date_of_birth ilsa j. bick
David Zindell ( born November ___MASK100___ , ___MASK40___ ) is an American writer known for science fiction and fantasy epics . He was born in Toledo , Ohio , and resides today in Boulder , Colorado ; he received a BA degree in mathematics and minored in anthropology at the University of Colorado at Boulder . His first published story was " The Dreamer ' s Sleep " in " Fantasy Book " in 1984 ; his novelette " Shanidar ", which formed the core of his first novel " Neverness ", won the Writers of the Future Contest in ___MASK19___ . David Zindell ' s writing style is at once romantic , heroic , deeply poetic and concerns itself with deep philosophical issues in the human psyche . He was nominated for the John W . Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1986 . John Clute writes that the author of " Neverness " is " romantic , ambitious , and skilled .", and Gene Wolfe , who is connected with Zindell in a way Wolfe himself was with Jack Vance , described Zindell as "... one of the finest talents to appear since Kim Stanley Robinson and William Gibson  perhaps the finest ." Michael H . Payne ( born February ___MASK82___ , 1965 ) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer , cartoonist , and reviewer . He holds an M . A . in Classics from the University of California , Irvine , and has hosted the Darkling Eclectica , a radio program originally on Saturday mornings , now on Sunday afternoons , on KUCI for more than 30 years . Lafayette Ronald Hubbard ( March 13 , ___MASK88___  January 24 , 1986 ), better known as L . Ron Hubbard and often referred to by his initials , LRH , was an American author and the founder of the Church of Scientology . In 2014 , Hubbard was cited by the Smithsonian magazine as one of the 100 most significant Americans of all time , as one of the eleven religious figures on that list . After establishing a career as a writer , becoming best known for his science fiction and fantasy stories , he developed a system called Dianetics which was first expounded in book form in May ___MASK10___ . He subsequently developed his ideas into a wide - ranging set of doctrines and practices as part of a new religious movement that he called Scientology . His writings became the guiding texts for the Church of Scientology and a number of affiliated organizations that address such diverse topics as business administration , literacy and drug rehabilitation . The Church ' s dissemination of these materials led to Hubbard being listed by the " Guinness Book of World Records " as the most translated and published author in the world . The Guinness World Record for the most audio books published for one author is also held by Hubbard . The supernatural ( Medieval Latin : " superntrlis ": " supra " " above " + " naturalis " " natural ", first used : ___MASK81___  ___MASK20___ AD ) includes all that cannot be explained by science or the laws of nature , including things characteristic of or relating to ghosts , gods , or other supernatural beings , or to things beyond nature . Ilsa J . Bick is an award - winning , best - selling author of short stories , e - books and novels . She has written for several long - running science fiction series , most notably Star Trek , Battletech , and Mechwarrior : Dark Age . She ' s taken both Grand and Second Prize in the Strange New Worlds anthology series ( 1999 and 2001 , respectively ) , while her story , `` The Quality of Wetness , '' took Second Prize in the prestigious Writers of the Future contest in ___MASK58___ . Her first Star Trek novel , Well of Souls , was a 2003 Barnes & Noble bestseller . Her original stories have been featured in numerous anthologies , magazines , and online venues . `` The Key , '' a supernatural murder - mystery about the Holocaust and reincarnation , was named `` distinguished '' in The Best American Mystery Stories , 2005 ( edited by Joyce Carol Oates ) , and a sequel , `` Second Sight , '' appeared in Crimespells ( 2003 ) and was named to the 2010 Year ' s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy recommended reads . Bick ' s first YA novel , Draw the Dark ( Carolrhoda Lab , 2010 ) , is a paranormal mystery that was awarded the 2011 Westchester Fiction Award . Ashes , the first volume in her dystopian thriller trilogy , was released from Egmont USA in September 2011 . Before she became a successful author , Bick was a child / adolescent and forensic psychiatrist . She also holds a degree in literature and film studies , and has presented and written widely on applied psychoanalysis and film . She currently lives in Wisconsin . The Church of Scientology is a multinational network and hierarchy of numerous ostensibly independent but interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice , administration and dissemination of Scientology , a new religious movement . The Church of Scientology International ( CSI ) is officially the Church of Scientology ' s parent organization , and is responsible for guiding local Scientology churches . At a local level , every church is a separate corporate entity set up as a licensed franchise and has its own board of directors and executives . The first Scientology church was incorporated in ___MASK61___ in Camden , New Jersey by L . Ron Hubbard . Its international headquarters are located at the Gold Base , in an unincorporated area of Riverside County , California . The location at Gilman Hotsprings is kept secret from most Scientologists . Scientology Missions International is under CSI and overseers Scientology missions , which are local Scientology organizations smaller than churches . The Church of Spiritual Technology ( CST ) is the organization which owns all the copyrights of the estate of L . Ron Hubbard . Patrick James Rothfuss ( born June ___MASK79___ , 1973 ) is an American writer of epic fantasy . He is best known for his projected three - volume series " The Kingkiller Chronicle ". Writers of the Future ( WOTF ) is a science fiction and fantasy story contest that was established by L . Ron Hubbard in the early 1980s . A sister contest , Illustrators of the Future , presents awards for science fiction art . Hubbard characterized the contest as a way of " giving back " to the field that had defined his professional writing life . The contest has no entry fee and is the highest - paying contest for amateur science - fiction and fantasy writers . Notable past winners of WOTF include Stephen Baxter , Karen Joy Fowler , James Alan Gardner , Nina Kiriki Hoffman , Jay Lake , Michael H . Payne , Patrick Rothfuss , Robert Reed , Dean Wesley Smith , Sean Williams , Dave Wolverton , Nancy Farmer , and David Zindell . The winning stories are published in the yearly anthology " L . Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of Future ". The contest enjoys a favorable reputation in the science fiction community , although its connection with the Church of Scientology has caused some controversy . James Alan Gardner ( born January ___MASK82___ , ___MASK24___ ) is a Canadian science fiction author . William Shatner ( born March ___MASK23___ , 1931 ) is a Canadian actor , author , producer , and director . In his seven decades of television , Shatner became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T . Kirk , Captain of the USS " Enterprise ", in the " Star Trek " franchise . He has written a series of books chronicling his experiences playing Captain Kirk and being a part of " Star Trek ", and has co - written several novels set in the " Star Trek " universe . He has written a series of science fiction novels called " TekWar ", which were adapted for television . Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise based on the television series created by Gene Roddenberry . The first television series , simply called " Star Trek " and now referred to as "", debuted in ___MASK29___ and aired for three seasons on the television network NBC . It followed the interstellar adventures of Captain James T . Kirk ( William Shatner ) and his crew aboard the starship USS " Enterprise ", a space exploration vessel , built by the interstellar federal republic United Federation of Planets in the twenty - third century . The " Star Trek " canon of the franchise include " The Original Series ", an animated series , four television series , its film franchise and an upcoming television series scheduled to debut in 2017 . Science fiction ( often shortened to SF , sci - fi or scifi ) is a genre of speculative fiction , typically dealing with imaginative concepts such as futuristic science and technology , space travel , time travel , faster than light travel , parallel universes , and extraterrestrial life . Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations , and has been called a " literature of ideas ." It usually avoids the supernatural , and unlike the related genre of fantasy , historically science fiction stories were intended to have a grounding in science - based fact or theory at the time the story was created , but this connection is now limited to hard science fiction . Time travel is the concept of movement ( such as by a human ) between certain points in time , analogous to movement between different points in space , typically using a hypothetical device known as a time machine , in the form of a vehicle or of a portal connecting distant points in time . Time travel is a recognized concept in philosophy and fiction , but traveling to an arbitrary point in time has a very limited support in theoretical physics , and usually only in conjunction with quantum mechanics or wormholes , also known as Einstein - Rosen bridges . In a more narrow sense , one - way time travel into the future via time dilation is a well - understood phenomenon within the frameworks of special relativity and general relativity , but advancing a large amount of time is not feasible with current technology . The concept was touched upon in various earlier works of fiction , but was popularized by H . G . Wells ' ___MASK6___ novel " The Time Machine ", which moved the concept of time travel into the public imagination , and it remains a popular subject in science fiction . Speculative fiction is a broad umbrella genre denoting any narrative fiction with supernatural or futuristic elements ; this encompasses the genres of science fiction , fantasy , horror , alternative history , magic realism , and superhero fiction , as well as combinations of the previous genres . It typically strays strongly from reality and so may feature fictional types of beings like mythical creatures and supernatural entities , technologies that do not exist in real life like time machines and interstellar spaceships , or magical or otherwise scientifically inexplicable elements . The term ' s popularity is sometimes attributed to Robert Heinlein , who referenced it in ___MASK31___ in an editorial essay , although there are prior mentions of speculative fiction , or its variant " speculative literature ". Dave Wolverton ( born ___MASK80___ ) is a science fiction author who also goes under the pseudonym David Farland for his fantasy works . He currently lives in St . George , Utah with his wife and five children and is best known for his Runelords series . Karen Joy Fowler ( born February ___MASK54___ , ___MASK10___ ) is an American author of science fiction , fantasy , and literary fiction . Her work often centers on the nineteenth century , the lives of women , and alienation . BattleTech is a wargaming and military science fiction franchise launched by FASA Corporation in ___MASK3___ , acquired by WizKids in ___MASK58___ , and owned since 2003 by Topps . The series began with FASA ' s debut of the board game " BattleTech " ( originally named " BattleDroids ") by Jordan Weisman and L . Ross Babcock III and has since grown to include numerous expansions to the original game , several computer and video games , a collectible card game , a series of more than 100 novels , an animated television series and more . Eugene Wesley " Gene " Roddenberry ( August ___MASK68___ , ___MASK70___  October 24 , ___MASK25___ ) was an American television screenwriter and producer . He is best remembered for creating the . Born in El Paso , Texas , Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles , where his father was a police officer . Roddenberry flew ___MASK66___ combat missions in the Army Air Forces during World War II , and worked as a commercial pilot after the war . Later , he followed in his father ' s footsteps and joined the Los Angeles Police Department , where he also began to write scripts for television . Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by an emphasis on scientific accuracy . The term was first used in print in ___MASK80___ by P . Schuyler Miller in a review of John W . Campbell , Jr .' s " Islands of Space " in " Astounding Science Fiction ". The complementary term soft science fiction , formed by analogy to hard science fiction , first appeared in the late 1970s . The term is formed by analogy to the popular distinction between the " hard " ( natural ) and " soft " ( social ) sciences . Science fiction critic Gary Westfahl argues that neither term is part of a rigorous taxonomy ; instead they are approximate ways of characterizing stories that reviewers and commentators have found useful . Joseph Edward " Jay " Lake , Jr . ( June ___MASK79___ , 1964  June 1 , 2014 ) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer . In 2003 he was a quarterly first - place winner in the Writers of the Future contest . In 2004 he won the John W . Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction . He lived in Portland , Oregon , and worked as a product manager for a voice services company . WizKids / NECA , LLC is an American company based in New Jersey that first made its mark in the game industry producing collectible miniatures wargames . WizKids was purchased by and is a subsidiary of National Entertainment Collectibles Association . The company was founded in ___MASK58___ by Jordan Weisman , a veteran of the game company FASA . It was purchased by sports - card manufacturer Topps , Inc . in 2003 . ( Topps was , in turn , acquired by Michael Eisner ' s Tornante Company and Madison Dearborn Partners in ___MASK37___ .) The National Broadcasting Company ( NBC ) is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of NBCUniversal , a subsidiary of Comcast . The network is headquartered in the Comcast Building ( formerly known as the GE Building ) at Rockefeller Center in New York City , with additional major offices near Los Angeles ( at Universal City Plaza ), Chicago ( at the NBC Tower ) and soon in Philadelphia at Comcast Innovation and Technology Center . The network is part of the Big Three television networks . NBC is sometimes referred to as the " Peacock Network ", in reference to its stylized peacock logo , which was originally created in ___MASK76___ for its then - new color broadcasts and became the network ' s official emblem in ___MASK94___ . Nina Kiriki Hoffman ( born ___MASK41___ March ___MASK24___ in San Gabriel , California ) is an American fantasy , science fiction and horror writer .