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Mike Resnick

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For the philosopher of mathematics, see Michael Resnik.

Mike Resnick
Resnick in 2005
Born
Michael Diamond Resnick

(1942-03-05)March 5, 1942
United States
DiedJanuary 9, 2020(2020-01-09) (aged 77)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationScience fiction writer
SpouseCarol L. Cain (m. 1961)
ChildrenLaura

Michael Diamond Resnick (/ˈrɛznɪk/; March 5, 1942 – January 9, 2020) was an American science fiction writer under the name Mike Resnick. He won five Hugo awards and was executive editor of Jim Baen's Universe.[1]

Biography

Resnick was born in Chicago and was a graduate of Highland Park High School (Class of 1959)[2][3] in Highland Park, Illinois.[4] He attended the University of Chicago from 1959 to 1961 and met his future wife, Carol L. Cain there.[5] The couple were married in 1961.[1] In the 1960s and early 1970s, Resnick wrote over 200 "adult" novels under various pseudonyms[6] and edited three men's magazines and seven tabloid newspapers.[1] For over a decade he wrote a weekly column about horse racing and a monthly column about purebred collies, which he and his wife bred and showed.[1] His wife is also a writer, and, according to his biography, an uncredited collaborator on much of his science fiction and a co-author on two movie scripts they sold, based on his novels Santiago and The Widowmaker.[7] She also created costumes in which she and Mike appeared in five Worldcon masquerades in the 1970s, winning four out of five contests.[7][8] His daughter Laura Resnick is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author.

Resnick's papers are in the Special Collections Library of the University of South Florida in Tampa.[1] In 2012 he was the Guest of Honor at the 70th World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago.[1]

Work and themes

Two notable trends run through the majority of Resnick's science fiction work. The first is his love of fable and legend. Many of his stories chronicle larger-than-life characters with colorful names like "The Widowmaker", "Lucifer Jones", "The Forever Kid", and "Catastrophe Baker" and the legendary adventures they pursue. Resnick was also interested in the formation of history and legend, and sometimes included bards as characters. The book The Outpost deals most with these themes, as it includes a story told from multiple perspectives and a bard who openly intends to exaggerate and edit his accounts to make them more interesting. Resnick's books in this vein bear some resemblance to Westerns, but are clearly science fiction. The other main subject of Resnick's work is Africa–especially Kenya's Kikuyu history, and the culture of Kikuyu tribes, colonialism and its aftermath, and traditionalism. He visited Kenya often, and drew on this experience. Some of his science fiction stories are allegories of Kenyan history and politics. Other stories are actually set in Africa or have African characters.

Resnick's style is known for the inclusion of humor; he probably sold more humorous stories than any science fiction author except Robert Sheckley, and even his most grim and serious stories have frequent unexpected bursts of humor in them. Resnick enjoyed collaborating, especially on short stories. Through 2014 he had collaborated with 52 different writers on short fiction, three on screenplays, and three on novels. He had recently begun writing and selling a series of mystery novels as well, featuring detective Eli Paxton.

He was also a long-time participant in science fiction fandom. Resnick had been the Guest of Honor at some 42 science fiction conventions, and Toastmaster at a dozen others. Since 1988 Resnick had edited over 40 anthologies. He had also sold screenplays based on his novels to Miramax, Capella and Jupiter 9, and often had multiple properties under option to Hollywood studios.

His work has been translated into French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Hebrew, Russian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Czech, Dutch, Latin, Swedish, Romanian, Finnish, Portuguese, Slovakian, Chinese, Catalan, Danish, and Croatian.

He was also the series editor for The Stellar Guild series published by Phoenix Pick. The series attempts to provide greater visibility to lesser known science fiction and fantasy authors by pairing them up with best-selling veterans of the genre. Beginning in 2013, he was the editor of the bi-monthly magazine, Galaxy's Edge, published by Arc Manor, which runs reprints by major names in the field along with new stories by new and lesser-known writers.

Resnick was a regular contributor to the SFWA Bulletin published by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. In 2013, articles he wrote for the Bulletin with Barry N. Malzberg triggered a controversy about sexism among members of the association. Female authors strongly objected to comments by Resnick and Malzberg such as references to "lady editors" and "lady writers" who were "beauty pageant beautiful" or a "knock out". In the next issue, Malzberg described their critics as "liberal fascists".[9] The Bulletin editor Jean Rabe resigned her post in the course of the controversy, and the magazine was relaunched under new management.[10]

Selected awards and nominations

Resnick had five Hugo Awards[11] (from a record 37 nominations) and had won numerous other awards from places as diverse as France, Japan, Spain, Croatia, and Poland. He was first on the Locus list of all-time award winners, living or dead, for short fiction, and 4th on the Locus list of science fiction's all-time top award winners in all fiction categories.[11]

Selected awards

His 1995 Hugo Award-winning novella "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge" also won the S.F. Chronicle Poll Award for the same, the corresponding 1994 Nebula Award for Best Novella and the 1995 HOMer Award for Best Novella.[12] Between 1991 and 2001, he won a further nine HOMer Awards (bringing his total to 10, from 24 nominations), placing him at the head of HOMer Award winners, ahead of Robert J. Sawyer on nine wins and just 12 nominations.[12]

His 1998 and 2005 Hugo Award-winning stories - "The 43 Antarean Dynasties" and "Travels with My Cats" also garnered him Asimov's Readers Poll Awards, of which he won a total of five (from 20 nominations), placing him joint-second with poet Bruce Boston behind artist Bob Eggleton.[13] He won a total of six (including that mentioned above) S.F. Chronicle Poll Awards,[14] one Locus Award (from 30 nominations, winning in 1996 with "When the Old Gods Die"),[15] a Golden Pagoda Award, two American Dog Writers Awards and an Alexander Award. His 37 Hugo nominations through 2015 are the all-time record for a writer.

