Jack McDevitt

Jack McDevitt (1935-) is an American science fiction author whose novels frequently deal with attempts to make contact with alien races and archaeology.

McDevitt's first published story was "The Emerson Effect" in Twilight Zone in 1981. Two years later, he published his first novel, The Hercules Text about the discovery of an intelligently conceived signal which threatened human civilization through its repercussions. This novel set the tone for many of McDevitt's following novels, which focused on making first contact. Frequently this theme is mixed with both trepidation of the unknown and a sense of wonder at the universe.

With The Engines of God (1994), McDevitt introduced the idea of a universe which was once teaming with intelligent species, but only contains abandoned artifacts by the time humans manage to arrive on the scene. Initially written as a stand alone novel, the character Priscilla Hutchins has since appeared in three more novels, Deepsix (2001) and Chindi (2002), and Omega (2003).

McDevitt's novels frequently raise questions which they do not attempt to answer, dropping the ideas in favor of other plotlines which are of more interest to the author.

Bibliography

Novels

• The Hercules Text (Ace Special, No 7) (1986)
• A Talent for War (1989)
• The Engines of God (1995)
• Ancient Shores (1996)
• Eternity Road (1998)
• Moonfall (1999)
• Hello Out There (2000) (omnibus edition of A Talent for War and The Hercules Text)
• Infinity Beach (2000)
• Deepsix (2001)
• Chindi (2002)
• Omega (2003)
• Polaris (2004)

Collections

• Standard Candles: The Best Short Fiction of Jack McDevitt (1996)

Introductions

• Pellucidar (Bison Frontiers of Imagination) (2002)