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Michael Lawson Bishop

マイケル・ローソン・ビショップ

Michael Lawson Bishop

Pen Names: Philip Lawson（Joint pseudonym used for mystery novels co-written with Paul Di Filippo）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1945-11-12 （Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.）
Died
2023-11-13 （LaGrange, Georgia, U.S.） age 78
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Christianity
Residence History
Tokyo (kindergarten) → Seville, Spain (senior year of high school) → Athens, Georgia (University of Georgia — student and later faculty) → Pine Mountain, Georgia (home) → LaGrange, Georgia (hospice / death)

Career

Occupations
novelist, short story writer, essayist, poet, teacher
Active Years
1970-2021
Affiliations
LaGrange College (writer-in-residence)
Influenced By
Ursula K. Le Guin, Philip K. Dick, Theodore Sturgeon
Nominations
Hugo Award (multiple nominations), Arthur C. Clarke Award (Ancient of Days nominee), John W. Campbell Memorial Award (No Enemy But Time nominee)

Education

University of Georgia
English
Degree: BA
Period: 1963-1967
Year of Graduation: 1967
Country: United States
University of Georgia
English
Degree: MA
Period: 1967-1968
Year of Graduation: 1968
Country: United States

Awards

Nebula Award (Best Novelette)
1981
Work: The Quickening
Category: Best Novelette
Organization: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA)
Result: Winner
Nebula Award (Best Novel)
1982
Work: No Enemy But Time
Category: Best Novel
Organization: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA)
Result: Winner
Shirley Jackson Award (Short Fiction)
2009
Work: The Pile
Category: Best Short Story (2008)
Organization: Shirley Jackson Awards
Result: Winner
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award
1989
Work: Unicorn Mountain
Category: Fantasy (Adult)
Organization: Mythopoeic Society
Result: Winner
Rhysling Award
1979
Work: For the Lady of a Physicist
Category: Poetry
Organization: Science Fiction Poetry Association
Result: Winner
Georgia Author of the Year Award (short story collection)
2018
Work: Other Arms Reach Out to Me: Georgia Stories
Category: Short Story Collection
Organization: Georgia Writers Association
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

No Enemy But Time

1982 Science fiction (time travel / anthropological fiction)

A modern African-American man is recruited for his ability to dream himself into the Pleistocene, becoming involved with a tribe of habilines; the novel examines humanity, love, and the formation of the Family of Man across deep time.

anthropologytime travelrace and culturelove and family

The Quickening

1981 Science fiction (short fiction / modern fable)

A novelette that uses a fable-like premise—people dispersed across the world—to critique American culture and values.

social critiquecultural displacementfable

Unicorn Mountain

1988 Fantasy / literary

Interweaves the story of a man dying of AIDS and his relatives with themes of tribe-building, myth, and contemporary social issues; blends fantasy elements with literary concerns.

illness and deathtribe and communitymythic elements

Ancient of Days

1985 Science fiction (anthropological)

Tells the story surrounding 'Adam', claimed to be one of the last Homo habilis, discovered in contemporary Georgia; explores race, culture, and what it means to be human.

humanityprejudice and acceptancecivilization vs. primitivism

Bibliography

  • A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire (1975)
  • And Strange at Ecbatan the Trees (1976)
  • Stolen Faces (1977)
  • A Little Knowledge (1977)
  • Catacomb Years (1979)
  • Transfigurations (1979)
  • Eyes of Fire (1980)
  • Under Heaven's Bridge (1981, with Ian Watson)
  • No Enemy But Time (1982)
  • Who Made Stevie Crye? (1984)
  • Ancient of Days (1985)
  • Philip K. Dick Is Dead, Alas (The Secret Ascension) (1987)
  • Unicorn Mountain (1988)
  • Count Geiger's Blues (1992)
  • Brittle Innings (1994)
  • Joel-Brock the Brave and the Valorous Smalls (2016)

Adaptations

  • Brittle Innings was optioned by 20th Century Fox and the rights were acquired in 1995; no film has been produced to date.

Style & Themes

Literary Style
densely intellectual proseexploration of anthropological perspectives and ethical quandariesincorporation of Southern American sensibilities
Recurring Motifs
religion and faithcross-cultural encounterqueries into human nature

Health

  • cancer
    2023
    He died in hospice care from cancer in November 2023.

Legacy

Over five decades Bishop produced a widely admired and influential body of work across science fiction, fantasy, horror and poetry. His incorporation of religious themes and anthropological concerns, together with genre-crossing versatility, earned him major awards and influence on contemporaries and later writers.

Academic Societies

  • Science Fiction Research Association (served as Guest of Honor)

Quotes

  • “A body of work that stands among the most admired and influential in modern science fiction and fantasy literature.”
    Source: Crossroads: Tales of the Southern Literary Fantastic (2004)

Trivia

  • His son Jamie Bishop was among the victims of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting; Michael and his wife advocated for stricter U.S. gun laws thereafter.
  • He was a military brat and lived abroad as a child (including Tokyo and Seville).
  • He substantially rewrote his first novel A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire and republished it as Eyes of Fire.
  • Used the joint pseudonym Philip Lawson for collaborations with Paul Di Filippo.