Alec Nevala-Lee
Born (1980-05-31) May 31, 1980
Castro Valley, California, U.S.
OccupationWriter
NationalityAmerican
GenreScience fiction, Biography, Thriller
Website
www.nevalalee.com

Alec Nevala-Lee (born May 31, 1980) is an American biographer, novelist, and science fiction writer. He was a Hugo and Locus Award finalist[1][2] for the group biography Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction. His most recent book is Inventor of the Future, a biography of the architectural designer and futurist Buckminster Fuller,[3] which was selected by Esquire as one of the fifty best biographies of all time.[4] He is currently at work on a biography of the physicist Luis W. Alvarez.[5]

Biography

Nevala-Lee was born in Castro Valley, California on May 31, 1980[6][7] and graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in Classics.[8] He is half Chinese, half Finnish and partly Estonian,[9] and he identifies as bisexual.[10] He and his wife Wailin Wong, a reporter and co-host for The Indicator on NPR,[11] live in Oak Park, Illinois with their daughter.[12][13] His novels include The Icon Thief, City of Exiles, and Eternal Empire, all published by Penguin Books,[14] and his short fiction has appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Lightspeed Magazine,[15] and two editions of The Year’s Best Science Fiction.[16] He has written for such publications as the New York Times,[17][18] Slate,[19] The Atlantic online,[20] the Los Angeles Times, Salon, The Daily Beast, Longreads, The Rumpus, Public Books, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian,[21] and he serves as a consultant to the Buckminster Fuller Institute[22] and on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts.[23]

His nonfiction book Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction was released by Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, on October 23, 2018.[24] In the course of researching Astounding, Nevala-Lee discovered a previously unknown draft of John W. Campbell's novella "Who Goes There?", the basis for the movie The Thing.[25] The manuscript, Frozen Hell, is currently being developed as a feature film by Blumhouse Productions.[26] Frozen Hell was published in 2019 by Wildside Press with introductory material by Nevala-Lee and Robert Silverberg.[27][28] Astounding also served as a resource for the Washington Post podcast series Moonrise, which was produced by the reporter Lillian Cunningham.[29] Syndromes, an audio original collection of thirteen of Nevala-Lee's stories from Analog read by Jonathan Todd Ross and Catherine Ho, was released in 2020 by Recorded Books.[30] His biography Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller was published by Dey Street Books / HarperCollins on August 2, 2022.[31]

Influence

Analog editor Trevor Quachri partially credited the critical picture of John W. Campbell in Nevala-Lee's book with the decision to rename the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, which became the Astounding Award in August 2019. “Reading an early draft of Alec’s book is when I realized that the name change would need to happen eventually,” Quachri told The New York Times,[32] and Nevala-Lee stated that he supported the change: “It was clearly the right call. At this point, the contrast between Campbell’s racism and the diversity of the writers who have recently received the award was really just too glaring to ignore.”[32] In her acceptance speech for the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Related Work, writer Jeannette Ng, whose speech criticizing Campbell the previous year was widely seen as catalyzing the name change, thanked Nevala-Lee, "who wrote the book and brought the receipts."[33]

Writing in The New Republic, the critic Rebecca Onion noted a common theme in Nevala-Lee's choice of subjects: "Nevala-Lee is something of an expert in a very specific type: twentieth-century men, working on the fringes of stem careers, who channeled the technological optimism of the years between World War I and the 1970s into careers as media icons."[34] Nevala-Lee's work has been cited by multiple publications, including The Atlantic,[35] for its treatment of the author Isaac Asimov's conduct toward women and its impact on the science fiction community.[36] While researching Astounding, Nevala-Lee also uncovered an unpublished manuscript, "A Criticism of Dianetics," co-authored by L. Ron Hubbard in 1949, which the noted Scientology critic Tony Ortega has described as "a stunning document."[37] In June 2022, Nevala-Lee published an investigative article in Slate, "False Flag," that debunked the myth—which had been cited as fact in numerous sources, including Wikipedia—that an Ohio teenager named Robert G. Heft had designed the 50-star flag of the United States.[38]

