Glen David Brin (born October 6, 1950) is an American science fiction author. He has won the Hugo, Locus, Campbell and Nebula Awards. His novel The Postman was adapted into a 1997 feature film starring Kevin Costner.

Early life and education

Brin was born in Glendale, California, in 1950 to Selma and Herb Brin. He graduated from the California Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in astronomy, in 1973. At the University of California, San Diego, he earned a Master of Science in electrical engineering (optics) in 1978 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in astronomy in 1981.

Career

From 1983 to 1986, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the California Space Institute, of the University of California, at the San Diego campus in La Jolla. In 2010, Brin became a fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. He helped establish the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at UCSD. He serves on the advisory board of NASA's Innovative and Advanced Concepts group and frequently does futurist consulting for corporations and government agencies. As of 2013, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Museum of Science Fiction.

Personal life

Brin has Polish Jewish ancestry, from the area around Konin. His grandfather was drafted into the Russian army and fought in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. As of 2022, Brin was living in San Diego County, California, with his wife and children.

Works

Most of Brin's fiction is categorized as hard science fiction, in that they apply some degree of plausible scientific or technological change as important plot elements. About half of Brin's works are in his Uplift Universe. These have twice won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Much of Brin's work outside the Uplift series focuses on technology's effects on human society.

Fiction

Uplift

Novels: Uplift trilogy, a.k.a. Uplift Storm: Short fiction: Other works:

High Horizon

Stand-alone novels

Comics

Short fiction collections

Fiction set in worlds created by others

Games

Brin designed the game Tribes, published in 1998 by Steve Jackson Games, and wrote the storyline for the 2000 Dreamcast video game Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future.

Nonfiction

Ongoing: Books:

Honors and awards