Bachman, Richard
pseudonym of Stephen King under which he published several early novels, some of which are clearly science fiction

Recommended Reading: The Running Man (1982)

Ballard, J.G.
James Graham Ballard
1930--2009

born in Shanghai and interred in a Japanese POW camp during World War II
Came to England in 1946
Studied medicine at Cambridge

Best known for Empire of the Sun (1984), a mainstream novel based on his experiences during World War II and made into a film by Steven Spielberg

Bear, Greg
1951--
American

Recommended Readings:

• Eon (1985)
• Queen of Angels (1990)
• Moving Mars
• Darwin's Radio

Bellamy Edward
1850-1898

Recommended Reading: Looking Backward (1888), about a man who wakes up in the year 2000 in the Boston of the future. In this work Bellamy predicts future technological developments without grasping their possible social repercussions.

Benford, Gregory
1941--
American physist and writer
PhD, University of California, San Diego
professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine

Recommended Reading: Timescape (1980),a Nebula winner.

Benford is now writing a series of novels which take place in Isaac Asimov's Foundation universe.

Bester, Alfred
1913-87
American writer and editor
Named a Grand Master by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 1988

Recommended Reading:

• The Demolished Man (1952)
• The Stars My Destination (1956)

Biggle, Lloyd, Jr.
1923--2002
American
PhD in musicology from the University of Michigan

Recommended Reading: "Tunesmith"

Bishop, Michael
1945--
American
M.A. in English from the University of Georgia

interested in anthropology and the alien

Recommended Reading: No Enemy But Time (1982),a Nebula winner

Blish, James
1921-75

critic and academic scholar

Recommended Readings:

• A Case of Conscience (1958) and Black Easter; in these novels Blish uses science fiction to tackle religious issues first raised by C.S. Lewis in his Perelandra Trilogy.
• Cities in Flight (1970) set the model for stories set on generational space ships.
• "A Work of Art"

Bloch, Robert
1917-94
American
Known primarily for horror

Best known for the novel Psycho (1959), source of the famous Alfred Hitchcock film

Borges, Jorge Luis
1899-1986

An Argentinian and a practitioner of magical realism, Borges wove fantastic elements into his stories.

Recommended Reading: Ficciones, or Fictions (1944; trans. 1962)

Boucher, Anthony
Pseudonym of American book reviewer, editor, and writer William Anthony Parker White

One of the founding editors of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

Boulle, Pierre
1912-94
French

Best known as the author of The Bridge on the River Kwai (1954), a mainstream novel

Bova, Ben
1932--

American writer and editor
Edited Analog after the death of John W. Campbell

Bradbury, Ray
1920--

One of the best known science fiction writers of his generation, Bradbury tends to write science fiction that verges on fantasy.

Named a Grand Master by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 1989
Awarded the National Medal of the Arts in 2004.

Recommended Readings:

• The Martian Chronicles (1951), a series of linked short stories
  • "Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed"
• "The Fireman," novelized as Fahrenheit 451 (1954)

Bradley, Marion Zimmer
1930-99

founder of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine

Recommended Readings:

• Darkover novels, a series of 21 sword-and-sorcery novels dealing with a race of beings with strange psionic powers and a fear of technology.
• Myths recast in the feminine point of view
  • The Mists of Avalon (1982), Arthurian legend from point of view of Guinevere, and its prequel The Forest House (1994)
  • The Firebrand, the story of the Trojan War told from Cassandra's point of view

Brennert, Alan
1954--
American television producer, scriptwriter and author

Has written scripts for Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Wonder Woman, and the second series of The Twilight Zone

Brin, David
1950--
American
B.S. in astronomy and M.S. in applied physics

Recommended Readings:

• Startide Rising

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward
1803-73
British

Recommended Reading: The Coming Race (1871), a utopia about an underground race of supermen.

Bujold, Lois McMaster
1949--

author of the Miles Vorkosigan Saga, a series of linked novels and stories about a mutant, his family, his adventures, and galactic political intrigue

Recommended Readings:

• Barrayar (1991), winner of the Hugo
• Falling Free (1988), winner of the Nebula
• Mirror Dance

Burgess, Anthony
1917--93
British

Recommended Reading: A Clockwork Orange (1962)

Burroughs, Edgar Rice

See Edgar Rice Burroughs

Butler, Octavia
1947-2006
American black feminist author
winner of a MacArthur genius grant

Recommended Readings:

• Xenogenesis trilogy

Butler, Samuel
1835-1902
British, emigrated to New Zealand

Recommended Reading: Erewhon [nowhere spelled backwards](1872), a satirical utopia.