# Greg Bear

Gregory Dale Bear (August 20, 1951 – November 19, 2022) was an American science fiction writer. His work covered themes of galactic conflict (Forge of God books), parallel universes (The Way series), consciousness and cultural practices (Queen of Angels), and accelerated evolution (Blood Music, Darwin's Radio, and Darwin's Children). His last work was the 2021 novel The Unfinished Land. Greg Bear wrote over 50 books in total.
He was one of the five co-founders of San Diego Comic-Con.

## Early life

Greg Bear was born in San Diego, California. He attended San Diego State University (1968–1973), where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. At the university, he was a teaching assistant to Elizabeth Chater in her course on science fiction writing, and in later years her friend.

## Career

Bear is often classified as a hard science fiction author because of the level of scientific detail in his work. Early in his career, he also published work as an artist, including illustrations for an early version of the reference book Star Trek Concordance and covers for periodicals Galaxy and F&SF. He sold his first story, "Destroyers", to Famous Science Fiction in 1967.
In his fiction, Bear often addresses major questions in contemporary science and culture and proposes solutions. For example, The Forge of God offers an explanation for the Fermi paradox, supposing that the galaxy is filled with potentially predatory intelligences and that young civilizations that survive are those that do not attract their attention but stay quiet. In Queen of Angels, Bear examines crime, guilt, and punishment in society. He frames these questions around an examination of consciousness and awareness, including the emergent self-awareness of highly advanced computers in communication with humans. In Darwin's Radio and Darwin's Children, he addresses the problem of overpopulation with a mutation in the human genome making, basically, a new series of humans. The question of cultural acceptance of something new and unavoidable is also indicated.
One of Bear's favorite themes is reality as a function of observation. In Blood Music, reality becomes unstable as the number of observers (trillions of intelligent single-cell organisms) spirals higher and higher. Anvil of Stars (sequel to The Forge of God) and Moving Mars postulate a physics based on information exchange between particles, capable of being altered at the "bit level." In Moving Mars, that knowledge is used to remove Mars from the Solar System and transfer it to an orbit around a distant star.
Blood Music was first published as a short story (1983) and then expanded to a novel (1985) features nanotechnology. In later works, beginning with Queen of Angels and continuing with its sequel, Slant, Bear gives a detailed description of a near-future nanotechnological society. This historical sequence continues with Heads—which may contain the first description of a so-called "quantum logic computer"—and with Moving Mars. The sequence also charts the historical development of self-awareness in artificial intelligence. Its continuing character Jill was inspired in part by Robert A. Heinlein's self-aware computer Mycroft HOLMES in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966).
Bear, Gregory Benford, and David Brin wrote a trilogy of prequel novels to Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy. Bear wrote the middle book named Foundation and Chaos.
While most of Bear's work is science fiction, he has written in other fiction genres. Examples include Songs of Earth and Power (fantasy) and Psychlone (horror). Bear has described his Dead Lines, which straddles the line between science fiction and fantasy, as a "high-tech ghost story". He has received many accolades, including five Nebula Awards and two Hugo Awards.
Bear cited Ray Bradbury as the most influential writer in his life. He met Bradbury in 1967 and had a lifelong correspondence. As a teenager, Bear attended Bradbury lectures and events in Southern California.
He also served on the Board of Advisors for the Museum of Science Fiction. Bear was also one of the five co-founders of San Diego Comic-Con.

## Personal life and death

In 1975, Bear married Christina M. Nielson; they divorced in 1981. In 1983, he married Astrid Anderson, the daughter of the science fiction and fantasy authors Poul and Karen Anderson. They had two children, Chloe and Alexandra, and resided near Seattle, Washington.
Bear died on November 19, 2022, at the age of 71, from multiple strokes, caused by clots that had been hiding in a false lumen of the anterior artery to the brain since a surgery in 2014. After he had been on life support for two days and was not expected to recover, per his advance healthcare directive, life support was withdrawn.

