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Connie Willis

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For the politician, see Constance H. Williams.
Connie Willis
Connie Willis at Clarion West, 1998
Connie Willis at Clarion West, 1998
Born Constance Elaine Trimmer
December 31, 1945 (1945-12-31) (age 66)
Denver, Colorado
Occupation Writer
Nationality American
Education Colorado State College B.A. 1967
Period 1980 – present
Genres Science fiction
Notable award(s) Hugo, Nebula
Spouse(s) Courtney Willis
Children Cordelia Willis
conniewillis.net

Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis (born 31 December 1945) is an American science fiction writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for Blackout/All Clear (August 2011). She was inducted to the Science Fiction Museum and Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2009.[1]

Willis's first published story, "The Secret of Santa Titicaca," appeared in Worlds of Fantasy in 1971. After receiving an NEA grant in 1982, she left her teaching job and became a full-time writer.[2]

Willis is known for her accessible prose and likable characters. She has written several pieces involving time travel by history students and faculty of the future University of Oxford. These pieces include her Hugo Award-winning novels Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, the short story "Fire Watch" (found in the short story collection of the same name), and the two-volume novel Blackout/All Clear. All but one of the Oxford University Time Travel tales have won both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award.

Contents

[edit] Writing style

Willis tends to the comedy of manners style of writing. Her protagonists are typically beset by single-minded people pursuing illogical agendas, such as attempting to organize a bell-ringing session in the middle of a deadly epidemic (Doomsday Book), or frustrating efforts to analyze near-death experiences by putting words in the mouths of interviewees (Passage).

Other themes and stylistic devices include:

  • a scientist as protagonist (the main theme of Bellwether, but also present in Uncharted Territory, Passage, and—to a lesser degree—the Fire Watch universe stories)
  • an aversion to rampant political correctness (notably the over-appreciation of indigenous cultures in Uncharted Territory, anti-smoking stances in Bellwether, censorship of "addictive substances" in Remake and censorship of an English class in the short story "Ado")
  • the inclusion of meticulously researched, detailed trivia related tangentially or symbolically to the narrative (fads in Bellwether, mating customs in Uncharted Territory, old movies in Remake, the Titanic disaster in Passage, famous pairs of ill-fated lovers in To Say Nothing of the Dog)
  • the constant presence of trying to come to terms with grief, loss, and death; this is often attributed to her mother having died while Willis herself was still a child.[citation needed]
  • "Romantic 'screwball' comedy in the manner of 1940s Hollywood movies, updated"[3]

Willis is acclaimed as a science-fiction writer, with much of her writing exploring the social sciences. She often weaves technology into her stories in order to prompt readers to question what impact it has on the world. For instance, Lincoln's Dreams plumbs not just the psychology of dreams, but also their role as indicators of disease. The story portrays a young man's unrequited love for a young woman who might or might not be experiencing reincarnation or precognition, and whose outlook verges on suicidal. Similarly Bellwether is almost exclusively concerned with human psychology.

Among other themes, Uncharted Territory contemplates the extent to which technology shapes expectations of gender; "technology" here ranges from a land rover and binoculars to Built's online "tchopping" and the pop-up holograms—even socioexozoology. Remake embraces old movies and the computer graphics revolution, as well as intellectual property, digital copyright issues, and the question of public domain.

Other Willis stories explore the so-called "hard" sciences, following in the classic science fiction tradition. "The Sidon in the Mirror" harks back to the interplanetary and interstellar romanticism of the 1930s and 1940s. "Samaritan" is another take on the theme of Heinlein's "Jerry Was a Man", while "Blued Moon" is similarly reminiscent of Heinlein's "The Year of the Jackpot".

[edit] Personal life

Willis is a 1967 graduate of Colorado State College, now the University of Northern Colorado.[4] She lives in Greeley, Colorado with her husband Courtney Willis, a former professor of physics at the University of Northern Colorado. They have one daughter, Cordelia.

