Jack McDevitt's News

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Cover for CAULDRON, by Jack McDevitt

Cauldron

 Cryptic: Best of Jack McDevitt

Cryptic: Best of Jack McDevitt

Coming in January 2009, from Subterranean. 		Cover for The Devil's Eye, by Jack McDevitt

The Devil's Eye

  • A new Alex Benedict mystery
  • November 2008

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Review of The Devil's Eye:

...A fast-paced novel....A book that has more ghost hunters than an Indiana Jones adventure, with twists that reveal secret after secret....

Florida Times Union

Highly, highly recommended, I think The Devil's Eye is the best McDevitt novel since The Engines of God.... This book will be a tough act to beat in the Alex/Chase universe....

--Fantasy Book Critic

...Displays a truly Asimovian set of attractions....This book seems to belong on the shelf with recent Matthew Hughes SF/mysteries, and, ultimately, with the books of that other master of SF mysteries, Jack Vance.

-- Sci Fi Weekly

McDevitt is working familiar SF territory --playing with effects of scale-- but without the outsized heroic figures and shiny city-of-the-future movie sets of the pulps. There is heroic action (Chase in particular does some pretty snazzy stunt work and comes in for some well-deserved lionizing by the end), But it doesn't feel that way from inside the hero. The big show, McDevitt seems to be saying, is Out There, and we should remember that we're just playing the lounge.

--Locus

...Retains the author's ability to ground his speculative fiction in human manipulations, in this case, a pandemic that needs that most political of necessities, a coverup

--Fresno Bee

McDevitt fills the fourth far-future Alex Benedict adventure (after 2005's Nebula-winning Seeker) with historical details and thrilling stunts as well as sharp political allegory.

--Publishers Weekly

A singularly good example of McDevitt's gift --the previous Alex Benedict caper, Seeker (2005), won a Nebula Award-- for combining fast pacing, unforgettable world-building, and nerve-tingling suspense.

The Bookshelf

"As usual with McDevitt, I recommend this one highly."

--Tom Easton, Analog


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Cover for Sideways in Crime Jack McDevitt at NASA

Jack McDevitt at NASA

Photo by Maureen McDevitt

Events and Publications


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Now Available:

Outbound           Odyssey

Cover for OUTBOUND Cover for Odyssey, by Jack McDevitt

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The Author Comments: Odyssey

Introduction to Odyssey

Prolog

Reviews for Odyssey

"McDevitt's imaginative world stretches between the poles of Home and Out There -- and as strange and wonderful and terrifying as Out There can be, Home is where his heart is."

— Locus

"...Not everything is what it seems.... Recommended."

— Analog

"...McDevitt's writing is crisp and flowing, leaving no plot line twisting in the wind...."

— Florida Times Union

More Reviews


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The Author Comments: Outbound

Reviews for Outbound:

"...We read (in these stories) the humanity behind the hard SF. A humanity expressed in the anti-war stance of "Valkyrie" or "Date with Destiny," in the religious doubts implicit in "Act of God" and "Ignition," in the political skepticism of "The Candidate" and the scientific skepticism of "Henry James, This One's for You." These are, perhaps, old-fashioned virtues just as McDevitt's craftsmanship is of the old-fashioned kind, but in the end there is nothing old-fashioned about these stories, or the impact they achieve."

— The NY Review of SF

"The last section of Outbound contains essays on the writing of science fiction and its place in the world. Especially useful for aspiring writers of SF is "Blundering Through" a point-by-point guide to the mistakes every writer should avoid, along with some advice about how to do it right. It's a professional seminar in writing condensed into seventeen highly informative pages.... While McDevitt's prose style may not go for flash and dazzle, there will always be an interesting idea to puzzle over and a story that entices the reader into caring. By McDevitt's own statements, that's the standard that science fiction demands of its practitioners, and it's one that Jack McDevitt lives up to very very well."

— Greg L. Johnson
The SF Site

"Sixteen stories...all of them well worth your attention....If you see a new book with his name on the cover, grab it. You're not likely to be disappointed."

