David Brin

David Brin
Glen David Brin (born October 6, 1950) is an American science fiction author. He has won the Hugo, Locus, Campbell and Nebula Awards. His novel The Postman was adapted into a 1997 feature film starring Kevin Costner.
Early life and education
Brin was born in Glendale, California, in 1950 to Selma and Herb Brin. He graduated from the California Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in astronomy, in 1973. At the University of California, San Diego, he earned a Master of Science in electrical engineering (optics) in 1978 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in astronomy in 1981.
Career
From 1983 to 1986, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the California Space Institute, of the University of California, at the San Diego campus in La Jolla.
In 2010, Brin became a fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. He helped establish the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at UCSD. He serves on the advisory board of NASA's Innovative and Advanced Concepts group and frequently does futurist consulting for corporations and government agencies.
As of 2013, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Museum of Science Fiction.
Personal life
Brin has Polish Jewish ancestry, from the area around Konin. His grandfather was drafted into the Russian army and fought in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905.
As of 2022, Brin was living in San Diego County, California, with his wife and children.
Works
Most of Brin's fiction is categorized as hard science fiction, in that they apply some degree of plausible scientific or technological change as important plot elements. About half of Brin's works are in his Uplift Universe. These have twice won the Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Much of Brin's work outside the Uplift series focuses on technology's effects on human society, a common theme of contemporary North American science fiction.
Bibliography
Fiction
The Uplift stories
The Uplift novels are:
Sundiver (1980),
Startide Rising (1983), . Hugo and Locus SF Awards winner, 1984; Nebula Award winner, 1983
The Uplift War (1987), . Hugo and Locus SF Awards winner, 1988; Nebula Award nominee, 1987
The Uplift Trilogy (sometimes called the Uplift Storm trilogy):
Brightness Reef (1995) . Hugo and Locus SF Awards nominee, 1996
Infinity's Shore (1996),
Heaven's Reach (1998),
Short stories:
"Aficionado" (1998) was first published as "Life in the Extreme" in Popular Science magazine, republished in the 2003 limited-edition collection Tomorrow Happens, and included in Brin's 2012 novel Existence. It is available on Brin's website. "Aficionado" takes place before the novels.
"Temptation" (1999) appeared in Robert Silverberg's anthology Far Horizons: All New Tales from the Greatest Worlds of Science Fiction and is set after the events of Infinity's Shore.
Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe (2002), is co-written by Brin and Kevin Lenagh
High Horizon
Colony High (February 2021)
Castaways of New Mojave (August 2021) – with Jeff Carlson
Other fiction
Stand-alone novels:
The Practice Effect (1984),
The Postman (1985), – Campbell and Locus SF Awards winner, Hugo Award nominee, 1986; Nebula Award nominee, 1985 Originally appeared, in substantially different form, as a three-part novella in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. Filmed by Kevin Costner as a major motion picture.
Heart of the Comet (1986), (with Gregory Benford) – Locus SF Award nominee, 1987
Earth (1990), – Hugo and Locus SF Awards nominee, 1991. Contains many successful predictions of current trends (such as email spam) and technologies.
Glory Season (1993), – Hugo and Locus SF Awards nominee, 1994
Kiln People (2002), – Campbell, Clarke, Hugo, and Locus SF Awards nominee, 2003. Kiln People (published in the UK as Kil'n People) was shortlisted 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.
Existence, Tor Books, (2012),
The Ancient Ones, self-published, (2020),
Graphic novels:
Forgiveness (2002), – set in the Star Trek: The Next Generation universe
The Life Eaters (2003), – published by the Wildstorm imprint of DC Comics, art by Scott Hampton
Tinkerers (2010) – discussion of the causes of the decline of American manufacturing
His short fiction has been collected in:
The River of Time (1986),
Otherness (1994),
Tomorrow Happens (2003)
Insistence of Vision (2016),
Other works by Brin include his addition to Asimov's Foundation Universe:
Foundation's Triumph (1999),
and his addition to Eric Flint's 1632-verse:
"71" in Ring of Fire IV (2016),
Brin designed the game Tribes, published in 1998 by Steve Jackson Games, and wrote the storyline for the 2000 Dreamcast video game Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future.
Nonfiction
Ongoing:
Articles in professional journals, including The Astrophysical Journal and Information Technology and Libraries; as well as popular magazines, such as Omni, Nature, and Popular Science.
Books:
Extraterrestrial Civilization by Thomas Kuiper and Glen David Brin, (1989)
The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom? (1998) —won the Eli M. Oboler Award for intellectual freedom from the American Library Association
Star Wars on Trial: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Debate the Most Popular Science Fiction Films of All Time (2006)
Polemical Judo: Memes for our Political Knife-fight (2019)
Honors and awards
1984 Nebula Award for Best Novel
1984, 1988 Hugo Award for Best Novel
1985 Inkpot Award
1984, 1986, 1988 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
1985 Hugo Award for Best Short Story
Minor planet 5748 Davebrin, discovered by Eleanor Helin in 1991, is named in his honor.
References
External links
David Brin's blog, Contrary Brin
Interviews
Critical Resources :: David Brin
Interview with David Brin at SFFWorld.com(2002-07-19)
Interview with David Brin at Actusf.com
All of David Brin's audio interviews on the podcast The Future And You, in which he describes his expectations of the future
Metareview, Kiln/Kil'n People
Video of conversation between David Brin and James Pinkerton on Bloggingheads.tv
Alliance for Progress Encyclopedia, encyclopedia of David Brin's Uplift Universe
1950 births
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American novelists
American futurologists
American graphic novelists
American male novelists
American male short story writers
American science fiction writers
American short story writers
American transhumanists
Analog Science Fiction and Fact people
California Institute of Technology alumni
Hugo Award-winning writers
Jewish American writers
Jewish novelists
Living people
Nebula Award winners
University of California, San Diego alumni
Writers from Glendale, California
Inkpot Award winners