[edit] Awards

[edit] Hugo Awards

Wins

Additional Nominations

  • Daisy, In the Sun : short story : 1980
  • The Sidon in the Mirror : novelette : 1984
  • Blued Moon : novelette : 1985
  • Spice Pogrom : novella : 1987
  • At the Rialto : novelette : 1990
  • Time-Out : novella : 1990
  • Cibola : short story : 1991
  • In the Late Cretaceous : short story : 1992
  • Jack : novella : 1992
  • Miracle : novelette : 1992
  • Remake : novel : 1996[8]
  • Passage : novel : 2002[9]
  • Just Like the Ones We Used to Know : novella : 2004

[edit] Nebula Awards

Wins

Additional Nominations

  • The Sidon in the Mirror : novelette : 1984
  • Schwarzschild Radius : novelette : 1988
  • Jack : novella : 1992
  • Death on the Nile : novelette : 1994
  • Bellwether : novel : 1998
  • To Say Nothing of the Dog : novel : 1999[6]
  • Passage : novel : 2002[9]
  • Just Like the Ones We Used to Know : novella : 2005

[edit] Locus Awards

Wins

Additional Nomination

  • Lincoln's Dreams: Fantasy Novel: 1988[12]

[edit] Arthur C. Clarke Awards

Nominations

[edit] World Fantasy Awards

Nominations

  • Chance : novella : 1987
  • The Winds of Marble Arch : novella : 2000

[edit] John W. Campbell Memorial Award

Win

  • Lincoln's Dreams: 1988[12]

[edit] British Science Fiction Association Award

Nomination

[edit] Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award

Lifetime achievement, 2011, awarded at the Nebula Awards Ceremony

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Novels and published-separately novellas

[edit] Short story collections

[edit] Short stories

[edit] Other

  • Roswell, Vegas, and Area 51: Travels with Courtney (2002)

[edit] Essays

  • On Ghost Stories (1991)
  • Foreword (1998)
  • Introduction (1999)
  • The Nebula Award for Best Novel (1999)
  • The 1997 Author Emeritus: Nelson Bond (1999)
  • The Grand Master Award: Poul Anderson (1999)
  • A Few Last Words to Put It All in Perspective (1999)
  • Bibliography, including a list of all of her SF short stories and "confessions" stories, collected in the "Limited/Lettered Editions" of The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
  • A Final Word; Twelve Terrific Things to Read... (Christmas stories); And Twelve to Watch (Christmas movies); all collected in Miracle and Other Christmas Stories

[edit] References

  1. ^ Strock, Ian (2009-04-06). "2009's Science Fiction Hall of Fame Inductees". Science Fiction Hall of Fame. http://sfscope.com/. http://sfscope.com/2009/04/2009s-science-fiction-hall-of.html. Retrieved 2009-06-06. 
  2. ^ "Connie Willis: The Facts of Death," Locus, January 2003, p.7
  3. ^ David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer, ed (2006). Year's Best Fantasy 6. Tachyon Publications. ISBN 10:1-892391-37-6. 
  4. ^ "University Archives: RG18 ALUMNI". University of Northern Colorado: University Archives. 2009-03-31. http://www.unco.edu/library/archives/arc_rg18s14f01.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-06. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f "1993 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1993. Retrieved 2009-05-04. 
  6. ^ a b c d "1999 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1999. Retrieved 2009-05-04. 
  7. ^ Locus, 2011 Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners (access date August 21 2011)
  8. ^ a b "1996 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1996. Retrieved 2009-05-04. 
  9. ^ a b c "2002 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2002. Retrieved 2009-05-04. 
  10. ^ "2010 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2010. Retrieved 2011-05-23. 
  11. ^ a b c "2001 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2001. Retrieved 2009-05-05. 
  12. ^ a b c "1988 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1988. Retrieved 2009-05-05. 
  13. ^ "1992 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1992. Retrieved 2009-05-05. 
  14. ^ "1997 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1997. Retrieved 2009-05-05. 
  15. ^ "1998 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1998. Retrieved 2009-05-05. 

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Connie Willis
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Connie Willis
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