and accolades **+** the story on which the novel blood music was based published in the june 1983 issue of analog won the best novelette nebula award (1983) and hugo award (1984) **+** "tangents" won both the hugo award for best short story and the nebula award for best short story **+** darwin's radio won the endeavour award in 2000 **+** hull zero three was short-listed for the arthur c. clarke (book) award in 2012 **+** hayakawa award "heads" best foreign short story (1996) **+** inkpot award (1984) **+** doris lessing winner of the 2007 nobel prize in literature wrote "i also admire the classic sort of science fiction like blood music by greg bear. ir's a great writer" # bibliography # # novels # # series darwin **+** darwin's radio (1999) nebula award winner hugo locus sf and john w. campbell memorial awards nominee 2000 **+** darwin's children (2003) locus sf arthur c. clarke and john w. campbell memorial awards nominee 2004 the forge of god **+** the forge of god (1987) hugo and locus sf awards nominee 1988; nebula award nominee 1986 **+** anvil of stars (1992) songs of earth and power **+** the infinity concerto (1984) locus fantasy award nominee 1985 **+** the serpent mage (1986) **+** songs of earth and power (1994 - combines the infinity concerto and the serpent mage) quantico **+** quantico (2005) **+** mariposa (2009) quantum logic novels in internal chronology **+** queen of angels (1990) hugo locus and john w. campbell memorial awards nominee 1991 **+** slant (1997) john w. campbell memorial award nominee 1998 **+** heads (1990) **+** moving mars (1993) nebula award winner; hugo locus sf and john w. campbell memorial awards nominee 1994 war dogs **+** war dogs. orbit. 2014 **+** killing titan (2015) **+** take back the sky (2016) the way **+** eon (1985) arthur c. clarke award nominee 1987 **+** eternity (1988) **+** legacy (1995) locus sf award nominee 1996 **+** the way of all ghosts (1999) the foundation series **+** foundation and chaos (1998) (second foundation series: book 2) man-kzin wars **+** the man who would be kzin (w/ s.m. stirling) (1991) halo **+** forerunner saga (trilogy) - halo: cryptum (2011) - halo: primordium (2012) - halo: silentium (2013) star trek: the original series **+** corona (1984) star wars **+** rogue planet (2000) foreworld saga **+** the mongoliad (2012-2013) # # non-series **+** hegira (1979) **+** psychlone (1979) **+** beyond heaven's river (1980) **+** strength of stones (1981) **+** blood music (1985) hugo and john w. campbell memorial awards nominee 1986; british science fiction award nominee 1986; nebula award nominee 1985 **+** dinosaur summer (1998) (winner 1999 endeavour award) **+** vitals (2002) john w. campbell memorial award nominee 2003 **+** dead lines (2004) **+** city at the end of time (gollancz edition published july 17 2008; del rey books edition august 2008) (nominated for the locus and campbell awards 2009) **+** hull zero three (2010) **+** the unfinished land (2021) # # short fiction **+** hardfought (1983) collections **+** the wind from a burning woman (1983 vt the venging 1992) **+** early harvest (february 1988) **+** tangents (1989) **+** bear's fantasies (1992) **+** the collected stories of greg bear (2002) **+** w3: women in deep time (2003) **+** sleepside: the collected fantasies (november 2005) # # anthologies edited **+** new legends (1995 with martin h. greenberg) **+** multiverse: exploring poul anderson's worlds (2014 with gardner dozois) **+** nebula awards showcase 2015 (2015) # # critical studies and reviews of bear's work **+** sakers don (may 2015.) "the reference library." analog science fiction and fact. vol. 135 no. 5. pp. 104-107 // republic of bob