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Connie Willis

, Writer

  • Born: 31 December 1945
  • Birthplace: Denver, Colorado
  • Best Known As: Sci-fi author of The Doomsday Book

Author Connie Willis has been winning science fiction awards since the late 1980s, including Hugo Awards for the novels The Doomsday Book (1992) and To Say Nothing of the Dog (1998). Influenced by novels of Victorian England and the science fiction of Robert A. Heinlein, Willis began writing full-time in the early 1980s, starting with short stories published in sci-fi magazines. She won the Hugo and the Nebula in 1983 for the novelette Fire Watch, and since then has been a regular winner of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards. Although her books involve some sci-fi elements (especially time travel), she is more known for psychological dramas that mix farce with fantasy. Her short stories include "Even the Queen' and "Close Encounter"; her novels include the John W. Campbell Memorial Award winner Lincoln's Dreams (1987), the tongue-in-cheek fantasy Bellwether (1996) and the life-after-death drama Passage (2001).

As of 2006 Willis had won 8 Hugos and 6 Nebulas... Willis's short novel Just Like The Ones We Used To Know was made into the 2005 TV movie Snow Wonder (with Mary Tyler Moore).

 
 
Wikipedia: Connie Willis
Connie Willis

Connie Willis at Clarion West, 1998
Born: December 31 1945 (1945--) (age 61)
Denver, Colorado
Occupation: Writer
Nationality: Flag of the United StatesAmerican
Writing period: 1980 - Present
Genres: Science Fiction
Website: ConnieWillis.net

Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis (born 31 December 1945) is an American science fiction writer. She is one of the most honored science fiction writers of the 1980s and 1990s.

She has won, among other awards, nine Hugo Awards and six Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for Inside Job (August 2006). She lives in Greeley, Colorado with her husband Courtney Willis, a professor of physics at the University of Northern Colorado. She also has one daughter, Cordelia.

Willis is known for her accessible prose and likable characters. She has written several pieces involving time travel and a group of historians based at Oxford in the future. These pieces include her Hugo Award-winning novels Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog and the short story "Fire Watch", found in the short story collection of the same name. She is currently working on another book set in this universe, All-Clear.[1]

Writing style

Willis tends to the comedy of manners style of writing, with clear influence from P.G. Wodehouse, to the point where readers might be surprised to find that she is not English. 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). Spineless administrators and crackpots are staples of her novels. In contrast, the protagonists and their allies are strong-willed and well-drawn characters, the better to deal with their tormentors.

Other themes and stylistic devices include:

  • a scientist practicing actual science 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)
  • 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)
  • 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.

Willis is acclaimed as a science-fiction writer, most often exploring the "soft" or social sciences. She subtly and skillfully weaves technology into her stories only 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, by the way, ranges from a land rover and binoculars to Bult's online "chopping" 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. Willis is a master at evoking nostalgia and then wryly poking fun at it. She doesn't shy away from the tough questions: are we sacrificing any of our humanity in adopting and adapting to technological advancement, and if so, can that be termed progress?

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 "Year of the Jackpot".

Willis also writes fantasy, as well, and some of her science fiction may stray near fantasy. For instance, Passage only hints at a foundation in reality for the NDE phenomenon.

Awards

Hugo Awards

Wins

  • Fire Watch : novelette : 1983
  • The Last of the Winnebagos : novella : 1989
  • Doomsday Book : novel : 1993
  • Even the Queen : short story : 1993
  • Death on the Nile : short story : 1994
  • The Soul Selects Her Own Society: Invasion and Repulsion: A Chronological Reinterpretation of Two of Emily Dickinson's Poems: A Wellsian Perspective : short story : 1997
  • To Say Nothing of the Dog : novel : 1999
  • The Winds of Marble Arch : novella : 2000
  • Inside Job : novella : 2006

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
  • Passage : novel : 2002
  • Just Like the Ones We Used to Know : novella : 2004

Nebula Awards

Wins

  • Fire Watch : novelette : 1983
  • A Letter from the Clearys : short story : 1983
  • The Last of the Winnebagos : novella : 1989
  • At the Rialto : novelette : 1990
  • Doomsday Book : novel : 1993
  • Even the Queen : short story : 1993

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
  • Passage : novel : 2002
  • Just Like the Ones We Used to Know : novella : 2005

World Fantasy Awards

Nominations

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

Bibliography

Novels:

Short story collections:

Short Fiction:

  • Samaritan (1978)
  • Capra Corn (1978)
  • Daisy, in the Sun (1979)
  • And Come from Miles Around (1979)
  • The Child Who Cries for the Moon (1981)
  • Distress Call (1981)
  • A Letter from the Clearys (1982)
  • Fire Watch (1982)
  • Service For the Burial of the Dead (1982)
  • Lost and Found (1982)
  • The Father of the Bride (1982)
  • Mail Order Clone (1982)
  • And Also Much Cattle (1982)
  • The Sidon in the Mirror (1983)
  • A Little Moonshine (1983)
  • Blued Moon (1984)
  • Cash Crop (1984)
  • Substitution Trick (1985)
  • The Curse of Kings (1985)
  • All My Darling Daughters (1985)
  • And Who Would Pity a Swan? (1985)
  • With Friends Like These (1985)
  • Chance (1986)
  • Spice Pogrom (1986)
  • The Pony (1986)
  • Winter's Tale (1987)
  • Schwarzchild Radius (1987)
  • Circus Story (1987)
  • Lord of Hosts (1987)
  • Ado (1988)
  • The Last of the Winnebagos (1988)
  • Dilemma (1989)
  • Time Out (1989)
  • At the Rialto (1989)
  • Cibola (1990)
  • Miracle (1991)
  • Jack (1991)
  • In the Late Cretaceous (1991)
  • Much Ado About [Censored] (1991)
  • Even the Queen (1992)
  • Inn (1993)
  • Close Encounter (1993)
  • Death on the Nile (1993)
  • A New Theory Explaining the Unpredictability of Forecasting the Weather (1993)
  • Why the World Didn't End Last Tuesday (1994)
  • Adaptation (1994)
  • Uncharted Territory (1994)
  • Remake (1995)
  • The Soul Selects Her Own Society: Invasion and Repulsion: A Chronological Reinterpretation of Two of Emily Dickinson's Poems: A Wellsian Perspective (1996)
  • In Coppelius's Toyshop (1996)
  • Nonstop to Portales (1996)
  • Bellwether (1996)
  • Newsletter (1997)
  • The Winds of Marble Arch (1999)
  • Epiphany (1999)
  • deck.halls@boughs/holly (2001)
  • Roswell, Vegas, and Area 51: Travels with Courtney (2002)
  • Just Like the Ones We Used to Know (2003)
  • Inside Job (2005)
  • D.A. (2006)

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)

References

External links

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