Benjamin Rosenbaum (born August 23, 1969) is an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

, fantasy, and literary fiction writer and computer programmer, whose stories have been finalists for the

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...

, the

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of profe ...

, the

Theodore Sturgeon Award The Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award is an annual literary award presented by the Theodore Sturgeon Literary Trust and the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas to the author of the best short science fiction story ...

, the

BSFA award The BSFA Awards are literary awards presented annually since 1970 by the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) to honour works in the genre of science fiction. Nominees and winners are chosen based on a vote of BSFA members. More recently, m ...

, and the

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy literature, fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year a ...

Career

Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

but raised in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

, Rosenbaum received degrees in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

and religious studies from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

. His past software development positions include designing software for the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

, designing software for the D.C. city government, and being one of the founders of Digital Addiction (which created the online game Sanctum). His first professionally published story appeared in 2001. His work has been published in ''

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher a ...

'', ''

Asimov's Science Fiction ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publication ...

'', '' Harper's'', ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'', and ''McSweeney's Quarterly Concern''. It has also appeared on the websites ''

Strange Horizons ''Strange Horizons'' is an online speculative fiction magazine. It also features speculative poetry and nonfiction in every issue, including reviews, essays, interviews, and roundtables. History and profile It was launched in September 2000, and ...

'' and ''

Infinite Matrix In mathematics, a matrix (plural matrices) is a rectangular array or table of numbers, symbols, or expressions, arranged in rows and columns, which is used to represent a mathematical object or a property of such an object. For example, \begin ...

'', and in various year's best anthologies. ''The Ant King and Other Stories'', a collection of Rosenbaum's short fiction, was published by

Small Beer Press Small Beer Press is a publisher of fantasy and literary fiction, based in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was founded by Gavin Grant and Kelly Link in 2000 and publishes novels, collections, and anthologies. It also publishes the zine ''Lady Churc ...

. His first novel was published by

Piper Verlag Piper Verlag is a German publisher based in Munich, printing both fiction and non-fiction works. It currently prints over 200 new paperback titles per year. Authors published by the company include Andreas von Bülow and Sara Paretsky. It is owne ...

in German under the title ''Die Auflösung'' in May 2018. It will be published in English in May 2021 by

Liz Gorinsky Liz Gorinsky is a publisher and editor of speculative fiction, founder and former publisher of Erewhon Books, a former editor for Tor Books, multiple Hugo Award nominee, and 2017 Hugo Award winner in the category of Best Editor (Long Form). Bi ...

's Erewhon Books as ''The Unraveling''.

Personal life

Rosenbaum formerly lived in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

, with his wife Esther and children Aviva and Noah. He currently lives near Basel, Switzerland.

Selected stories

True Names ''True Names'' is a 1981 science fiction novella by American writer Vernor Vinge, a seminal work of the cyberpunk genre. It is one of the earliest stories to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace, which would later be central to cyb ...

" (2008
(online)
collaboration with

Cory Doctorow Cory Efram Doctorow (; born July 17, 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of ...

, was nominated for a

. *"Anthroptic" (2007
(online)
collaboration with visual artist Ethan Ham *"A Siege of Cranes"(2006
(online)
was nominated for a

. *"Embracing-the-New" (2004
(online)
was nominated for

for Best Short Story. *"Biographical Notes to 'A Discourse on the Nature of Causality, with Air-Planes', by Benjamin Rosenbaum" (2004
(online)
was nominated for the

for Best Novelette. *"Start the Clock" (2004
(online)
was written for the book project ''Exquisite Corpuscle'', where each contributor produced something inspired by the previous contributor's piece (they weren't shown the preceding pieces). It was nominated for a

. *"

The House Beyond Your Sky "The House Beyond Your Sky" is a science fiction short story written in 2006 by American writer Benjamin Rosenbaum. The story is about Matthias, a priest of an extremely ancient and highly advanced race of beings, who inhabit a cold and dying un ...

"(2006
(online)
was nominated for a

BSFA Award The BSFA Awards are literary awards presented annually since 1970 by the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) to honour works in the genre of science fiction. Nominees and winners are chosen based on a vote of BSFA members. More recently, m ...

and a

. He released all seven stories under

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

licenses, in the latter three cases allowing others to modify the work.

References

External links

Benjamin Rosenbaum's Page
the author's official site. Includes his blog, bibliography, and the texts of a number of his stories.

from the October 2005 issue of ''

Locus Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to: Entertainment * Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front * ''Locus'' (magazine), science fiction and fantasy magazine ** ''Locus Award' ...

'' magazine. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenbaum, Benjamin 1969 births American fantasy writers American science fiction writers American short story writers Magic realism writers Postmodern writers Living people Brown University alumni Jewish American writers American male short story writers American male novelists Creative Commons-licensed authors American expatriates in Switzerland 21st-century American Jews