Benjamin William Bova (born November 8, 1932) is an American science fiction author and editor.

Biographical timeline

• 28 November 1932 - born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• 1953 - married Rose Cucinotta (divorced 1974)
• 1954 - received Bachelor of Science from Temple University

He became editor of Analog Science Fiction after John W. Campbell's death; after leaving Analog, he went on to edit Omni Magazine.

He was the science advisor for the failed television series The Starlost, leaving in disgust after the airing of the first episode; his novel The Starcrossed was loosely based on his experiences and featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend and colleague Harlan Ellison. He dedicated the novel to "Cordwainer Bird", the pen name Harlan Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project.

Ben Bova is the President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past President of Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America [1] (SFWA).

Bova was a technical writer for Project Vanguard and later for Avco Everett in the 1960s when they did research in lasers and fluid dynamics. It was there that he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz later of the Foresight Institute. Bova is an avid fencer and organized Avco Everett's fencing club. Bova is also an environmentalist of the Ansel Adams variety and met Adams by chance. Bova wants to conserve the Earth but rejects Luddism.

Bova has drawn on these meetings and experiences to create fact and fiction writings rich with references to spaceflight, lasers, artificial hearts, nanotechnology, environmentalism, fencing and martial arts, photography and artists.

Ben Bova is the author of 33 nonfiction books, 64 fiction books, and 12 anthologies.

Books

Science Fiction

• The Star Conquerors (1959)
• The Exiles Trilogy
  • Exiled From Earth (1971)
  • Flight of Exiles (1972)
  • End of Exile (1975)
• THX 1138 (1971) - based on THX 1138
• The Duelling Machine (1971)
• As on a Darkling Plain (1972)
• The Starcrossed (1975)
• Millennium (1976)
• The Multiple Man (1976)
• Colony (1978)
• Kinsman (1979)
• Voyagers (1981)
• The Winds of Altair (1983)
• Empire Builders (1985)
• Privateers (1985)
• Battle Stations (1987)
• The Trikon Deception (1992)
• Death Dream (1994)
• Brothers (1995)
• Twice Seven (1998)
• Power (Coming Soon)
• The Orion series
  • Orion (1984)
  • Vengence of Orion (1988)
  • Orion in the Dying Time (1990)
  • Orion and the Conquerer (1994)
  • Orion Among the Stars (1995)
• The "Grand Tour" novels
  • Mars (1992)
  • Moonrise (1996)
  • Moonwar (1998)
  • Return to Mars (1999)
  • Venus (2000)
  • Jupiter (2001)
  • Saturn (2002)
  • Titan (Coming Soon)
• The Asteroid Wars novels
  • The Precipice (2001)
  • The Rock Rats (2002)
  • The Silent War (2004)
• Tales of the Grand Tour, Tor Books, (January 2004) ISBN 0765307227 (a short story collection spanning the solar system running 384 pages)

Nonfiction

• The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells Writers Digest Books, 1994 ISBN 0898796008 (a guide to writing fiction of any genre)
• Are We Alone in the Cosmos? (1999)
• Faint Echoes, Distant Stars: The Science and Politics of Finding Life Beyond Earth (2004)

See also

• Science fiction:
  • authors
  • novels
  • short stories
  • television shows

External links

• Ben Bova official site, sponsored by author