Richard A. Lovett
Encyclopedia
Richard A. Lovett is an American science fiction author from Portland
, Oregon
. He has written numerous short stories and factual articles that have appeared in multiple literary and scientific journals, including Analog Science Fiction and Fact
, National Geographic News
, Nature
, New Scientist
, and Psychology Today
.
Lovett is one of the most prolific and decorated writers in Analog's
80-year history. His first formal appearance in the magazine other than a 1993 letter to the editor was for "Tricorders, Yactograms and the Future of Analytical Chemistry: When 'Nano-' Isn't Small Enough" (April 1999), a science article. His first fiction appearance was the novelette "Equalization" (March 2003).
Lovett first won the magazine's reader's choice award, the Analytical Laboratory (AnLab), in 2002 for a 2001 fact article, "Up in Smoke: How Mt. St. Helens Blasted Conventional Scientific Wisdom" (April 2001). Since then he has won the award a record seven times, two times for novelettes, one for a novella, and four times for science articles. Including the 2011 awards, he has also placed in the top five 26 additional times, more than any other Analog
contributor. As of the January/February 2012 issue, his work had appeared in the magazine 97 times, placing him second place on the magazine's all-time on the contribution list. In addition to writing fiction and science articles for the magazine, he has also written profiles (called Biologs) since 2006, and a series of how-to articles about writing short stories. These special features comprise about a quarter of his total contributions to the magazine.
His science fiction stories have also appeared in Nature
, Abyss and Apex, Esli
(Russian translation), Running Times, and Marathon & Beyond.
, and the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper. He has also cauthored two running books with marathon legend Alberto Salazar
, plus two books on bicycle touring and one on cross-country skiing.
Sports themes, particularly running, have infused five of his science fiction stories: "Equalization" (Analog, March 2003), "Original Sin" (Analog, June 2006), "Olympic Talent" (Nature, 5 July 2007), "Excellence" (Analog, Jan/Feb 2009)., and "Jak and the Beanstalk" (Analog, Jul/Aug 2011). "Equalization" is the story of a futuristic 10,000-meter runner in a world in which runners are annually handicapped by mind/body swaps in which highly competitive individuals receive less-talented bodies; "Original Sin" centers around a memory-recording device that allows coaches to feel exactly what their runners feel in training; "Olympic Talent" and "Excellence" involve athletes who improve performance through gene doping
, a technology in which gene therapy methods are used to enhance strength and endurance, and "Jak and the Beanstalk" centers around an endurance athlete who finds a way to climb a space elevator (the titular "beanstalk") all the way to geosynchronous orbit.
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. He has written numerous short stories and factual articles that have appeared in multiple literary and scientific journals, including Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
, National Geographic News
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
, Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
, New Scientist
New Scientist
New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
, and Psychology Today
Psychology Today
Psychology Today is a bi-monthly magazine published in the United States. It is a psychology-based magazine about relationships, health, and related topics written for a mass audience of non-psychologists. Psychology Today was founded in 1967 and features articles on such topics as love,...
.
Lovett is one of the most prolific and decorated writers in Analog's
Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
80-year history. His first formal appearance in the magazine other than a 1993 letter to the editor was for "Tricorders, Yactograms and the Future of Analytical Chemistry: When 'Nano-' Isn't Small Enough" (April 1999), a science article. His first fiction appearance was the novelette "Equalization" (March 2003).
Lovett first won the magazine's reader's choice award, the Analytical Laboratory (AnLab), in 2002 for a 2001 fact article, "Up in Smoke: How Mt. St. Helens Blasted Conventional Scientific Wisdom" (April 2001). Since then he has won the award a record seven times, two times for novelettes, one for a novella, and four times for science articles. Including the 2011 awards, he has also placed in the top five 26 additional times, more than any other Analog
Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
contributor. As of the January/February 2012 issue, his work had appeared in the magazine 97 times, placing him second place on the magazine's all-time on the contribution list. In addition to writing fiction and science articles for the magazine, he has also written profiles (called Biologs) since 2006, and a series of how-to articles about writing short stories. These special features comprise about a quarter of his total contributions to the magazine.
His science fiction stories have also appeared in Nature
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
, Abyss and Apex, Esli
Esli
Esli is a Russian science fiction magazine, concentrating on science fiction in its written form.It won the European Science Fiction Award for best science fiction magazine in 2000.-See also:* Science fiction magazine...
