Writers

David Brin in 2005

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Glen David Brin was born on October 6, 1950 in Glendale, California, USA. David Brin’s career as a science fiction writer began while he was still studying for his doctorate with the publication of his first novel “Sundiver” in 1980. It became the first novel of what has become known as the Uplift novels and introduces a fictional universe full of sentient species where the practice of uplifting of non-sentient species is normal.

Considered a hard science fiction author because technological and scientific themes are crucial in his works, David Brin has also kept pace with real technologies by embracing the Internet. His online presence has become more visible with the emergence of social networks, which he uses to write about science fiction, real technological and scientific research, and even politics.

Norman Spinrad in 2006

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Norman Richard Spinrad was born on September 15, 1940 in New York, USA. Norman Spinrad earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the City College of New York in 1961. Subsequently, he did various jobs living in various cities, also in Europe. He accumulated experience in the media field working for radio programs and, after starting writing, occasionally as a screenwriter writing for example an episode of the original “Star Trek” series.

In the literary field, Norman Spinrad made his debut in 1963, but until 1966 he was only a part-time writer. Even when he went full-time, he wasn’t particularly prolific. Since his first novel, “The Solarians” (1966), one can see his tendency not to go for half measures in the development of themes that can be difficult such as sexuality.
In the course of his career, Norman Spinrad has never won the greatest awards in the field of science fiction, probably also due to the controversies that accompanied his works. He’s undoubtedly an author who develops difficult themes in an extreme way. It’s the reason why he’s at the center of controversy but it’s also his main merit.

H.P. Lovecraft in June 1934 (Photo Lucius B. Truesdell)

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Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born on August 20, 1890 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. H.P. Lovecraft’s work in the literary field started as a poet, manuscript reviewer, and journalist. In 1919 he published the short story “Dagon”, where he started developing the themes that would mark his career. For the occasion, he used a Mesopotamian deity, but in the following years, he started creating his own mythology.

Some works of H.P. Lovecraft were published posthumously, and over time rose to fame. The so-called Cthulhu Mythos, which include the works that include a pantheon of deities and various totally alien creatures, became the most important part of the author’s works. They include elements of science fiction, fantasy and horror, and ended up influencing generations of writers in those genres.

David Duchovny in 2013

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David William Duchovny was born on August 7, 1960 in New York, USA. In 1993, David Duchovny became a big hit when he started playing Special Agent Fox Mulder in the the TV show “The X-Files”. He’s also famous as the protagonist of the TV shows “Californication”, which aired between 2007 and 2014, and “Aquarius”, which aired between 2015 and 2016. Duchovny also worked as executive producer on both shows.

Robert J. Sawyer in 2005

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Robert James Sawyer was born on April 29, 1960 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Robert J. Sawyer earned a Master of Arts degree from Ryerson University in Toronto in 1982, but by then he had already started his career as a science fiction writer with the publication of the short story “If I’m Here, Imagine Where They Sent My Luggage.” in the magazine “The Village Voice: The Weekly Newspaper of New York” in 1981. That activity became really important since the 1990s, when he started publishing novels.

Thanks to his experience, Robert J. Sawyer has also been taught science fiction in various universities. His novels are not long by today’s standards and are written in a linear style, but offer food for thought on technical-scientific progress and on various ethical and moral problems. For these reasons he has many fans and over the years he won several awards.