Algis Budrys

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Algis Budrys
Budrys in 1985
Budrys in 1985
BornJanuary 9, 1931
Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany
DiedJune 9, 2008(2008-06-09) (aged 77)
Evanston, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation
Alma materUniversity of Miami
Columbia University
GenreScience fiction
Notable worksThe Falling Torch, Rogue Moon, Who?
RelativesFather Jonas Budrys
Budrys's "Snail's Pace" was the cover story in the October 1953 issue of Dynamic Science Fiction.
Budrys's novelette "Shadow on the Stars" was cover-featured on the November 1954 issue of Fantastic Universe.
Budrys's short story "Cage of a Thousand Wings" was the cover feature in the penultimate issue of Planet Stories in 1955.
Budrys's novelette "The Strangers" was the cover story for the June 1955 issue of If.
Budrys's novelette "Why Should I Stop?" was featured on the cover of the February 1956 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly.
Budrys wrote "Resurrection on Fifth Avenue" for Fantastic under his pseudonym "Gordon Jaulyn".

Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome in collaboration with Jerome Bixby, John A. Sentry, William Scarff, and Paul Janvier. In 1960, he authored Rogue Moon, a novel.[1]

Early life and education

Budrys was born in

consul general of Lithuania
. In 1936, when Budrys was five years old, Jonas was appointed as the consul general in New York City.[2][3]

After the

Soviet Union's occupation of Lithuania, Budrys helped his family run a chicken farm in New Jersey[3] while his father was part of the exiled Lithuanian Diplomatic Service, since the United States continued to recognize the pre-World War II
Lithuanian diplomats.

Budrys was educated at the University of Miami, and later at Columbia University in New York City.

Career

Incorporating his family's experience, Budrys's fiction depicts isolated and damaged people and themes of identity, survival, and legacy. He taught himself English at the age of six by reading

Astounding Science Fiction caused him at the age of 11 to want to become a science fiction writer.[3]
His first published science fiction story was "The High Purpose", which appeared in Astounding in 1952.

In 1952, Budrys worked as editor and manager for such science fiction publishers as Gnome Press and Galaxy Science Fiction. Some of Budrys's science fiction in the 1950s was published under the pen name "John A. Sentry", a reconfigured Anglification of his Lithuanian name. Among his other pseudonyms in the SF magazines of the 1950s and elsewhere, several revived as bylines for vignettes in his magazine Tomorrow Speculative Fiction, is "William Scarff". Budrys also wrote several stories under the names "Ivan Janvier" or "Paul Janvier", and used "Alger Rome" in his collaborations with Jerome Bixby.

Budrys's 1960 novella Rogue Moon was nominated for a

SFWA in recognition of his contributions to the field of science fiction.[4]

Having published about 100 stories and a half-dozen novels, with a wife and children to support, after 1960 Budrys wrote less fiction and worked in publishing, editing, and advertising. He became better known as among science fiction's best critics than as writer,

Writers of the Future
awards.

Budrys also worked as a publicist; in a famous publicity stunt, he erected a giant pickle on the proposed site of the Chicago Picasso during the time the newly arriving sculpture was embroiled in controversy.[6]

Personal life

Budrys was married to Edna Duna; they had four sons.

Death

He last resided in

malignant melanoma on June 9, 2008, at age 77.[7]

Bibliography

Novels

  • False Night (1954)
  • Man of Earth (1956)
  • Who? (1958)
  • The Falling Torch (1959)
  • Rogue Moon (1960)
  • Some Will Not Die (1961) (an expanded and restored version of False Night)
  • The Iron Thorn (1967) (as serialized in If; revised and published in book form as The Amsirs and the Iron Thorn). On a bleak forbidding planet, humans hunt Amsirs – flightless humanoid birds – and vice versa. After one young hunter makes his first kill, he's initiated into the society's secrets. Still, he figures there are secrets the human race has forgotten altogether, and begins to hunt for answers.
  • Michaelmas (1977)
  • Hard Landing (1993)
  • The Death Machine (2001) (originally published as Rogue Moon against Budrys's wishes)

Collections (fiction, essays, and mixed)