In 1995, he was awarded the Skylark (or "Edward E. Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction") for Lifetime Achievement in Science Fiction.[16]

International awards

"Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge" also won awards in Spain (Ignotus Award), France (Prix Ozone Award) and Croatia (Futura Poll), contributing to a total of three Ignotus Awards and two Prix Ozone Awards. He was awarded the Spanish El Melocoton Mecanico Award for "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and the Xatafi-Cyberdark Award for "For I Have Touched the Sky", in addition to a Tour Eiffel Award in France for The Dark Lady.

In Japan, he won the Seiun-sho Award for Kirinyaga: A Fable of Utopia, and the Hayakawa Award for "For I Have Touched the Sky". In Poland, "Kirinyaga" won the Nowa Fantastyka Poll Award, while "For I Have Touched the Sky" won the Sfinks Award. (Resnick won another Sfinks Award for "When the Old Gods Die".) He won Catalonia's Ictineus Award in 2012 for Best Translated Story for "Soulmates", a collaboration with Lezli Robyn, then won it again in 2015 for another collaboration with Lezli Robyn, "Benchwarmer".

In China Resnick won the Galaxy Award in 2016 for Best Novel with "Kirinyaga: A Fable of Utopia". He won China's 2017 Galaxy Award as Most Popular Foreign Author.

Complete list of Hugo nominations

Main articles: Hugo Award and Hugo Award for Best Short Story
See also: Hugo Award for Best Novella, Hugo Award for Best Novelette, Hugo Award for Best Related Book, and Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor

Resnick was nominated for 37 Hugo Awards—a record for writers—and won five times. Except for 1999 and 2003, he had received at least one nomination every year from 1989 through 2012; then, after dropping off the ballot for 2 years, he was nominated again in 2015. A complete list of his nominations (and wins) is:

  • 1989: "Kirinyaga" (winner)
  • 1990: "For I Have Touched the Sky"
  • 1991: "The Manamouki" (winner) & "Bully!"
  • 1992: "Winter Solstice" & "One Perfect Morning, With Jackals"
  • 1993: "The Lotus and the Spear"
  • 1994: "Mwalimu in the Squared Circle" & Best Editor
  • 1995: "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge" (winner) & "Barnaby in Exile" & "A Little Knowledge" & Best Editor
  • 1996: "When the Old Gods Die" & "Bibi" (with Susan Shwartz)
  • 1997: "The Land of Nod"
  • 1998: "The 43 Antarean Dynasties" (winner)
  • 2000: "Hothouse Flowers" & "Hunting the Snark"
  • 2001: "The Elephants on Neptune" & "Redchapel" & Putting It Together
  • 2002: "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" & I Have This Nifty Idea...
  • 2004: "Robots Don't Cry"
  • 2005: "Travels with My Cats" (winner) & "A Princess of Earth"
  • 2006: "Down Memory Lane"
  • 2007: "All the Things You Are" & Worldcon Guest of Honor Speeches
  • 2008: "Distant Replay"
  • 2009: "Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders" & "Article of Faith"
  • 2010: "The Bride of Frankenstein"
  • 2011: The Business of Science Fiction (with Barry N. Malzberg)
  • 2012: "The Homecoming"
  • 2015: Best Editor—Short Form

Bibliography

Main article: List of works by Mike Resnick

Fiona Kelleghan has written an extensive bibliography, Mike Resnick: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide to His Work (Farthest Star, 2000). Adrienne Gormley completed a massive 679-page second edition, which was published in autumn 2012.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Davidson, Steve (April 28, 2013). "Mike Resnick". amazingstories.com. Retrieved January 9, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ "Highland Park High School (IL), Class of 1959 (Official Website)". Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  3. ^ Henkle, Doug. "Highland Park High School (IL), Class of 1959". Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  4. ^ Wilson, James J.J. (August 31, 2012). "Sci-fi group honors Highland Park High alum". Highland Park News. Archived from the original on January 5, 2013. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
  5. ^ "Resnick, Michael D(iamond) 1942-". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved November 3, 2011.
  6. ^ "How I Single-Handedly Destroyed the Sex Book Field for Five Years and Never Even Got a Thank-You Note from the Legion of Decency".
  7. ^ a b Resnick, Mike. "Biography". Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. Retrieved September 23, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) Archived.
  8. ^ Resnick, Mike. "Me and the Slime God". Archived from the original on October 10, 2008. Retrieved September 23, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) Archived
  9. ^ "SFWA Bulletin Issue 202 Talk Radio Redux By Mike Resnick And Barry N Malzberg". Retrieved July 25, 2014.
  10. ^ Anders, Charlie Jane (June 6, 2013). "The editor of SFWA's bulletin resigns over sexist articles". io9. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  11. ^ a b "Mike Resnick bibliography". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved January 28, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ a b "The Locus Index to SF Awards: HOMer nominees". Retrieved January 28, 2008.
  13. ^ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: Asimov's Readers Poll nominees". Archived from the original on March 12, 2008. Retrieved January 28, 2008.
  14. ^ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: S.F. Chronicle Readers Poll nominees". Archived from the original on March 12, 2008. Retrieved January 28, 2008.
  15. ^ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: Locus Readers Poll nominees". Archived from the original on April 19, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2008.
  16. ^ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: Skylark Winners". Archived from the original on March 12, 2008. Retrieved January 28, 2008.
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