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Michael Bishop (November 12, 1945 Lincoln, Nebraska - ) has been consistently underrated as a writer, perhaps because unlike most of his peers, he has not remained content to write variations of his previous work and has instead tried something new with almost every book. He started contributing short fiction to the magazines during the early 1970s, producing several highly regarded novelettes including "The White Otters of Childhood" (1973), "On the Street of the Serpents" (1974), and "The Tigers of Hysteria Feed Only Upon Themselves" (1974), as well as a series of loosely related stories set in a future Atlanta which resulted in a collection, Catacomb Years (1979) and a novel, A Little Knowledge (1977).

Bishop quickly established himself as an original and thoughtful new voice. A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire (1975, later revised as Eyes of Fire) examines ethnic prejudice and religious persecution. The author's interest in cultural anthropology became more evident in novels like Stolen Faces (1977) and stories like "Among the Hominids at Olduvai" (1977) and "Death and Designation Among the Asadi" (1979). The latter was eventually transformed into the novel Transfigurations (1980), which details the experiences of a human scientist studying an alien race. Similar in structure was No Enemy But Time (1982), wherein another scientist travels through time to study primitive hominids, becomes trapped in the past, and adapts to their culture. The novel won the Nebula Award. Anthropological concerns are also central to "Her Habiline Husband" (1983), a nod to John Collier's classic novel His Monkey Wife. The shorter work was eventually expanded as Ancient of Days (1985)

During the 1980s, Bishop experimented even more dramatically. Who Made Stevie Cry? (1984) is a novel of the supernatural. Unicorn Mountain (1988) is a contemporary fantasy that comments on the AIDS epidemic. The Secret Ascension (1987, aka Philip K. Dick Is Dead, Alas) is a pointed satire. The marked variety in theme and treatment may have discouraged casual readers who preferred more predictable writers. By the 1990s, it was obvious that Bishop was drifting away from the genre. Count Geiger's Blues (1992) details a superhero's adventures in an alternate America, but the novel lacks the feel of science fiction as does his most recent, Brittle Innings (1994), in which Frankenstein's monster shows up playing minor league baseball in the American south during World War II. He has continued to produce occasional short stories and has written collaborative detective fiction under a pseudonym.

Bishop's infrequent short fiction has included many other memorable stories, particularly "Close Encounters with the Deity" (1986), "For This Do I Remember Carthage" (1987), "At the City Limits of Fate" (1989), and "How Beautiful with Banners" (2000) . Although Bishop's shorter work has received nominations for both the Nebula and the Hugo on several occasions, only "The Quickening" (1981) has received the Nebula. Bishop's decision to pursue his own literary interests rather than pander to a more popular audience may have limited his career within the genre, but his long term reputation seems secure because of the very high quality of his work.

External Links

• Official Site
• Michael Bishop at ISFDB.org

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