Elizabeth Bear

Last updated
Elizabeth Bear
Elizabeth Bear by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Bear in 2017
BornSarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky
(1971-09-22) September 22, 1971 (age 53)
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupation Novelist
Alma mater University of Connecticut
Genre Speculative fiction
Notable works Hammered
Shoggoths in Bloom
Notable awards
Spouse
(m. 2016)
Website
Official website

Sarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky (born September 22, 1971) is an American author who works primarily in speculative fiction genres, writing under the name Elizabeth Bear. She won the 2005 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Short Story for "Tideline", and the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Novelette for "Shoggoths in Bloom". [1] She is one of a small number of writers who have gone on to win multiple Hugo Awards for fiction after winning the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (the others include C. J. Cherryh, Orson Scott Card, Spider Robinson, Ted Chiang and Mary Robinette Kowal).

Contents

Life and career

Bear at Eurocon/Swecon in 2011 Elizabeth Bear at Eurocon 2011.jpg
Bear at Eurocon/Swecon in 2011

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Bear studied English and anthropology at the University of Connecticut but did not graduate. She worked as a technical writer, stable hand, reporter and held various office jobs. She sold a few stories in the 1990s and began writing seriously in 2001. [2]

Bear's first novel, Hammered , was published in January 2005 and was followed by Scardown in July and Worldwired in November of the same year. The trilogy features Canadian Master Warrant Officer Jenny Casey, who is also the main character in the short story "Gone to Flowers". Hammered won the Locus Award for Best First Novel in 2006.

The Chains That You Refuse, a collection of her short fiction, was published May 2006 by Night Shade Books. Blood and Iron, the first book in the fantasy series entitled The Promethean Age, debuted June 27, 2006. She is also a coauthor of the ongoing Shadow Unit website/pseudo-TV series.

In 2008, she donated her archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University. [3]

She is an instructor at the Viable Paradise writer's workshop and has taught at Clarion West Writers Workshop.

The opening quote in Criminal Minds episode "Lauren" (6.18) was a direct quote of the second and third lines of Bear's book Seven for a Secret: "The secret to lying is to believe with all your heart. That goes for lying to yourself even more than lying to another."

She is one of the regular panelists on podcast SF Squeecast, which won the 2012 and 2013 Hugo Awards for Best Fancast. [4]

Bear married novelist Scott Lynch in October 2016. [5]

In 2021, Bear announced that she had been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. [6]

Bibliography

Novels

The Jenny Casey trilogy
The Promethean Age
Jacob's Ladder trilogy
The Edda of Burdens
The Iskryne series
New Amsterdam series
Eternal Sky Trilogy
The Lotus Kingdoms
Karen Memory
White Space

Short fiction

Collections
Short stories

Also appeared in Scheherazade issue #20 in 2000.)

Poetry

Essays

Reception

Annalee Newitz of io9 wrote that Bear "is famous for combining high-octane military/spy tales with eccentric and subversive subplots". [10]

Awards

Awards for Elizabeth Bear
WorkYear & AwardCategoryResultRef.
Hammered2005 Astounding Award for Best New Writer -Won
Two Dreams on Trains2005 BSFA Award Short FictionNominated
Sounding2006 BSFA AwardShort FictionNominated
Carnival 2006 Philip K. Dick Award -Won (Special Citation)
2007 Locus AwardSF NovelNominated [11]
2007 Lambda Literary Award for Speculative Fiction LGBT Horror/Science Fiction/FantasyNominated
2007 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards NovelNominated
Undertow2007 Philip K. Dick Award-Nominated
2008 Locus AwardSF NovelNominated
Wax2006 Locus AwardNoveletteNominated
2007 Interzone Readers PollStory8th Place [12]
Wane2007 Locus AwardNoveletteNominated
Cryptic Coloration2008 Locus AwardNoveletteNominated
New Amsterdam2008 Locus AwardCollectionNominated
2008 Gaylactic Spectrum AwardsNovelNominated
Orm the Beautiful2008 Locus AwardShort StoryNominated
2008 WSFA Small Press Award -Shortlisted
Tideline 2008 Locus AwardShort StoryNominated
2008 Asimov's Readers' PollShort StoryWon [13]
2008 Hugo Award Short StoryWon
2008 Theodore Sturgeon Award Short Science FictionWon
Whiskey and Water2008 Locus AwardFantasy NovelNominated
2008 Gaylactic Spectrum AwardsNovelNominated
A Companion to Wolves

(with Sarah Monette)

