Bear, Elizabeth 1971-

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Bear, Elizabeth 1971-

PERSONAL:

Born September 22, 1971, in Hartford, CT.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Connecticut. Agent—c/o Jennifer Jackson, Donald Maass Literary Agency, 121 W. 27th St., Ste. 801, New York, NY 10001. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer. Has worked as a stablehand, a reporter, a typesetter, and traffic manager for an import-export business.

AWARDS, HONORS:

John W. Campbell Award for best new writer, 2005.

WRITINGS:

JENNY CASEY TRILOGY

Hammered, Bantam (New York, NY), 2005.

Scardown, Bantam (New York, NY), 2005.

Worldwired, Bantam (New York, NY), 2005.

THE PROMETHEAN AGE CYCLE

Blood and Iron, ROC (New York, NY), 2006.

Whiskey and Water, ROC (New York, NY), 2007.

OTHER

The Chains That You Refuse (short stories), Night Shade Books (Portland, OR), 2006.

Carnival (novel), Bantam Spectra (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor of short fiction to publications, including Interzone, SCIFICTION, Strange Horizons, Lenox Avenue, H.P. Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror, and Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction; contributor of short stories to anthologies, including Shadows Over Baker Street, Del Rey, 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

Speculative fiction writer Elizabeth Bear's first three novels were all published in 2005. Hammered, Scardown, and Worldwired comprise the "Jenny Casey" trilogy, about the adventures of a Canadian warrant officer in the year 2062, who is scarred both physically and mentally from her years as a special forces soldier. Though she tries to put her past behind her, the government recruits her to testdrive an alien spacecraft they have discovered on Mars. In Bear's version of the near future, the world is dominated by Christian fundamentalists, climate change wreaks havoc with the environment, and China and Canada compete on the world stage as superpowers. Writing in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Robert K.J. Killheffer concluded that the novel "establishes Bear as a writer with intriguing potential." In a plot teeming with decay, robotic prosthetics, crime, corruption, and drugs, "Bear's prose is tight and transparent," wrote Rick Kleffel on the online site Agony Column. "She manages to include a number of hoary ideas from the treasure troves of past science fiction writers, but unpacks them in such a way that they seem once again fresh and exciting," he concluded. T.M. Wagner, writing on SF reviews.net, voiced similar approval, stating that Bear's novel "features a cast who, for the most part, evolve into emotionally engaging and sympathetic characters whose personal demons are believable and whose crises allow us to become personally invested." In the trilogy's second novel, Scardown, Casey finds herself handpicked to be the pilot of the starship Montreal; her mission is to find new worlds suitable for colonies, as Earth is rapidly becoming unable to sustain human life; and in the third novel, Worldwired, Casey is stranded aboard the Montreal above Canada after the PanChinese government has driven an asteroid into Toronto, killing millions of people in the process.

Before branching out into novels, Bear published a number of short stories in notable science fiction and speculative fiction journals, some of which were collected in The Chains That You Refuse. With the completion of the "Jenny Casey" trilogy, Bear's novel Blood and Iron launches her "Promethean Age" fantasy series.