## Awards and accolades

| Work | Year & Award | Category | Result |
| The Venging | 1976 Locus Award | Novelette | Nominated |
| Schrödinger's Plague | 1982 Analog Award | Short Story | 4th Place |
| Petra | 1983 Locus Award | Short Story | Nominated |
| Petra | 1983 World Fantasy Award | Short Fiction | Nominated |
| Petra | 1983 Nebula Award | Short Story | Nominated |
| Petra | 1983 SF Chronicle Award | Short Story | Won |
| Blood Music | 1984 Locus Award | Novelette | Nominated |
| Blood Music | 1984 Hugo Award | Novelette | Won |
| Blood Music | 1984 Nebula Award | Novelette | Won |
| Blood Music | 1986 Locus Award | SF Novel | Nominated |
| Blood Music | 1986 Hugo Award | Novel | Nominated |
| Blood Music | 1986 John W. Campbell Memorial Award | Science Fiction Novel | Nominated |
| Blood Music | 1986 Prix Apollo Award | - | Won |
| Blood Music | 1986 BSFA Award | Novel | Nominated |
| Blood Music | 1986 Nebula Award | Novel | Nominated |
| Blood Music | 1988 Tähtivaeltaja Award | - | Won |
| Tangents | 1987 Locus Award | Short Story | Nominated |
| Tangents | 1987 Hugo Award | Short Story | Won |
| Tangents | 1987 Nebula Award | Short Story | Won |
| Tangents | 1987 SF Chronicle Award | Short Story | Nominated |
| Tangents | 1990 Locus Award | Collection | Nominated |
| Tangents | 1994 Seiun Award | Best Translated Short Story | Won |
| Tangents | 1998 Kurd Laßwitz Award | Foreign Work | Nominated |
| Hardfought | 1984 Locus Award | Novella | Nominated |
| Hardfought | 1984 Hugo Award | Novella | Nominated |
| Hardfought | 1984 SF Chronicle Award | Novella | Nominated |
| Hardfought | 1984 Nebula Award | Novella | Won |
| Eon | 1986 Locus | SF Novel | Nominated |
| Eon | 1987 Arthur C. Clarke Award | - | Finalist |
| The Infinity Concerto | 1985 Locus Award | Fantasy Novel | Nominated |
| The Wind from a Burning Woman | 1983 Locus Award | Collection | Nominated |
| The Serpent Mage | 1987 Locus Award | Fantasy Novel | Nominated |
| The Forge of God | 1988 Locus Award | SF Novel | Nominated |
| The Forge of God | 1988 Hugo Award | Novel | Nominated |
| The Forge of God | 1988 Nebula Award | Novel | Nominated |
| Eternity | 1989 Locus Award | SF Novel | Nominated |
| Sisters | 1990 Locus Award | Novelette | Nominated |
| Sisters | 1990 Nebula Award | Novelette | Nominated |
| Sleepside Story | 1990 Locus Award | Novelette | Nominated |
| Heads | 1991 Interzone Readers Poll | Fiction | 4th Place |
| Heads | 1991 Locus Award | Novella | Nominated |
| Heads | 1996 Hayakawa's S-F Magazine Reader's Award | Foreign Short Story | Won |
| Heads | 1996 Kurd Laßwitz Award | Foreign Work | Nominated |
| Heads | 1997 Seiun Award | Translated Short Story | Won |
| Queen of Angels | 1991 Locus Award | SF Novel | Nominated |
| Queen of Angels | 1991 John W. Campbell Memorial Award | Science Fiction Novel | Nominated |
| Queen of Angels | 1991 Hugo Award | Novel | Nominated |
| Bear's Fantasies | 1993 World Fantasy Award]] | Collection | Nominated |
| Anvil of Stars | 1993 Locus Award | SF Novel | Nominated |
| Moving Mars | 1994 Locus Award | SF Novel | Nominated |
| Moving Mars | 1994 Hugo Award | Novel | Nominated |
| Moving Mars | 1994 John W. Campbell Memorial Award | Science Fiction Novel | Nominated |
| Moving Mars | 1994 SF Chronicle Award | Novel | Won |
| Moving Mars | 1995 Nebula Award | Novel | Won |
| Moving Mars | 1996 Premio Ignotus | Foreign Novel | Won |
| Moving Mars | 1998 Seiun Award | Translated Long Work | Nominated |
