Aaron's Book of the Week :: No Enemy But Time by Michael Bishop

BOTW has been on hiatus, I think in part because too many great authors have passed away in recent times, and BOTW's unplanned conversion to an authors' obituary page got depressing. What I've decided is that BOTW will go back to emphasizing authors who are living (or died sufficiently long ago that it's no longer sad) and if we wish to honor a recently departed author we will do that in a supplemental tribute.

With that in mind, the Book of the Week is a recent find, the first edition of No Enemy But Time by Michael Bishop. Published in 1982, No Enemy But Time won the 1983 Nebula Award for Best Novel. First editions of major award winners tend to appreciate significantly in value, so I was delighted to find this copy at a reasonable price. The cover art is by Vincent DiFate, who is one of the all-time top SF/F illustrators, although this cover unfortunately follows an embarrassing genre tradition: the cover obscures the fact that the book's protagonist is African-American.

The Nebula Award is presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, who also honor two authors each years as Grand Master and Author Emeritus. Beginning next week, we will pay tribute to this year's honorees.

Aaron's Book of the Week :: Brittle Innings by Michael Bishop

The Book of the Week is Brittle Innings by Michael Bishop, in tragic observance of the massacre at Virginia Tech yesterday.

Michael Bishop is a two-time Nebula Award winner and nine-time Hugo Award nominee. Brittle Innings, a coming-of-age novel about a teenaged baseball player in the minor leagues during World War II, which sneaks in a memorable science fiction element halfway through, is my personal favorite of Bishop's works. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel of 1994. Michael Bishop is widely known as one of the most soft-spoken, gracious, and humble personalities in the science fiction community. By all accounts, his son Jamie possessed the same qualities.

Michael Bishop's son, Christopher "Jamie" Bishop, was a talented digital artist who had done the cover art for several recent books. A portfolio of his artwork is available at his website -> Memory39. I do not own any books with Jamie Bishop cover art, but I will try to obtain one for next week's Book of the Week.

In addition to his artwork, Jamie Bishop taught German at Virginia Tech. He was teaching yesterday morning when a gunman entered his classroom in Norris Hall, shot and killed Bishop, and reportedly then shot all but four of Bishop's students. These students were among approximately 32 killed and 15 wounded in yesterday's attack.

Jamie Bishop was 35 years old. He is survived by his wife Stephanie Hofer, who also teaches German at Virginia Tech but was not in Norris Hall when the attack occurred. The Los Angeles Times has a profile of Jamie Bishop at its website (free registration required): -> L.A. Times Jamie Bishop profile.

Please remember the Bishop family, and all of the victims of the senseless killings at Virginia Tech, in your thoughts and prayers.