Work

Nevala-Lee's debut novel, The Icon Thief, a conspiracy thriller inspired by the work of artist Marcel Duchamp,[39] received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.[40] A sequel, City of Exiles, is partially based on the Dyatlov Pass incident,[41] while the concluding novel in the trilogy, Eternal Empire, incorporates elements from the myth of Shambhala.[42] On the science fiction side, Locus critic Rich Horton has identified a tendency in Nevala-Lee's work "to present a situation which suggests a fantastical or science-fictional premise, and then to turn the idea on its head, not so much by debunking the central premise, or explaining it away in mundane terms, but by giving it a different, perhaps more scientifically rigorous, science-fictional explanation.”[43] Analog has characterized him as an author of "tale[s] set in an atypical location, with science fiction that arrives from an unexpected direction,”[44] while Locus reviews editor Jonathan Strahan has said that Nevala-Lee's fiction "has been some of the best stuff in Analog in the last ten years."[45] The Wall Street Journal has called Nevala-Lee "a talented science fiction writer,"[46] and Jim Killen of Tor has written that he has earned "a reputation as one of the smartest young SFF writers out there."[47]

Nevala-Lee's book Astounding—a group biography of the editor John W. Campbell and the science fiction writers Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and L. Ron Hubbard[6]—was a 2019 Hugo Award finalist for Best Related Work[48] and Locus Award finalist for Non-Fiction.[49] Its Chinese translation by Sun Yanan received a Silver Xingyun Award for Best Translated Work.[50] The Economist named it one of the best books of 2018, calling it "an indispensable book for anyone trying to understand the birth and meaning of modern science fiction in America from the 1930s to the 1950s—a genre that reshaped how people think about the future, for good and ill."[51] The science fiction writer Barry N. Malzberg described it as "the most important historical and critical work my field has ever seen,"[52] while the editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden praised it as "one of the greatest works of science fiction history ever,"[53] and the author George R.R. Martin called it "an amazing and engrossing history."[54] In a starred review, Publishers Weekly described it as "a major work of popular culture scholarship,"[55] and it received positive notices from Michael Saler of The Wall Street Journal,[46] James Sallis of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction,[56] and Michael Dirda of The Washington Post.[57] In SFRA Review, the critic Andy Duncan praised its writing and research, but questioned the continuing relevance of the book's four subjects: "As I enjoy and admire it, I can’t help but wonder whether it hasn’t been published a generation too late."[58]

In 2022, Nevala-Lee published Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller, which was positively received by critics.[59] The biography was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice[60] and received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews[61] and Booklist.[62] In the New York Times, the architect Witold Rybczynski wrote, "In his public appearances, Fuller could come across as a selfless seer, almost a secular saint; in Nevala-Lee’s biography he is all too human...The strength of this carefully researched and fair-minded biography is that the reader comes away with a greater understanding of a deeply complicated individual who overcame obstacles—many of his own making—to achieve a kind of imperfect greatness."[63] Rebecca Onion of The New Republic praised the book as "meticulous and clearly written," but questioned the value of Fuller's legacy: "Despite his shortcomings as a thinker and a person, Inventor of the Future insists, many brilliant people—from the sculptor Isamu Noguchi, his longtime friend and collaborator; John Cage and Merce Cunningham, his colleagues at Black Mountain College; designer Edwin Schlossberg, his later-in-life protégé; Nevala-Lee himself—have loved Fuller, and found something in his ideas. This must mean something, but what?"[64] In The New York Review of Books, James Gleick noted that the biography "diligently deconstruct[s] Fuller’s mythmaking."[65] A review in The Economist, which named it one of the best books of the year,[66] described Nevala-Lee as "a sure-footed guide to a dizzying life," while also noting, "The book’s approach to this protean career is relentlessly chronological; incident follows incident at breakneck speed, a structure that captures Fuller’s irrepressible energy but sometimes leaves the reader exhausted."[67]

Bibliography

Novels

  • The Icon Thief. New York: Signet / New American Library. 2012.
  • City of Exiles. New York: Signet / New American Library. 2012.
  • Eternal Empire. New York: Signet / New American Library. 2013.

