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Algis Budrys

Born: 1931 in Königsberg in East Prussia
Died: 2008 in Evanston, Illinois

Pen Name: Frank Mason, Alger Rome, John A. Sentry, William Scarff and Paul Janvier

Connection to Illinois: Algis Budrys lived his final years in Evanston.

Biography: In addition to his writing, Budrys was a critic for Galaxy Science Fiction, a book editor for Playboy, a longtime teacher at the Clarion Writers Workshop and an organizer and judge for the Writers of the Future awards. In addition, he worked as a publicist; in one publicity stunt, he erected a giant pickle on the proposed site of the Chicago Picasso. In addition to numerous Hugo Award and Nebula Award nominations, Budrys won the Science Fiction Research Association's 2007 Pilgrim Award for lifetime contributions to speculative fiction scholarship. In 2009, he was the recipient of one of the first three Solstice Awards presented by the SFWA in recognition of his contributions to the field of science fiction.


Awards:

Primary Literary Genre(s): Science Fiction

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Algis Budrys on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=algis+budrys


Selected Titles

Hard Landing.
ISBN: 9781497653009 OCLC: 932463880

A science fiction adventure told from the point of view of aliens who crash-land on Earth and must assimilate in secret--until their human cover is blown Budrys's final novel opens with the report of a man found electrocuted on suburban train tracks in Shoreview, Illinois. Neville Sealman appeared to be just another commuter, but after his tragic death, no one comes forward to claim his body. And a routine autopsy reveals some disturbing physiological anomalies. Then a spaceship is unearthed in a New Jersey swamp. It's the stuff of tabloids--except it's all true. Years earlier, a starship crash-landed on Earth. Its passengers, human in appearance, were forced to make their separate ways in an alien world. No one knows that these otherworldly visitors have been living among the human race--but now their cover could be blown. Told in the form of an investigation reconstructed through direct and indirect witness testimony, Hard Landing takes the reader into the minds of its four protagonists as they struggle with the far-reaching ramifications of discovery. This is a suspenseful and revelatory novel about the elusive, ever-changing nature of identity.

Michaelmas
ISBN: 9781497652989 OCLC: 932463884

Published less than a decade into the Internet era, this remarkable science fiction novel foreshadows many of the world's technological advances One of the world's wealthiest and most influential men, journalist Laurent Michaelmas lives in a penthouse overlooking New York City's Central Park with his superintelligent computer, Domino. He attained his fame and power after hacking into the worldwide computer network. He then went on to use his unique gifts to create a version of the UN that would ensure global peace. In short, he and Domino secretly run the world. But now he has reason for concern. A Swiss doctor has cured an astronaut believed to have vaporized in a shuttle explosion during an expedition to the outer planets of the solar system. Suspecting that something extraterrestrial is behind this miraculous recovery, Michaelmas uses his immense influence to launch an international investigation. Are there really aliens in their midst? Is the resurrection of a dead man an attempt to cancel history and destroy the world, s precarious balance of power?

  Michaelmas /
ISBN: 0445203161 OCLC: 15192200

Warner, New York : 1986, ©1977.

Rogue moon
ISBN: 9781497653078 OCLC: 932464110

A monstrous apparatus has been found on the surface of the moon. It devours and destroys in ways so incomprehensible to humans that a new language has to be invented to describe it and a new kind of thinking to understand it. So far, the human guinea pigs sent there in hopes of unraveling the murderous maze have all died terrible deaths. The most recent volunteer survived but is now on suicide watch. The ideal candidate won't go insane even as he feels the end approaching. Al Barker has already stared into the face of death; he can handle it again. But he won't merely endure the trauma of dying. Barker will die over and over--even as his human qualities are preserved on Earth. With its cast of fascinating characters--like brilliant scientist Edward Hawks, who is obsessed with rebirth--Rogue Moon is a rare thriller that doesn't just make you sweat. It makes you think.

  Rogue moon.
ISBN: 0899683347 OCLC: 228386063

Buccaneer Books, [Place of publication not identified] : 1993.

Who?
ISBN: 9781497653092 OCLC: 932464109

Written at the height of the Cold War--and the resulting global paranoia--this futuristic novel raises provocative questions about identity, technology, and what makes us human East and West have fused into separate superstates known as the Allied National Government (ANG) and the Soviet International Bloc (SIB). As the Cold War rages, brilliant scientist Lucas Martino works on a top-secret project known only as K-Eighty-eight that could alter the balance of world power. The project goes horribly awry at an Allied research facility near the Soviet border, and Martino is abducted. After several months of tense negotiations, he returns severely injured from the lab explosion, and under pressure from America, undergoes extensive reconstructive surgery. He has a mechanical arm. His polished metal skull--a kind of craniofacial prosthesis--contains few discernable features. Several of his internal organs are artificial. While his fingerprints are identified as belonging to Lucas Martino, they could be the result of transplant. Is he the real Martino? Or a technologically altered imposter sent by America's enemies for the purpose of spying and infiltration? Tasked with uncovering the truth, ANG Security Chief Shawn Rogers makes some shocking discoveries. Narrated in chapters alternating between Rogers and Martino, Who? poses existential questions about the human condition.

 

 

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