Jack McDevitt

Infobox Writer


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name = Jack McDevitt
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pseudonym =
birthdate = birth year and age|1935
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occupation = Novelist, Short story writer
nationality = American
period = 1981 - present
genre = Science Fiction
subject =
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influences = Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke
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website = http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/JMinfo.html

Jack McDevitt (born 1935) is an award-winning American science fiction author whose novels frequently deal with attempts to make contact with alien races, and with archaeology or xenoarchaeology.

McDevitt's first published story was "The Emerson Effect" in "The Twilight Zone Magazine" in 1981. Two years later, he published his first novel, "The Hercules Text", about the discovery of an intelligently conceived signal whose repercussions threaten human civilization. This novel set the tone for many of McDevitt's following novels, which focused on making first contact. Frequently this theme is mixed with both trepidation before the unknown and a sense of wonder at the universe.

With "The Engines of God" (1994), McDevitt introduced the idea of a universe that was once teeming with intelligent life, but contains only their abandoned artifacts by the time humans arrive on the scene. Although it was initially written as a standalone novel,Fact|date=October 2008 the main character of "The Engines of God", pilot Priscilla Hutchins, has since appeared in five more books, "Deepsix" (2001), "Chindi" (2002), "Omega" (2003), "Odyssey" (2006), and "Cauldron" (2007). The mystery surrounding the destructive "Omega Clouds" (which are introduced in "The Engines of God") is left unexplored until "Omega". [ [http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/Omega-Comment.html Author's Comment: "Omega"] ]

McDevitt's novels frequently raise questions which he does not attempt to answer. He prefers to leave ambiguities to puzzle and intrigue his readers: "Some things are best left to the reader's very able imagination." [ [http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/Omega-Comment.html Author's Comment: "Omega"] ]

His novel "Seeker" won the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novel, given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He has been nominated for the Nebula Award fourteen times; "Seeker" is his only win. [ [http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/JMinfo.html Nebula winner] ] [cite web | title = Jack McDevitt | work = Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards | publisher = Locus | url = http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit89.html#3479 | accessdate = 2008-04-05]

Biography

McDevitt went to LaSalle College, where a short story of his won the annual "Freshman Short Story Contest" and was published in the school's literary magazine, "Four Quarters". As McDevitt explained in an [http://www.ideomancer.com/ft/McDevitt/McDevitt.htm interview] , "I was on my way. Then I read "David Copperfield" and realized I could never write at that level, and therefore I should find something else to do. I joined the Navy, drove a cab, became an English teacher, took a customs inspector's job on the northern border, and didn't write another word for a quarter-century." He returned to writing when his wife, Maureen, encouraged him to try his hand at it in 1980. As of 2007, McDevitt lives near Brunswick, Georgia. In 2005, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.

Bibliography

Novels, series

*"Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins"
**"The Engines of God" (1995)
**"Deepsix" (2001) [http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/ac_deepsix.html Author's comments]
**"Chindi" (2002) [http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/CHINDI.html Author's comments]
**"Omega" (2003) [http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/Omega-Comment.html Author's comments]
**"Odyssey" (2006) [http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/AC-odyssey.html Author's comments]
**"Cauldron" (2007) [http://www.scifi.com/sfw/interviews/sfw14482.html]

*"Alex Benedict"
**"A Talent for War" (1989)
**"Polaris" (2004) [http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/AC-Polaris.html Author's comments]
**"Seeker" (2005) - winner of Nebula Award
**"The Devil's Eye" (expected November 2008)

Novels, stand-alone

*"The Hercules Text (Ace Special, No 7)" (1986)
*"Ancient Shores" (1996) [http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/StrangePlaces.html Author's comments]
*"Eternity Road" (1998) [http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/Ghosts.html Author's comments]
*"Moonfall" (1998)
*"Infinity Beach" (2000) (variant title (UK) "Slow Lightning") [http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/SlowLightning.html Author's comments]

hort stories

(partial list)
* The Emerson Effect (1981)
* Cryptic (1983)
* Promises to Keep (1984)
* Tidal Effects (1984)
* In the Tower (1987)
* The Fort Moxie Branch (1988)
* Time's Arrow (1989)
* Whistle (1989)
* Lake Agassiz (1991)
* "Ships in the Night" (1993)
* Midnight Clear (1993)
* Talk Radio (1993)
* Time Travelers Never Die (1996)
* Dead in the Water (1999)
* Good Intentions (1999) (with Stanley Schmidt)
* Oculus (2002)

Collections

*"Standard Candles" (Tachyon Press, 1996)
*"Hello Out There" (Meisha Merlin, 2000) (omnibus edition of "A Talent for War" and "The Hercules Text") [http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/Hello.html Author's foreword]
*"Ships in the Night" (AAB, 2005)
*"Outbound" (ISFiC Press, 2006) [http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/AC-Outbound.html Author's comments]

Introductions

*"Pellucidar (Bison Frontiers of Imagination)" (2002)

Awards and nominations

* Nebula Best Short Story nominee (1983) : "Cryptic"
* Philip K. Dick Award (special citation) (1986) : "The Hercules Text"
* Nebula Best Short Story nominee (1988) : "The Fort Moxie Branch"
* Hugo Best Short Story nominee (1989) : "The Fort Moxie Branch"
* International UPC Science Fiction Award winner (1993) : "Ships in the Night" (first English language winner) [http://www.scifi.com/sfw/interviews/sfw14482.html]
* Nebula Best Novella nominee (1996) : "Time Travelers Never Die"
* Hugo Best Novella nominee (1997) : "Time Travelers Never Die"
* Nebula Best Novel nominee (1997) : "Ancient Shores"
* Nebula Best Novel nominee (1998) : "Moonfall"
* Nebula Best Novelette nominee (1999) : "Good Intentions" (co-writer Stanley Schmidt)
* Nebula Best Novel nominee (2000) : "Infinity Beach"
* Nebula Best Short Story nominee (2002) : "Nothing Ever Happens in Rock City"
* Nebula Best Novel nominee (2003) : "Chindi"
* Campbell Award winner (2004) : Omega
* Nebula Best Novel nominee (2004) : Omega
* Nebula Best Novel nominee (2005) : Polaris
* Nebula Best Novel winner (2006) : Seeker
* Nebula Best Novel nominee (2007): Odyssey

ee also

* Flickinger field

= Notes =

External links

* [http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/JMinfo.html Jack McDevitt's Home Page] :* [http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/TenBooks.html Ten Favorite Novels] , literary influences
* [http://www.ibdof.com/viewforum.php?f=1802 Official forum] at [http://www.ibdof.com/ The Internet Book Database of Fiction]
* [http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/Biblio-ShortFiction.html Jack McDevitt's Short Story Bibliography ]
*
* [http://www.ulib.niu.edu/rarebooks/mcdevitt.cfm The Jack McDevitt Papers at Northern Illinois University]

Persondata
NAME= McDevitt, Jack
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= American novelist, Short story writer
DATE OF BIRTH= 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=