Short fiction

Collections
  • Syndromes: Science Fiction Stories. Prince Frederick, Maryland: Recorded Books. 2020.
Stories[68]
Title Year First published Reprinted/collected Notes
Inversus 2004 "Inversus". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 124 (1, 2): 200–227. January 2004.
The Last Resort 2009 "The Last Resort". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 129 (9): 54–71. September 2009. Finalist for the Analytical Laboratory Award[69]
Kawataro 2011 "Kawataro". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 131 (6): 90–103. June 2011.
The Boneless One 2011 "The Boneless One". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 131 (11): 86–103. November 2011. The Year’s Best Science Fiction, 29th Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois. Locus Recommended Reading List[70]
Ernesto 2012 "Ernesto". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 132 (3): 42–49. March 2012. "Ernesto". Lightspeed Magazine (76). September 2016.
The Voices 2012 "The Voices". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 132 (9): 56–67. September 2012.
The Whale God 2013 "The Whale God". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 133 (9): 8–22. September 2013. Cover story; Locus Recommended Reading List[71]
Cryptids 2014 "Cryptids". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 134 (5): 8–21. May 2014. Cover story; finalist for the Analytical Laboratory Award[69]
Stonebrood 2015 "Stonebrood". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 135 (10): 8–25. October 2015. Lead story
The Proving Ground 2017 "The Proving Ground". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 137 (1, 2): 8–30. January 2017. "The Proving Ground". Lightspeed Magazine (94). March 2018. The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fifth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois. Cover story; Locus Recommended Reading List;[72] finalist for the Analytical Laboratory Award[69]
The Spires 2018 "The Spires". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 138 (3, 4): 8–24. March 2018. The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2019 Edition, edited by Rich Horton.[73] Lead story; Locus Recommended Reading List[74]
At the Fall 2019 "At the Fall". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 139 (5, 6): 182–197. May 2019. The Year's Best Science Fiction, Vol 1: The Saga Anthology of Science Fiction 2020, edited by Jonathan Strahan.[75] The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Five, edited by Neil Clarke.[76] The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2020 Edition, edited by Rich Horton.[77] Finalist for the Analytical Laboratory Award[78]
Retention 2020 "Retention". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 140 (7, 8): 108–112. July 2020.
The Elephant Maker 2023 "The Elephant Maker". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 143 (1, 2): 8–54. January 2023. Cover story


Nonfiction

Books
  • Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction. New York: Dey Street Books / HarperCollins. 2018. ISBN 9780062571946.
  • Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller. New York: Dey Street Books / HarperCollins. 2022. ISBN 9780062947222.
Essays and reporting
  • "Marcel Duchamp’s Turning Point." Los Angeles Times, March 18, 2012.
  • "Karl Rove’s Labyrinth." The Daily Beast, November 20, 2012.
  • "Lessons from The X-Files." Salon, September 17, 2013.
  • "Xenu’s Paradox: The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard and the Making of Scientology." Longreads, February 1, 2017.
  • "The Campbell Machine." Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July/August 2018.
  • "Dawn of Dianetics: L. Ron Hubbard, John W. Campbell, and the Origins of Scientology." Longreads, October 23, 2018.
  • "What Isaac Asimov Taught Us About Predicting the Future." The New York Times, October 31, 2018. Appeared in the print edition on November 3, 2018, under the headline "Back to the Future."
  • "How Astounding Saw the Future." The New York Times, January 10, 2019. Appeared in the print edition on January 13, 2019, under the headline "Simply Astounding."
  • "A 1995 Novel Predicted Trump's America." The New York Times, July 12, 2019. Essay on The Tunnel by William H. Gass. Appeared in the print edition on July 14, 2019, under the headline "The Party of the Disappointed People."
  • "Making Waves: The Inventions of John W. Campbell." Analog Science Fiction and Fact, January/February 2020. Written with Edward J. Wysocki, Jr.
  • "Asimov's Empire, Asimov's Wall." Public Books, January 7, 2020.
  • "False Flag." Slate, July 30, 2022. Essay disproving Robert G. Heft's claim to have designed the 50-star flag of the United States.
  • "In the ‘Cozy Catastrophe’ Novel, the End of the World Is Not So Bad." The New York Times, January 2, 2023. Essay on the career of British author R.C. Sherriff.
  • "It's Really First-Rate Work." The Atlantic online, July 27, 2023. Interview with the historian Richard Rhodes on the film Oppenheimer.

Other media

  • "Retention." Episode of the audio science fiction series The Outer Reach. Released on December 21, 2016. Featuring the voices of Aparna Nancherla and Echo Kellum.

