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
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
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
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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