Greg Bear (born August 20, 1951) is a science fiction author. His work has covered themes of galactic conflict (Forge of God books), artificial universes (Eon series) and accelerated evolution (Blood Music, Darwin's Radio and Darwin's Children). He is the son-in-law of Poul Anderson.

Bear was born in San Diego, California. From 1968 to 1973 he attended San Diego State University, from which he received an A.B. degree. In 1975, he married Christina M. Nielson, but they divorced in 1981. He remarried in 1983, to Astrid Anderson.

Work

The scale and detailed science of his work makes clear that he should be classified as a hard science fiction author. Still, some question the scientific foundation of his work. One question is whether the bacteria in Blood Music could process enough information to become self-aware . Perhaps singly the bacteria could merely have information processing ability, and they could then develop consciousness when they grouped into colonies.

The Forge of God uses the Gaia theory freely in ways that might be considered questionable by some scientists. Neo-Darwinists such as Richard Dawkins would question the introduction of the Gaia hypothesis itself. More recent works such as the Darwin's Radio/Darwin's Children pair of novels which deal with the impact of a strange disease which appears to drive evolutionary transitions, stick closely to the known facts of molecular biology of viruses and evolution. While some fairly speculative ideas are entertained (it is after all, fiction) they are introduced in such a rigorous and disciplined way within the context of the cutting edge of those disciplines, that Darwin's Radio gained praise in the science journal Nature.

While most of Bear's work is science fiction, two of his early works, The Infinity Concerto and The Serpent Mage are clearly fantasies.

Bibliography

• Psychlone (1979)
• Hegira (1979)
• Beyond Heaven's River (1980)
• The Strength of Stones (1981)
• The Infinity Concerto (1984)
• The 'Eon' series
  • Eon (1985)
  • Eternity (1988)
  • Legacy (1995)
• Blood Music (1985) won the 1984 Nebula award for best novella, and the Hugo award
• Strength of Stones (1986)
• The Serpent Mage (1986)
• The Forge of God series:
  • The Forge of God (1987)
  • Anvil of Stars (1992)
• Sleepside Story (1988)
• The short story: "Tangents" (1986)
• A collection of short stories, Tangents (1989)
• A group of novels featuring a shared history and some common characters:
  • Queen of Angels (1990)
  • Heads (1990)
  • Moving Mars (1993) won the 1994 Nebula award for best novel
  • / (aka Slant) (1997)
• Songs of Earth and Power (1994 - combines The Infinity Concerto and The Serpent Mage)
• Foundation and Chaos (1998)
• Dinosaur Summer (1998)
• Darwin's Radio (1999) won the 2000 Nebula award for best novel
• Vitals (2002)
• Darwin's Children (2003)
• Dead Lines (2004)

External links

• Greg Bear's website http://www.gregbear.com/
• An excerpt from Slant (1997) http://www.goodreads.ca/gregbear/autopoiesis.html