References

  1. ↑ "Hugo Finalists for 2019 Hugo Awards and 1944 Retro Hugos". Dublin 2019. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  2. ↑ "2019 Locus Awards Finalists". Locus Online. 2019-05-07. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  3. ↑ "Inventor of the Future". HarperCollins. Archived from the original on 2022-01-21. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  4. ↑ Morgan, Adam (December 1, 2022). "The 50 Best Biographies of All Time". Esquire.
  5. ↑ "Publishers Lunch". Publishers Marketplace. Retrieved March 23, 2023. Author of INVENTOR OF THE FUTURE and ASTOUNDING Alec Nevala-Lee's THE MAN WHO SOLVED PROBLEMS, the story of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Luis W. Alvarez...to Matt Weiland at Norton, in a pre-empt, by David Halpern at The Robbins Office.
  6. 1 2 "Authors : Nevala-Lee, Alec : SFE : Science Fiction Encyclopedia". www.sf-encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2018-12-08.
  7. ↑ Horton, Rich (2019-05-31). "Strange at Ecbatan: Birthday Review: Stories of Alec Nevala-Lee". Strange at Ecbatan. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  8. ↑ Levin, Trevor J. (April 26, 2016). "The Springboard: Alumni in the Arts Recall Studies at Harvard". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2018-10-15.
  9. ↑ Nevala-Lee, Alec (November 22, 2013). ""To summon back the ghosts of the north…"". nevalalee.wordpress.com (Alec Nevala-Lee's official website). Retrieved June 9, 2021. I'm half Chinese and half Finnish, with a touch of Estonian
  10. ↑ Nevala-Lee, Alec (September 26, 2018). "The Survivors". nevalalee.com.
  11. ↑ Glyer, Mike (November 19, 2022). "Pixel Scroll 11/18/22 The Idiot's Guide To Writing Scroll Titles". File 770.
  12. ↑ Borrelli, Christopher. "What happened to all the women in science fiction?". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  13. ↑ "Alec Nevala-Lee". HarperCollins.
  14. ↑ "Alec Nevala-Lee | Penguin Random House". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
  15. ↑ "Summary Bibliography: Alec Nevala-Lee". www.isfdb.org. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
  16. ↑ "sfadb : Alec Nevala-Lee Titles". www.sfadb.com. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
  17. ↑ Nevala-Lee, Alec (31 October 2018). "What Isaac Asimov Taught Us About Predicting the Future". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  18. ↑ Nevala-Lee, Alec (2019-01-10). "How Astounding Saw the Future". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  19. ↑ "Alec Nevala-Lee". Slate.
  20. ↑ "Alec Nevala-Lee". The Atlantic. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  21. ↑ "Alec Nevala-Lee". HarperCollins Publishers: World-Leading Book Publisher. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
  22. ↑ "Who We Are". Buckmuckminster Fuller Institute. 7 December 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
  23. ↑ "Editorial Advisory Board". Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. 34 (1). July 2023.
  24. ↑ "Astounding—Alec Nevala-Lee". HarperCollins.
  25. ↑ Whalen, Andrew. "Rumored 'The Thing' Remake Based on 'Frozen Hell': A Lost Manuscript May Change Horror History". Newsweek.
  26. ↑ "Universal and Blumhouse Developing New Version of 'The Thing' That Will Adapt Long Lost Original Novel". Bloody Disgusting. 27 January 2020.
  27. ↑ "A new Kickstarter project will publish an undiscovered novel that inspired The Thing". The Verge. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  28. ↑ "Frozen Hell by John W Campbell". www.fantasticfiction.com. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
  29. ↑ "Visionaries of the Void". Washington Post. July 30, 2019.
  30. ↑ "Syndromes: Science Fiction Stories". Recorded Books. 10 May 2021.
  31. ↑ "Inventor of the Future". HarperCollins.
  32. 1 2 Libbey, Peter (August 28, 2019). "John W. Campbell Award Is Renamed After Winner Criticizes Him". The New York Times.
  33. ↑ "CoNZealand Report". Locus Online. September 2020.
  34. ↑ Onion, Rebecca (August 19, 2022). "Buckminster Fuller's Greatest Invention". The New Republic.
  35. ↑ Lindell, Yosef (January 31, 2020). "Isaac Asimov's Throwback Vision of the Future". The Atlantic.
  36. ↑ Gabler, Jay (May 14, 2020). "What to Make of Isaac Asimov, Sci-Fi Giant and Dirty Old Man?". Lithub.
  37. ↑ "In 1949, psychiatrists wouldn't touch Dianetics — so L. Ron Hubbard invented one who would « The Underground Bunker". tonyortega.org. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  38. ↑ Nevala-Lee, Alec (June 30, 2022). "False Flag". Slate.
