C. Stuart Hardwick

C. Stuart Hardwick is an American science fiction writer known for stories exploring themes of technological impact, space exploration, and human resilience. His work appears regularly in Analog: Science Fiction & Fact and other magazines and anthologies, has been translated internationally, and has been recognized with numerous notable awards. He's the founder of Got Scifi Group, a small imprint focused on publishing cross-promotional anthologies featuring early-career authors, and is Contest Director for the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award contest.
==Biography==
C. Stuart Hardwick grew up in South Dakota where his love of science and storytelling were inspired by family treasure hunts in the Black Hills, life on a Cold War air base, the Apollo moon landings, and his mother's stories of post-depression, wartime Louisiana. He holds a masters degree in business administration and spent most of his professional life in technology, first as a freelance programmer, later in various roles in consumer and corporate software development, and eventually as a software architect for a major utility.
While at Softdisk Publishing, he worked briefly alongside id Software founder John Carmack.
==Writing Career==
Hardwick had dabbled in writing from a young age, but not until 2010 did he pursue writing seriously after deciding to, "do something about the stories in my head before they die with me." His first attempt at a story won a small contest, but he wasn't satisfied and returned to school, attaining a creative writing certificate from the University of California, Berkeley in 2013. He soon sold a story to the semi-pro magazine Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and won the Writers of the Future contest, later becoming a regular in popular science fiction magazines, particularly Analog Science Fiction and Fact. His stories are known for their optimism and scientific grounding.
In 2024, Hardwick was made Contest Director"," Codex Writer's Forum, Non-Codex Contests contests forum
 for the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award contest hosted by Baen Books and the National Space Society, taking over for William Ledbetter.
===Awards===
C. Stuart Hardwick has been recognized with several writing awards. Before taking the reins of the contest, he reached the finals of the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award eight times, winning three times. In 2018, he won Analog Magazine's AnLab Readers' Award for his novelette, "For All Mankind"."2017 Analog AnLab and Asimov’s Readers’ Awards," Locus Magazine, May 19, 2018. His story "Rainbows for Other Days" won the Writers of the Future contest in 2013.
===Editing and Publishing===
In 2018, Hardwick founded Got Scifi Group to publish a reprint anthology with fellow Writers of the Future winners, many of whom were early-career authors needing books to sell and help defray appearance expenses. A second anthology followed, expanding the contributor pool to include other award winners, an astronaut, and Spider Robinson. This led to Baen Books contracting Hardwick to edit an anthology of science fiction and articles illustrating the need for, and dispelling misconceptions about, the United States Space Force.
==Personal Life==
C. Stuart Hardwick lives in Houston, Texas, with his wife and their rescue dogs. In addition to writing, he relaxes with home improvement projects and has at various times enjoyed acting, piano, scuba diving, woodworking, photography, cycling, and Korean martial arts. Notably, Hardwick estimates that during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020-2021, he bicycled nearly far enough to circle the Earth.
Hardwick is prominent on the question & answer site, Quora where he's been recognized as a Top Writer on a range of science and space exploration-related topics.
Category:Author
Category:American science fiction
Category:American people
Category:Software architecture