Ada Palmer

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Ada Palmer
Portrait photoshoot at Worldcon 75, Helsinki, before the Hugo Awards - Ada Palmer.jpg
Palmer at the 75th Worldcon in Helsinki, Finland, in August 2017
BornAda Palmer
(1981-06-09) June 9, 1981 (age 43)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • historian
  • professor
  • composer
Education
Period2016–present
Genre Historical fiction, speculative fiction, science fiction, dystopian fiction
Notable works Too Like the Lightning
Website
adapalmer.com

Ada Palmer (born June 9, 1981) [1] is an American historian and writer and winner of the 2017 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her first novel, Too Like the Lightning , was published in May 2016. [2] The work has been well received by critics and was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

The daughter of computer engineer Douglas Palmer and artist Laura Higgins Palmer, Ada was born in Washington, D.C. but grew up in Annapolis, Maryland, where she attended Key School. [1] She began her undergraduate education at age 15 for two years at Bard College at Simon's Rock, and then transferred to Bryn Mawr College, where she received a Bachelor of Art in history in 2001. [4] She then obtained a Master of Arts and a doctorate in history at Harvard University in 2003 and 2009, respectively. [4] [5] [6] [7]

Academic career

Following a stint at Texas A&M University from 2009 to 2014, Palmer began teaching at the University of Chicago. [4] [5] She was an assistant professor at the University of Chicago from 2014 to 2018, and has been an associate professor at the institution since 2018. [4]

As a scholar, Palmer researches and teaches about the Renaissance period. She teaches a class on the Italian Renaissance wherein students enact the 1492 papal conclave, complete with secret meetings, betrayals, and a final vote conducted in full costume. [8] In an interview, Palmer discussed her experience with the class, suggesting that students have a lot of favorable biases about this period despite its darker underside. [9]

Palmer co-authored The Recovery of Ancient Philosophy in the Renaissance: A Brief Guide with James Hankins in 2008. Her own first book, Reading Lucretius in the Renaissance, was published in 2014. Palmer holds that the Lucretius poem De rerum natura , rediscovered in the Renaissance, could be the first document offering a profane worldview; that is, the possibility to describe how the universe works without any divine influence. This theory has implications for the development of political science as well as other secular worldviews. Palmer and Hankins also argue that Lucretius' ideas directly influenced Niccolò Machiavelli and utilitarianism, because of the ways in which his theories helped them create an ethics working per se, without any external, godly influence. [10]

Literary career

Palmer's first novel, Too Like the Lightning , the first of the Terra Ignota series, was published in 2016, and was a finalist for the 2017 Hugo Awards. [3] It has been described as a rational adjacent book, [11] a work influenced both by science-fiction and historical genres, [12] a fact the author has confirmed. [13] The novel won the 2017 Compton Crook Award for the best first novel in the genre published during the previous year. [14] Three more novels followed.

Palmer has announced multiple upcoming projects, including Hearthfire, the first novel in a new historical fiction series about Viking mythology; and The Wrath of Abaia, co-written with Jo Walton. [15] These novels are scheduled to be published in 2027 and 2025, respectively. [4]

Personal life

Palmer was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and polycystic ovary syndrome in 2004, and is a disability activist with a particular focus on self-care and invisible disabilities. [16] [17]

Bibliography

Fiction

The Terra Ignota series has four novels:

  1. Too Like the Lightning (2016)
  2. Seven Surrenders (2017)
  3. The Will to Battle (2017)
  4. Perhaps the Stars (2021) [18]

Non-fiction

Articles

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Terra Ignota is a quartet of science fiction and philosophical novels by the American author Ada Palmer. The series consists of Too Like the Lightning (2016), Seven Surrenders (2017), The Will to Battle (2017), and Perhaps the Stars (2021). After three centuries of a global near-utopia, a minor crime and a miracle child begin to unravel the social system and lead the world to technologically-advanced total war. The first three books cover the events leading up to the war and the final book covers the war itself. The novels have won several awards, including a 2017 Compton Crook Award. The first novel was a finalist for the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and the series as a whole was a finalist for the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Series.

Perhaps the Stars is the fourth novel in a science fiction quartet called Terra Ignota, written by the American author Ada Palmer. It was published on November 21, 2021. It is preceded by Too Like the Lightning (2016), Seven Surrenders (2017), and The Will to Battle (2017).

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<i>Too Like the Lightning</i> 2016 science fiction novel by Ada Palmer

Too Like the Lightning is the first novel in a science fiction quartet called Terra Ignota, written by the American author Ada Palmer. It was published on May 10, 2016. Its sequels are Seven Surrenders (2017), The Will to Battle (2017), and Perhaps the Stars (2021). The novel won the 2017 Compton Crook Award. It was a finalist for the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel and the James Tiptree Jr Memorial Award.

<i>The Will to Battle</i> 2017 science fiction novel by Ada Palmer

The Will to Battle is the third novel in a science fiction quartet called Terra Ignota, written by the American author Ada Palmer. It was published on December 19, 2017. It was a finalist for the 2018 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. It is preceded by Too Like the Lightning (2016) and Seven Surrenders (2017). It is followed by Perhaps the Stars (2021).

References

  1. 1 2 "Ada Palmer: Beyond the Exponential Age". Locus Magazine. Locus. May 14, 2018. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Historian Ada Palmer's debut sci-fi novel receives acclaim, award nominations". Division of the Social Sciences. University of Chicago. Archived from the original on August 12, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  3. 1 2 Trendacosta, Katharine (April 4, 2017). "Here Are the 2017 Hugo Awards Finalists". io9. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Palmer, Ada. "Curriculum Vitae" (PDF).
  5. 1 2 Jason, Heller (May 10, 2016). "Science, Fiction And Philosophy Collide In Astonishing 'Lightning'". NPR. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Ada Palmer: Beyond the Exponential Age". Locus Online. May 14, 2018. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  7. ↑ Barber, Gregory. "Ada Palmer and the Weird Hand of Progress". Wired. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  8. ↑ Palazzolo, Stephanie. "Uncommon Interview: Hugo Award Nominee Ada Palmer". The Chicago Maroon . Archived from the original on June 30, 2017. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Progress", You Are Not So Smart, #96.
  10. ↑ Farell, Henry. "The rediscovery of this writer in the Renaissance opened the way to the modern world (and, more important, the invention of political science)". The Washington Post . Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  11. ↑ Eneasz Brodski (December 8, 2016). "Interview – Ada Palmer (Too Like The Lightning)". The Methods of Rationality Podcast. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  12. ↑ Farell, Henry (May 10, 2016). "What's so brilliant about Ada Palmer's Too Like the Lightning". Crooked Timber . Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  13. ↑ Palmer, Ada (May 11, 2016). "The Big Idea: Ada Palmer". Whatever. John Scalzi . Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  14. ↑ "The Thirty-Five Compton Crook Award Winning Novels from inception in 1983 through 2017". Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Archived from the original on August 1, 2017. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  15. ↑ Palmer, Ada (December 30, 2022). "End of 2022 Reflections & Plans". Patreon. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  16. ↑ Barber, Gregory (February 10, 2022). "Ada Palmer and the Weird Hand of Progress". Wired. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  17. ↑ "Ada Palmer". The Pearson Institute. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  18. ↑ Palmer, Ada (November 2, 2021). Perhaps the Stars (Terra Ignota, 4). Tor Publishing. ISBN   978-0765378064.
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