  39. ↑ Lausch, Monica. (2016). "The Library as a Laboratory in the Search for New Perspectives: The Artist-Librarian Marcel Duchamp." Art and Book: Illustration and Innovation. Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, p. 33. "Duchamp's artworks have become intertextual signifiers....As icons they have extended themselves in book culture in recent fiction novels, including a thriller entitled The Icon Thief by Alec Nevala-Lee and the futuristic 2666 by Robert Bolaño."
  40. ↑ "Fiction Book Review: The Icon Thief". Publishers Weekly.
  41. ↑ "City of Exiles". Publishers Weekly.
  42. ↑ Steinbock, Steve (March 2014). "The Jury Box". Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.
  43. ↑ Horton, Rich. (August 2013). "Locus Looks at Short Fiction." Locus Magazine.
  44. ↑ Quachri, Trevor (August 2013). "In Times to Come." Analog Science Fiction and Fact,
  45. ↑ Strahan, Jonathan. "Episode 330: Books, reading and wolves..." The Coode Street Podcast. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
  46. 1 2 Saler, Michael (2018-10-19). "It Came From the Future". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
  47. ↑ "Meet Hackers, Gunslingers, and Witches in Barnes & Noble Booksellers Picks for October". Tor.com. 2018-10-02. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
  48. ↑ Cheryl (2019-04-02). "2019 Hugo Award & 1944 Retro Hugo Award Finalists". The Hugo Awards. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  49. ↑ "2019 Locus Awards Finalists". Locus Online. 2019-05-07. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  50. ↑ Glyer, Mike (October 24, 2021). "2021 Xingyun Awards for Chinese Science Fiction". File 770.
  51. ↑ "The Economist's books of the year". The Economist. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  52. ↑ "Astounding". HarperCollins. Archived from the original on 2020-09-07. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  53. ↑ "P Nielsen Hayden on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
  54. ↑ "Hugo Eligibility – Fire & Blood | Not a Blog". Retrieved 2019-02-04.
  55. ↑ "Nonfiction Book Review: Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec Nevala-Lee. Dey Street, $28.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-257194-6". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  56. ↑ Sallis, James (November 2018). "Books: Review of Astounding". The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction: 66–67.
  57. ↑ "Review | Let us praise the giants of science fiction: Campbell, Asimov and, yes, L. Ron Hubbard". Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  58. ↑ Duncan, Andy (4 September 2020). "Review of Nevala-Lee's Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction". SFRA Review. 50.
  59. ↑ "Inventor of the Future". Bookmarks.
  60. ↑ "9 New Books We Recommend This Week". New York Times. August 25, 2022.
  61. ↑ "Inventor of the Future". Kirkus Reviews. May 11, 2022.
  62. ↑ "Inventor of the Future". Booklist. June 1, 2022.
  63. ↑ Rybczynski, Witold (August 2, 2022). "Buckminster Fuller, Role Model and Cautionary Tale". New York Times.
  64. ↑ Onion, Rebecca (August 19, 2022). "Buckminster Fuller's Greatest Invention". The New Republic.
  65. ↑ Gleick, James (November 3, 2022). "Space-Age Magus". The New York Review of Books.
  66. ↑ "These are The Economist's best books of 2022". The Economist. December 6, 2022.
  67. ↑ "Designs for Living". The Economist. July 20, 2022.
  68. ↑ Short stories unless otherwise noted.
  69. 1 2 3 "Alec Nevala-Lee Awards". Science Fiction Awards Database.
  70. ↑ "2011 Recommended Reading List". Locus Online. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  71. ↑ "2013 Locus Recommended Reading List". Locus Online. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  72. ↑ "2017 Locus Recommended Reading List". Locus Online. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  73. ↑ ""Selections Announced for Horton's 2019 Year's Best SF & F"". File 770. May 6, 2019.
  74. ↑ "2018 Locus Recommended Reading List". Locus Online. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  75. ↑ "The Year's Best Science Fiction, Vol 1: The Saga Anthology of Science Fiction 2020". Publishers Weekly.
  76. ↑ "Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 5, Table of Contents". Neil Clarke.
  77. ↑ Horton, Rich (25 August 2020). "TOC, Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2020 Edition". Strange at Ecbatan. Archived from the original on 2020-09-18.
  78. ↑ "2019 Analog AnLab and Asimov's Readers' Awards Finalists". Locus Online. 11 February 2020.
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