(Russian translation), Running Times, and Marathon & Beyond.
Coaching and sports writing
In addition to writing science fiction, Lovett is coach of Team Red Lizard, a 300-member running club in Portland, Oregon, as well as two women qualified to compete for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Team. He writes frequent features about distance running for Running Times magazine and Marathon & Beyond, and has written Olympic-related news articles and features for National Geographic News, CosmosCosmos
In the general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from the Greek term κόσμος , meaning "order" or "ornament" and is antithetical to the concept of chaos. Today, the word is generally used as a synonym of the word Universe . The word cosmos originates from the same root...
, and the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper. He has also cauthored two running books with marathon legend Alberto Salazar
Alberto Salazar
Alberto Salazar is an American marathon runner of the 1980s. Born in Cuba, Salazar emigrated to the United States with his family. They ultimately moved to Wayland, Massachusetts, where Salazar competed in track and field in high school...
, plus two books on bicycle touring and one on cross-country skiing.
Sports themes, particularly running, have infused five of his science fiction stories: "Equalization" (Analog, March 2003), "Original Sin" (Analog, June 2006), "Olympic Talent" (Nature, 5 July 2007), "Excellence" (Analog, Jan/Feb 2009)., and "Jak and the Beanstalk" (Analog, Jul/Aug 2011). "Equalization" is the story of a futuristic 10,000-meter runner in a world in which runners are annually handicapped by mind/body swaps in which highly competitive individuals receive less-talented bodies; "Original Sin" centers around a memory-recording device that allows coaches to feel exactly what their runners feel in training; "Olympic Talent" and "Excellence" involve athletes who improve performance through gene doping
Gene doping
Gene doping is defined by the World Anti-Doping Agency as "the non-therapeutic use of cells, genes, genetic elements, or of the modulation of gene expression, having the capacity to improve athletic performance". A complex ethical and philosophical issue is what defines "gene doping", especially...
, a technology in which gene therapy methods are used to enhance strength and endurance, and "Jak and the Beanstalk" centers around an endurance athlete who finds a way to climb a space elevator (the titular "beanstalk") all the way to geosynchronous orbit.
Short fiction
- Equalization (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2003) - Brownian Motion (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2003) - Tiny Berries (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2003) - Weapon of Mass Distraction (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2004) - Distant Fire (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2004) - Promises (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2004) - Caretaker (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2004) - A Few Good Men (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2005) - Tomorrow's Strawberries (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2005) - NetPuppets (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2005) with Mark Niemann-Ross - Zero Tolerance (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2005) - 911 Backup (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2005) - Dinosaur Blood (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2006) - Hiking the Roof of the World (Nature 2006)
- Numismatist (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2006) - Original Sin (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2006) - Nigerian Scam (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2006) - The Unrung Bells of the Marie Celeste (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2007) - Bambi Steaks(AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2007) - The Road to Heather Cove (Abyss & Apex 2007)
- The Last of the Weathermen (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2007) - Olympic Talent (Nature 2007)
- A Plutoid By Any Other Name . . . (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2007) - A Deadly Intent (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2008) with Mark Niemann-Ross - New Wineskins (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2008) with Mark Niemann-Ross - Bug Eyes (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
Nov 2008) - Excellence (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2009, reprinted in condensed version, Running Times 2009) - Attack of the Grub-Eaters (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2009) - Carpe Mañana (Abyss & Apex 2009)
- Snowflake Kisses (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
2010) with Holly Hight - Sense of Wonder (Nature, vol. 465, p. 656, 3 June 2010)
- Spludge (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
, 2010) - Phantom Sense (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
Nov. 2010) with Mark Niemann-Ross - Multivac's Singularity (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
Jan/Feb 2011) - Jak and the Beanstalk (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
Jul/Aug 2011) - Running 2030," (Running Times, December 2011, pp. 41-44)
Floyd and Brittney series
- The Sands of Titan (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
Jun 2007) - Brittney's Labyrinth (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
Jun 2008) - Neptune's Treasure (AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
Jan/Feb 2010)
Non fiction
Polish Translationin Nowa Fantastyka, October 2004.- “Moving Beyond ‘Life as We Know It’: Astrobiology Takes On ‘Earthist-centricity,” Analog Science Fiction and Fact, 73(11), November 2003, pp. 30–41.