First write a gripping yarn

“My first duty to write a gripping yarn. Second is to convey credible characters who make you feel what they feel. Only third comes the idea.” – David Brin

David Brin, born this day in California, is an American astro-physicist who turned his talents to writing and became an award-winning author of science fiction. He has received the Hugo, Locus, Campbell and Nebula Awards – basically a “clean sweep” of all the top awards in his genre.

His Campbell Award winning novel The Postman was adapted as a 1997 feature film that starred Kevin Costner.  His nonfiction book The Transparent Society won both the Freedom of Speech Award (from the American Library Association) and the McGannon Communication Award.   Many of Brin's works focus on the impact on human society of technology humankind develops for itself, most noticeably in his novels The Practice Effect, Glory Season and Kiln People. 

 

 David Brin

Also noted for his writings on ethics, Brin is a 2010 fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.  He helped establish the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination (UCSD) and serves on the advisory board of NASA’s Innovative and Advanced Concepts group.

And, he's glad he's a scientist first.  “There's no doubt that scientific training helps many authors to write better science fiction," he said.   "And yet, several of the very best were English majors who could not parse a differential equation to save their lives.” 

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