2008 Lambda Literary Award for Speculative FictionLGBT Horror/Science Fiction/FantasyNominated
Dust2008 Gaylactic Spectrum AwardsNovelNominated
The Stratford Man2009 Gaylactic Spectrum AwardsNovelWon
All the Windwracked Stars2009 Gaylactic Spectrum AwardsNovelNominated
Shoggoths in Bloom 2009 Hugo AwardNoveletteWon
2009 Locus AwardNoveletteNominated
Shoggoths in Bloom (Collection)2013 Locus AwardCollectionWon
Boojum2009 Locus AwardShort StoryNominated
By the Mountain Bound2010 Gaylactic Spectrum AwardsNovelNominated
Seven for a Secret2010 Gaylactic Spectrum AwardsNovelNominated
Chill2010 Philip K. Dick Award-Nominated
2011 Locus AwardSF NovelNominated
Cuckoo

(with Leah Bobet & Emma Bull)

2010 Locus AwardNovellaNominated
Mongoose2010 Locus AwardNoveletteNominated
Bone and Jewel Creatures2011 World Fantasy Award NovellaNominated
2011 Locus AwardNovellaNominated [14]
Range of Ghosts2012 Otherwise Award -Honor
2013 Locus AwardFantasy NovelNominated
METAtropolis: Cascadia2012 Audie Award Original WorkWon
SF Squeecast 2012 Hugo AwardFancastWon
2013 Hugo AwardFancastWon
Dolly2012 Locus AwardShort StoryNominated [15]
Grail2012 Locus AwardSF NovelNominated
2012 Gaylactic Spectrum AwardsNovelNominated
Faster Gun2013 Locus AwardNoveletteNominated [16]
In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns2013 Locus AwardNovellaNominated
2013 Asimov's Readers' PollNovella4th Place [17]
No Decent Patrimony2013 Locus AwardNoveletteNominated
The Deeps of the Sky2013 Locus AwardShort StoryNominated
The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward2013 Locus AwardNoveletteNominated
Covenant2015 Locus AwardShort StoryNominated
Steles of the Sky2015 Locus AwardFantasy NovelNominated
The Hand is Quicker2015 Locus AwardNoveletteNominated
This Chance Planet2015 Locus AwardShort StoryNominated
Karen Memory 2016 Locus AwardFantasy NovelNominated
2016 Gaylactic Spectrum AwardsNovelNominated
The Heart's Filthy Lesson2016 Locus AwardNoveletteNominated
The Stone in the Skull2018 Locus AwardFantasy NovelNominated
Okay, Glory2019 Locus AwardNoveletteNominated
The Red-Stained Wings2020 Locus AwardFantasy NovelNominated
A Time to Reap2020 Locus AwardNovellaNominated
Ancestral Night2020 Locus AwardSF NovelNominated
Erase, Erase, Erase2020 Locus AwardNoveletteNominated
Lest We Forget2020 Locus AwardShort StoryNominated
Machine2021 Locus AwardSF NovelNominated
2021 Dragon Awards Science FictionNominated
2021 Neffy AwardsNovelWon [18]
The Best of Elizabeth Bear2021 Locus AwardCollectionNominated
A Blessing of Unicorns2022 Asimov's Readers' PollNovellaWon [19]
2022 Locus AwardNovellaNominated
The Red Mother2022 Locus AwardNoveletteNominated

References

  1. "2009 Hugo Awards". www.locusmag.com. 2009-08-09. Archived from the original on 2009-03-26.
  2. "Locus Online: Elizabeth Bear interview excerpts". Locus: The Magazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Field. April 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-04-25. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  3. "Elizabeth Bear Papers, 2005- 2011". Northern Illinois University. 2008-04-18.
  4. "Elizabeth Bear - Award Bibliography". www.isfdb.org.
  5. "Scott Lynch and Elizabeth Bear got married!". Gentlemen Bastards. October 10, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  6. Pixel Scroll 9/3/21 "If It Doesn’t Scroll Naturally, File It", by Mike Glyer, at File 770; published September 3, 2021; retrieved October 6, 2021
  7. "Elizabeth Bear One Eyed Jack cover art and synopsis reveal". Upcoming4.me. May 2, 2013. Archived from the original on May 5, 2013. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  8. "Elizabeth Bear - Steles of the Sky cover art and synopsis reveal". Upcoming4.me. July 8, 2013. Archived from the original on January 12, 2014. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  9. http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/bear_01_07/
  10. Newitz, Annalee (May 6, 2008). "Environmental Fascists Fight Gun-Loving Lesbians for Alien Technology". io9 . Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  11. https://www.sfadb.com/Locus_Awards
  12. https://www.sfadb.com/Interzone_Readers_Poll_2007
  13. https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ay.cgi?3+2008
  14. https://www.sfadb.com/Locus_Awards_2011
  15. https://www.sfadb.com/Locus_Awards_2012
  16. https://www.sfadb.com/Locus_Awards_2013
  17. https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ay.cgi?3+2013
  18. https://locusmag.com/2021/09/2021-neffy-awards-winners/
  19. https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ay.cgi?3+2022