Eleanor A. Arnason

Author Guest of Honor

Eleanor Arnason was born in New York City on December 28, 1942. Her father served in the Office of War Information and the U.S. Information Agency, so Eleanor spent her childhood in New York, Chicago, London, Paris, and Washington, D.C. Eleanor A. Arnason photo The Arnasons settled, comparatively speaking, in the Twin Cities, where Eleanor's father served as director of the Walker Art Center from 1951-1961 (with a nine-month family excursion to Hawaii and across Asia in Eleanor's teens). Eleanor's wide background of places and cultures kept her from assuming that the consensus reality of any particular place was the only reality.

She became a devotee of fantasy and science fiction early on, reading fairy tales and L. Frank Baum's "Oz" books, and watching the early ‘50s TV shows Captain Video; Tom Corbett, Space Cadet; and Rocky Jones. At U. of M. High School she became friends with future fantasy author Ruth Berman and Barret Hansen, the future Dr. Demento.

Eleanor attended college at Swarthmore outside Philadelphia, followed by three years' graduate study in art at the University of Minnesota. She left school, wanting to learn more about life, and in 1968 wound up living in Detroit. She found Detroit scary but exhilarating and real. Working in offices by day, she also began to write seriously, trying to create a kind of fiction that combined fantasy elements with the nitty gritty of working-class life. She first broke into print with a short story in 1973, and over the next several years her fiction appeared in such markets as the British magazine New Worlds, the original anthology series Orbit, and the anthologies The New Women of Wonder and Star Trek: The New Voyages.

In 1974 Eleanor returned to the Twin Cities, where she has alternated between periods of full-time writing and periods working in a hat warehouse and a couple of museums, and several stints as an accountant.

She has published five novels: The Sword Smith (1978), about a quest by a lame metal-smith and an adolescent dragon; To the Resurrection Station (1986), a science fiction-romance parody; Daughter of the Bear King (1987), set in Minneapolis and in an alternate world where magic works; A Woman of the Iron People (1991) also published in two paperback volumes as In the Light of Sigma Draconis and Changing Women (1991), involving an anthropological expedition from Earth to another planet; and Ring of Swords (1993), about the tense post-war negotiations between humanity and the warlike Hwarhath.

In the past decade or so Eleanor has returned her focus to short fiction; publishing stories in such markets as Asimov's Science Fiction, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Tales of the Unanticipated, Women of Wonder: The Contemporary Years, The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror #13, The Year's Best Science Fiction #17, #19, and #20, and The Norton Book of Science Fiction. Several of her stories are collected in Ordinary People (Aqueduct Press, 2005). Much of her fiction, short and long, can be described as anthropological science fiction, examining alien cultures with rigid social structures, but finding misfits within those cultures. Lately she's even been writing the folklore of her alien cultures. Her work blends deep themes with a delightfully quirky sense of humor.

A Woman of the Iron People won the Tiptree and Mythopoeic Awards; Ring of Swords won the Minnesota Book Award. Her short fiction has won the Spectrum and HOMer awards, and been nominated for two Nebulas. Recently the Minnesota Center for the Book's illustrated edition of her story, "The Grammarian's Five Daughters," has been nominated for the Minnesota Book Award.

Eleanor has also done important work as a mentor in the Twin Cities science fiction community. In 1974 she and Ruth Berman founded what has become the longest-running science fiction/fantasy writing group in the state (now known as the Aaardvark Writing Group). In and out of various writing groups she has provided insight and encouragement to many aspiring writers. She has also contributed to the shape of local fandom by quietly suggesting many sensible ideas that have contributed to the tone and content of literary Programming at such local cons as Minicon and Diversicon. Welcome to MarsCon, Eleanor Arnason!

Read more about Eleanor Arnason - An Eleanor Arnason web page and web log.

MarsCon 2007
March 2-4, 2007
Holiday Inn Select
Bloomington, MN
If you're looking for the Marscon held in Williamsburg, Virginia click here.

	Midwest and Plains States SF & F Clubs and Conventions
	[ Join Now \| Ring Hub \| Random \| << Prev \| Next >> ]
	Science Fiction Conventions Webring
	[ Join Now \| Ring Hub \| Random \| << Prev \| Next >> ]
	Rings powered by WebRing.com