James Alan Gardner (born January 10, 1955) is a Canadian science fiction author. Raised in

Simcoe Simcoe may refer to: Geography Canada * Simcoe, Ontario, a town in southwestern Ontario, near Lake Erie, Canada * Simcoe County, a county in central Ontario, Canada * Lake Simcoe, a lake in central Ontario, Canada * Simcoe North, a federal and pro ...

and

Bradford, Ontario Bradford is the primary country urban area of the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury, Ontario, in Canada. It overlooks a farming community, known as The Holland Marsh, located on the Holland River that flows into Lake Simcoe. History The easter ...

, he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in applied mathematics from the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

. Gardner has published science fiction short stories in a range of periodicals, including ''

The Magazine of Fantasy and 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 ...

'' and ''

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances i ...

''. In 1989, his short story "The Children of Creche" was awarded the Grand Prize in the

Writers of the Future Writers of the Future (WOTF) is a science fiction and fantasy story contest that was established by L. Ron Hubbard in the early 1980s. A sister contest, Illustrators of the Future, presents awards for science fiction art. Hubbard characterized th ...

contest. Two years later his story "Muffin Explains Teleology to the World at Large" won a

Prix Aurora Award The Aurora Awards (french: Prix Aurora-Boréal) are a set of primarily literary awards given annually for the best Canadian science fiction or fantasy professional and fan works and achievements from the previous year."Literary glow of Auroras lur ...

; another story, "Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the Human Bloodstream," won an Aurora and was nominated for both the

Nebula A nebula ('cloud' or 'fog' in Latin; pl. nebulae, nebulæ or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regio ...

and

Hugo Awards 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 ...

. He has written a number of novels in a "

League of Peoples {{Short description, Fictional association The League of Peoples is a fictional interstellar polity present in a series of novels by Canadian science fiction author James Alan Gardner. Although theoretically made up of every sentient race in the ga ...

" universe in which murderers are defined as "dangerous non-sentients" and are killed if they try to leave their solar system by aliens who are so advanced that they think of humans like humans think of bacteria. This precludes the possibility of interstellar wars. He has also explored themes of gender in his novels, including ''

Commitment Hour ''Commitment Hour'' is a science fiction novel by Canadian writer James Alan Gardner, published in 1998. The novel is set in Gardner's " League of Peoples's" futuristic universe, and plays out in the small, isolated village of Tober Cove. Set on ...

'' in which people change sex every year, and '' Vigilant'' in which group marriages are traditional. Gardner is also an educator and technical writer. His book ''Learning UNIX'' is used as a textbook in some Canadian universities. He lives in

Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (formerly Waterloo County, Ontario, Waterloo County). Waterloo is situated about west-southwest of Toronto. Due to the c ...

Bibliography

Lara Croft, Tomb Raider series

* No. 3 ''Lara Croft and the Man of Bronze''

League of Peoples universe

* ''

'' (1998) * '' Trapped'' (2002) * Festina Ramos series: # ''

Expendable ''Expendable'' is a science fiction novel by the Canadian author James Alan Gardner, published in 1997 by HarperCollins Publishers under its various imprints.Avon Books; HarperCollins Canada; SFBC/AvoNova. Paperback edition 1997, Eos Books. It i ...

'' (1997) # '' Vigilant'' (1999) # '' Hunted'' (2000) # '' Ascending'' (2001) # '' Radiant'' (2004)

Short story collections

* ''Gravity Wells'' (2005)

The Dark vs. Spark

* ''

All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault ''All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault'' is a 2017 superhero fiction novel by James Alan Gardner. It was first published by Tor Books. Synopsis In 1982, the supernatural creatures of the Dark emerged from hiding, and began selling po ...

'' (2017) * ''They Promised Me the Gun Wasn't Loaded'' (2018)

Non-fiction

* ''Learning UNIX'' (1994) * ''From C to C'' (1995)

External links

James Alan Gardner's homepage

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060518063851/http://www.strangehorizons.com/2002/20020107/james_alan_gardner.shtml Strange Horizons Interview: James Alan Gardner* 1955 births Living people Canadian science fiction writers People from Norfolk County, Ontario University of Waterloo alumni Canadian male short story writers {{sf-writer-stub