— Analog

"McDevitt's work is what the Golden Age Renaissance is all about. It's got deep space settings and perilous situations, but it's peopled by three-dimensional characters and more monsters from the id than from the stars.... It's a pity that ISFiC Press is only running off a thousand copies."

— Ernest Lilley
SFRevu


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Here and There



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Recent Publications

Cover for Wastelands Cover for Futures from Nature Cover for Cross of Centuries, ed. Michael Bishop Cover for SEEKER Cover for POLARIS Christmas Stars, ed. David Hartwell, Tor 2004 Cover for OMEGA Cover for Fast Forward 2
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Sequence of Titles

The Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins novels

(The Academy Novels)

  1. The Engines of God
  2. Deepsix
  3. Chindi
  4. Omega
  5. Odyssey (November 2006)
  6. Cauldron

Alex Benedict

  1. A Talent for War
  2. Polaris
  3. Seeker
  4. The Devil's Eye

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Jack McDevitt...


Jack McDevitt at NASA

Photo by Maureen McDevitt

...is a former English teacher, naval officer, Philadelphia taxi driver, customs officer, and motivational trainer. With the nominations of Infinity Beach, Ancient Shores, “Time Travelers Never Die,” Moonfall, “Good Intentions” (cowritten with Stanley Schmidt), “Nothing Ever Happens in Rock City,” Chindi, Omega, and Polaris,, "Henry James, This One's for You," and Seeker, his work has been on the final Nebula ballot ten of the last eleven years.

His first novel, The Hercules Text, was published in the celebrated Ace Specials series, and won the Philip K. Dick Special Award. In 1991, he won the first $10,000 UPC International Prize for his novella “Ships in the Night.” The Engines of God was a finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and his novella “Time Travelers Never Die” was nominated for both the Hugo and the Nebula. Omega received the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best SF novel, 2003.

McDevitt lives in Georgia with his wife Maureen, where he plays chess, reads mysteries, and eats lunch regularly with his cronies.

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Purchase autographed copies
of Jack McDevitt's books:

Seeker
ISBN: 0-441-01329-5
$25.95

Polaris
ISBN: 0-441-01202-7
$25.95

Outbound
Short story collection
ISBN 0-9759156-4-9
$30.00

Hello Out There
Hardcover: $40; trade pb: $20.00

Omega
ISBN: 0-441-01046-6
Hardcover: $23.95

Chindi
ISBN: 0-441-00938-7
Hardcover: $22.95

Signed or inscribed:
Please advise how you want the book signed.

We pay postage within the U.S.
Check/money order to:

Cryptic, Inc.
57 Sunset Blvd.
Brunswick, GA 31525.
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Puchase books locally via Booksense

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Bibliographies

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Calendar

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The Author Comments

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Fiction Available Online or in Electronic Form

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Jack McDevitt's Journal

  1. August 29, 2007
  2. September 4, 2007
  3. September 18, 2007
  4. October 4, 2007
  5. October 21, 2007
  6. November 7, 2007
  7. December 5, 2007
  8. December 18, 2007
  9. December 30, 2007
  10. January 26, 2008
  11. February 12, 2008
  12. February 29, 2008
  13. March 17, 2008
  14. March 31, 2008
  15. April 19, 2008
  16. May 2, 2008
  17. May 14, 2008
  18. May 31, 2008
  19. June 15, 2008
  20. July 1, 2008
  21. July 16, 2008
  22. August 1, 2008
  23. August 17, 2008
  24. September 1, 2008
  25. September 16, 2008
  26. October 1, 2008
  27. October 18, 2008
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Atomz search

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From Lou Anders, Editorial Director Pyr, an Imprint of Prometheus Books
We have an audio promo for  Sideways in Crime. You can hear it at http://louanders.blogspot.com/2008/04/sideways-in-crime-audio-promo.html
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Email Jack

If you've a question for me, or a story you want to tell, or if you just want to say hello, feel free to drop me a line at cryptic@gate.net.

— Jack McDevitt

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