David Brin

File:David Brin2.jpg

A recent picture of David Brin.

Glen David Brin (born October 6 1950) is a well-known American author of science fiction. He is the winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards as well as the Interstella War Award. He lives in Southern California and has been both a NASA consultant and a physics professor.

Biographical timeline

• 6 October 1950 - born in Glendale, California
• 1973 - received Bachelor of Science in astronomy from California Institute of Technology
• 1978 - received Master of Science in applied physics from University of California, San Diego
• 1981 - received Doctor of Philosophy in space science from University of California, San Diego

Work

Fiction

His Uplift series (two trilogies) are well recognised and deal with the concept of a huge galactic civilization responsible for "uplifting" all known intelligent forms of oxygen breathing life. Humanity within the context of these novels represents an anomaly since there is no known "patron" species responsible for their uplift and hence they lack a basic understanding and appreciation of the subtleties of galactic culture.

The Uplift Series

• Sundiver (1980)
• Startide Rising (1983)
• The Uplift War (1987)
• The Uplift Storm Trilogy:
  • Brightness Reef (1995)
  • Infinity's Shore (1996)
  • Heaven's Reach (1998) ISBN 0553574736
• Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe written with Kevin Lenagh

• There is also an Uplift supplement for the roleplaying game GURPS allowing players to play out adventures in the universe detailed in these novels. Although he did not write it, he did contribute information to it.

Other well-known works by David Brin include his book set in Asimov's Foundation Universe:

• Foundation's Triumph (1999)

and his stand alone novels:

• The Practice Effect (1984)
• The Postman (1985) (also a major motion picture with disappointing box-office numbers)
• Heart of the Comet (1986) (with Gregory Benford)
• Earth (1990)
• Glory Season (1993)
• Kiln People (2002)
  • Kiln People (published in the UK as Kil'n People) had the dubious distinction of finishing second in four different awards for best SF/fantasy novel of 2002--the Hugo, the Locus, the John W. Campbell Award, and the Arthur C. Clarke Award--each time finishing behind a different book.
• Forgiveness (2002) (Graphic novel set in the Star Trek universe)
• The Life Eaters (2003) (Graphic novel published by the Wildstorm imprint of DC Comics, art by Scott Hampton)

His short fiction has been collected in:

• The River of Time (1986)
• Otherness (1994)
• Tomorrow Happens (2003)

Brin wrote the storyline for Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future.

Brin also wrote a number of critical articles on Star Wars and George Lucas for the website salon.com here. Brin focused on what he called an "agenda" on the part of Lucas, describing how he believed the basis of the Star Wars universe was profoundly anti-democratic.

Nonfiction

• The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom? (1998) ISBN 0738201448
• Star Wars on Trial : Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Debate the Most Popular Science Fiction Films of All Time (2006)ISBN 193210089X

Several of his novels refer to the fictional Anglic language, a future variety of English.

External links

• David Brin's web site
• David Brin's Blog, Contrary Brin
• Brin's mailing list/discussion group
• David Brin at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Critical Resources :: David Brin