Greg Bear was born in San Diego, California, on August 20th, 1951, to Wilma M. and Dale F. Bear. His father was in the navy, and by the time he was twelve years old, he had traveled to Japan, the Philippines and Alaska, as well as various parts of the United States. At age 14, he began submitting pieces to magazines and at 15 he sold his first story to Robert Lowndes' Famous Science Fiction. It would be five years before he sold another piece, but by 23 he was selling stories regularly. Bear finished his first novel at 19, but didn't sell it till 13 years later. The first novel he did sell was Hegira. In 1983, Arkham House published his first collection of short fiction, The Wind From a Burning Woman. A second collection, Tangents, was published by Warner Books in August of 1989. In 1983, Bear was nominated for the Nebula Award for his short story, Petra. In 1984, Hardfought and Blood Music won the Nebula Awards for best novella and novelette; Blood Music went on to win the Hugo Award. The novel version of that story, also called Blood Music, won the Prix Apollo in France and was nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1987, Tangents won the Hugo and Nebula awards for best short story. Moving Mars won the 1994 Nebula for best novel. Darwin's Radio was awarded the Nebula in 2001. Both Dinosaur Summer and Darwin's Radio have been awarded the Endeavour for best novel published by a Northwest science fiction author. Bear's novels have been translated into 17 different languages. A short story, Dead Run, was adapted by Alan Brennert for the second Twilight Zone television show. The White Horse Child appeared in 1993 as a CD-ROM multi-media presentation from eBook. Bear also did freelance work, covering the Voyager planetary encounters for the San Diego Union. He's written articles on film for the Los Angeles Times. Between 1979 and 1982 he reviewed books for the San Diego Union Book Review supplement. Opinion pieces have been published in Newsday and other journals and newspapers around the world. Bear frequently lectured at San Diego City Schools, acting as a roving teacher and conducting short classes on ancient history, the history of science, and science fiction/fantasy. Bear co-edited the Forum of the Science Fiction Writers of America for two years with his wife. And for two more years, acted as chairman of the SFWA Grievance Committee, then served as Vice President of SFWA for a year, and President for two years. He served on the National Citizens Advisory Council on Space Policy, a private group consisting of scientists, military specialists, space scientists and engineers, astronauts, and writers. He is also a consultant with the Sigma Group, which has advised Sandia National Laboratories, as well as Microsoft and other software companies. He has consulted for the U.S. Army and the CIA on security matters in the wake of 9/11/2001. And in 2000, Bear lectured at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, on the nature and future of crime and criminal justice. Bear is also an illustrator and his work has appeared on Galaxy, Fantasy and Science Fiction and Vertex, and books both hardcover and paperback. He was a founding member of ASFA, the Association of Science Fiction Artists.