| Judgement Engine | 1996 Locus Award | Novelette | Nominated |
| Legacy | 1996 Locus Award | SF Novel | Nominated |
| Legacy | 1998 Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire | Foreign Novel | Nominated |
| New Legends | 1996 Locus Award | Anthology | Nominated |
| Strength of Stones | 1997 Kurd Laßwitz Award | Foreign Work | Nominated |
| Slant (/) | 1998 Locus Award | SF Novel | Nominated |
| Slant (/) | 1998 John W. Campbell Memorial Award | Science Fiction Novel | Nominated |
| Slant (/) | 1999 SF Site Readers Poll | SF/Fantasy Book | 5th Place |
| Slant (/) | 2000 Prix Ozone | Foreign SF Novel | Won |
| Slant (/) | 2002 Kurd Laßwitz Award | Foreign Work | Nominated |
| Dinosaur Summer | 1998 Sidewise Award for Alternate History | Long Form | Nominated |
| Dinosaur Summer | 1999 Locus Award | SF Novel | Nominated |
| Dinosaur Summer | 1999 Endeavour Award | - | Won |
| Darwin's Radio | 2000 Endeavour Award | Novel or Collection | Won |
| Darwin's Radio | 2000 John W. Campbell Memorial Award | Science Fiction Novel | Nominated |
| Darwin's Radio | 2000 Locus Award | SF Novel | Nominated |
| Darwin's Radio | 2000 Hugo Award | Novel | Nominated |
| Darwin's Radio | 2001 Seiun Award | Translated Long Work | Nominated |
| Darwin's Radio | 2001 Nebula Award | Novel | Won |
| Darwin's Radio | 2002 Premio Ignotus | Foreign Novel | Nominated |
| The Way of All Ghosts | 2000 Locus Award | Novella | Nominated |
| The Collected Stories of Greg Bear | 2003 Locus Award | Collection | Nominated |
| Vitals | 2003 Locus Award | SF Novel | Nominated |
| Vitals | 2003 John W. Campbell Memorial Award | Science Fiction Novel | Finalist |
| Darwin's Children | 2004 John W. Campbell Memorial Award | Science Fiction Novel | Finalist |
| Darwin's Children | 2004 Audie Awards | Science Fiction | Nominated |
| Darwin's Children | 2004 Locus Award | SF Novel | Nominated |
| Darwin's Children | 2004 Arthur C. Clarke Award | - | Finalist |
| Darwin's Children | 2005 Kurd Laßwitz Award | Foreign Work | Nominated |
| Dead Lines | 2005 Locus Award | Fantasy Novel | Nominated |
| Quantico | 2006 Endeavour Award | - | Nominated |
| City at the End of Time | 2008 Neffy Awards | Laureate Awards: SF/F Author | Won |
| City at the End of Time | 2009 Locus Award | SF Novel | Nominated |
| City at the End of Time | 2009 John W. Campbell Memorial Award | Science Fiction Novel | Finalist |
| Hull Zero Three | 2011 Locus Award | SF Novel | Nominated |
| Hull Zero Three | 2011 John W. Campbell Memorial Award | Science Fiction Novel | Finalist |
| Hull Zero Three | 2012 Arthur C. Clarke Award | - | Nominated |
| Hull Zero Three | 2012 Kurd Laßwitz Award | Foreign Work | Nominated |
| War Dogs | 2015 Locus Award | SF Novel | Nominated |
| The Machine Starts | 2016 Locus Award | Novelette | Nominated |
| Take Back the Sky | 2017 Locus Award | SF Novel | Nominated |
In addition, Bear is also a singular award winner of the 1984 Inkpot Award, the 2006 Robert A. Heinlein Award, the 2017 "Forry Award" for lifetime achievement & the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association's 2022 Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award.
Doris Lessing, winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in literature, wrote, "I also admire the classic sort of science fiction, like Blood Music, by Greg Bear. He's a great writer." The 2024 novel Halo: Epitaph, a continuation of Bear's Forerunner Saga, was dedicated to Bear's memory by author Kelly Gay.