James Alan Gardner (born January 10, 1955) is a Canadian science fiction author.

Early life and education

Born in Simcoe, Ontario, he attended the University of Waterloo, where he published his first story, "The Phantom of the Operator", in 1984.

Career

Gardner has published science fiction short stories in a range of periodicals, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and Amazing Stories. He has written a number of novels in a "League of Peoples" universe in which humans encounter highly advanced aliens define murderers as "dangerous non-sentients" and kill them if they try to leave their solar system. He has also explored themes of gender in novels including Commitment Hour in which people reaching adulthood must choose their gender, and Vigilant, in which group marriages are traditional. Gardner is also an educator and technical writer, and published the textbook Learning UNIX in 1991.

Awards

In 1989, Gardner's short story "The Children of Creche" was awarded the Grand Prize in the Writers of the Future contest. Two years later his story "Muffin Explains Teleology to the World at Large" won a Prix Aurora Award. His "Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the Human Bloodstream" won an Aurora and was nominated for both the Nebula and Hugo Awards.

Science fiction publications

Lara Croft, Tomb Raider series

League of Peoples universe

Short story collections

The Dark vs. Spark