Mike Resnick
| Mike Resnick | |
|---|---|
Resnick in 2005
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| Born |
Michael Diamond Resnick March 5, 1942 United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Science fiction writer |
| Spouse(s) | Carol L. Cain (m. 1961) |
| Children | Laura |
Michael Diamond Resnick (born March 5, 1942) is an American science fiction writer under the name Mike Resnick. He was executive editor of Jim Baen's Universe.
A native of Chicago, Resnick is a graduate of Highland Park High School (Class of 1959) in Highland Park, Illinois. He attended the University of Chicago from 1959 to 1961 where he met his future wife, Carol L. Cain (November 2, 1942). The couple were married 1961. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Resnick wrote more than 200 "adult" novels under pseudonyms, edited seven tabloid newspapers, and edited a trio of men's magazines. He also produced a weekly column on horse racing for more than a decade, and for eleven years wrote a monthly column on purebred collies, which he and his wife bred and exhibited. His wife is also a writer, and, according to his biography, an uncredited collaborator on much of his science fiction and a co-author on two movie scripts that they've sold, based on his novels Santiago and The Widowmaker. She also created costumes in which she and Mike appeared in five Worldcon masquerades in the 1970s, winning four out of five contests. His daughter Laura Resnick is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author. Resnick's papers, consisting of at least 125 boxes, are in the Special Collections Library of the University of South Florida in Tampa. He was the Guest of Honor at Chicon 7, the 70th World Science Fiction Convention, held in Chicago in 2012.
Two notable trends run through the majority of Resnick's science fiction work. The first is his love of fable and legend. Many of his stories chronicle larger-than-life characters with colorful names like "The Widowmaker", "Lucifer Jones", "The Forever Kid", and "Catastrophe Baker" and the legendary adventures they pursue. Resnick is also interested in the formation of history and legend, and sometimes includes bards as characters. The book The Outpost deals most with these themes, as it includes a story told from multiple perspectives and a bard who openly intends to exaggerate and edit his accounts to make them more interesting. Resnick's books in this vein bear some resemblance to Westerns, but are clearly science fiction. The other main subject of Resnick's work is Africa - especially Kenya's Kikuyu history, and the culture of Kikuyu tribes, colonialism and its aftermath, and traditionalism. He has visited Kenya often, and draws on this experience. Some of his science fiction stories are allegories of Kenyan history and politics. Other stories are actually set in Africa or have African characters.
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