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When you're a professional creative type, as I've mentioned elsewhere, you're constantly being asked to tell (and retell) people all about yourself. You need to have a bio for every convention or library appearance (I've participated in 100s), every book signing (dozens & dozens), every book -- 25 novels, some in multiple editions, plus for short stories: many chapbooks, numerous anthologies. Also, you need them for TV, radio, and podcast appearances and school visits and ... your own website(s).
Here, then, are some wildly incomplete biographies. Left out are many important happenings, positions, considerations,and time periods. In one, no chance to mention owning small-time community monthlies, no time to mention bookstores, only a mention in passing of a job as Curator of a University SF collection, no mention of running professional computer BBS systems, no chance to mention getting by for several months acting as a runner for a professional auto auction association ... jeez, a snapshot from that one -- "You know they burnt a couple stores on the next block last night? You're probably the only white boy in Cherry Hill today!"
Of course that'll be true for anyone's public bio, I guess, the same as anyone's resume -- what gets in is so much cleaner and neater than what really happened.
One recent almost boilerplate joint bio. This one was word limited:
SF convention favorites Sharon Lee and Steve Miller have been writing SF and Fantasy together since the 1980s, with dozens of stories and several dozen novels to their joint credit. Steve was Founding Curator of Science Fiction at the University of Maryland’s SF Research Collection while Sharon is the only person to consecutively hold office as the Executive Director, Vice President, and President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Their newest Liaden Universe® novel, The Gathering Edge, is their twenty-sixth collaborative novel. Their awards include the Skylark, the Prism, & the Hal Clement Award.
One recent almost boilerplate solo Steve bio. This one was character limited:
Steve Miller is a lapsed journalist, publisher, con fan, and librarian who writes SF professionally, often in the bestselling Liaden Universe® shared with Sharon Lee. He survived Clarion West in 1973 as well as the Baltimore in 80 WorldCon bid, is a SFWA life member, an ebook pioneer, and has been going to SF conventions since 1974.
Steve’s first pro sale hit Ted White’s Amazing in1978. Steve and partner Sharon Lee later opened Bookcastle & Dreamsgarth, a genre shop and SF art agency. In 1988 Lee & Miller’s Agent of Change appeared and they moved to Maine.
Steve’s written dozens of novels with Sharon Lee, along with many shorter solo and joint works, garnering numerous awards and invitations as Guests of Honor, Special Guests, and panelists at SF conventions across the U.S. and Canada. Steve and Sharon are in the midst of a multi-book contract for Baen. Their most recent offering is The Gathering Edge, out in May, and their next paperback, Alliance of Equals, is out this month.
Anyhow, I'm working to make sure those bios will change -- Keep on truckin, eh?
Here, then, are some wildly incomplete biographies. Left out are many important happenings, positions, considerations,and time periods. In one, no chance to mention owning small-time community monthlies, no time to mention bookstores, only a mention in passing of a job as Curator of a University SF collection, no mention of running professional computer BBS systems, no chance to mention getting by for several months acting as a runner for a professional auto auction association ... jeez, a snapshot from that one -- "You know they burnt a couple stores on the next block last night? You're probably the only white boy in Cherry Hill today!"
Of course that'll be true for anyone's public bio, I guess, the same as anyone's resume -- what gets in is so much cleaner and neater than what really happened.
One recent almost boilerplate joint bio. This one was word limited:
SF convention favorites Sharon Lee and Steve Miller have been writing SF and Fantasy together since the 1980s, with dozens of stories and several dozen novels to their joint credit. Steve was Founding Curator of Science Fiction at the University of Maryland’s SF Research Collection while Sharon is the only person to consecutively hold office as the Executive Director, Vice President, and President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Their newest Liaden Universe® novel, The Gathering Edge, is their twenty-sixth collaborative novel. Their awards include the Skylark, the Prism, & the Hal Clement Award.
One recent almost boilerplate solo Steve bio. This one was character limited:
Steve Miller is a lapsed journalist, publisher, con fan, and librarian who writes SF professionally, often in the bestselling Liaden Universe® shared with Sharon Lee. He survived Clarion West in 1973 as well as the Baltimore in 80 WorldCon bid, is a SFWA life member, an ebook pioneer, and has been going to SF conventions since 1974.
Steve’s first pro sale hit Ted White’s Amazing in1978. Steve and partner Sharon Lee later opened Bookcastle & Dreamsgarth, a genre shop and SF art agency. In 1988 Lee & Miller’s Agent of Change appeared and they moved to Maine.
Steve’s written dozens of novels with Sharon Lee, along with many shorter solo and joint works, garnering numerous awards and invitations as Guests of Honor, Special Guests, and panelists at SF conventions across the U.S. and Canada. Steve and Sharon are in the midst of a multi-book contract for Baen. Their most recent offering is The Gathering Edge, out in May, and their next paperback, Alliance of Equals, is out this month.
Anyhow, I'm working to make sure those bios will change -- Keep on truckin, eh?