  • The Unexpected Dimension (1960)
  • Budrys' Inferno (1963)
  • The Furious Future (1963)
  • Blood and Burning (1978)
  • Benchmarks: Galaxy Bookshelf (1985)
  • Writing to the Point (1994)
  • Outposts: Literatures of Milieux (1996)
  • Entertainment (1997)
  • The Electric Gene Machine (2000)
  • Benchmarks Continued: F&SF "Books" Columns 1975-1982 (2012)
  • Benchmarks Revisited: F&SF "Books" Columns 1983-1986 (2013)
  • Benchmarks Concluded: F&SF "Books" Columns 1987-1993 (2013)

Short stories

  • "The High Purpose" (1952) in
    Astounding Science Fiction
  • "Walk to the World" (1952) in
    Space Science Fiction
    , Nov 1952
  • "The Congruent People" (1953) in Star Science Fiction Stories No. 2 (edited by Frederik Pohl), 1953
  • "Protective Mimicry" in Galaxy Science Fiction, 1953.
  • "Riya's Foundling" (1953) in
    Science Fiction Stories
    , 1953.
  • "The End of Summer" (1954) in
    Astounding Science Fiction; also published in the short story anthology Penguin Science Fiction (edited by Brian Aldiss
    , 1961).
  • "Ironclad" in Galaxy Science Fiction", 1954.
  • "Citadel" (1955) in
    Astounding Science Fiction
    , February 1955.
  • "
    Astounding Science Fiction
    , November 1955.
  • "Calculated Decision" in Science Fiction Quarterly, November 1956.
  • "The War is Over" (1957) first appeared in
    Astounding Science Fiction Feb. 1957. Also published in the short story anthology 13 Great Stories of Science Fiction (edited by Groff Conklin
    , 1960).
  • "The Barbarians" (1958) (as John Sentry) in If, February 1958.
  • "The Stoker and the Stars" (1959) (as John A. Sentry) in
    Astounding Science Fiction
    , February 1959.
  • "The Price" (1960) – first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1960. Also published in the short story anthology The War Book (edited by James Sallis, 1969).
  • "Wall of Crystal, Eye of Night" in Galaxy, December 1961
  • "For Love" (originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1962) – appears in The Seventh Galaxy Reader edited by Frederik Pohl (Doubleday Science Fiction, 1964).
  • " Die, Shadow!" in If, May 1963.
  • "Be Merry" (1966) published in If, December 1966, Vol. 16, No. 12, Issue 109.
  • "The Master of the Hounds" (1966) first published in
    Edgar Award
    nominee.

Audio recording

  • 84.2 Minutes of Algis Budrys (1995), Unifont (Budrys's own company). Released on cassette, this featured Budrys reading his short stories "The Price", "The Distant Sound of Engines", "Never Meet Again", and "Explosions!".

Interviews

  • Taking Your Chances (1990) in
    Leading Edge #20/21[8]

Magazine

  • Tomorrow Speculative Fiction (1993–2000); initially edited by Budrys and published by Pulphouse Publishing, with its second issue it was published and edited by Budrys with assistance from Kandis Elliott under the Unifont rubric. It ceased publication as a paper and ink magazine and became a webzine late in the decade.

Anthologies

  • L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Vol. III (1987)
  • L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Vol. 6 (1990)
  • L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Vol 12 (1996)
  • L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Vol. 16 (2000)
  • L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Vol 19 (2003)

References

  1. ^ Obituary by John Clute in The Independent website
  2. ^ Clute, John (October 23, 2011). "Obituaries Algis Budrys: Science-fiction writer and editor". The Independent. Independent Co. UK. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d Pontin, Mark Williams (November–December 2008). "The Alien Novelist". MIT Technology Review.
  4. ^ Nebula Awards Ceremony 2009. Los Angeles, CA: SFWA. 2009. p. 13.
  5. ^ Pohl, Frederik. (May 12, 2010). "Robert A. Heinlein, Algis Budrys and me". The Way the Future Blogs. Archived from the original on August 15, 2010. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
  6. ^ Zeldes, Leah A. (July 26, 2010). "The Picasso put Chicago in a pickle". Dining Chicago. Chicago's Restaurant & Entertainment Guide, Inc. Archived from the original on November 27, 2011. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
  7. ^ Jensen, Trevor (June 11, 2008). "Tapped human side of science fiction". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on June 12, 2008. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  8. ^ "Stories, Listed by Author". Locus. Archived from the original on February 21, 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2010.
  • Williams, Mark (November–December 2008). "The Alien Novelist". Reviews. Technology Review. Vol. 111, no. 6. pp. 80–84.

External links

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