Ben Bova

{{Infobox writer

| name = Ben Bova

| image = Ben Bova at Minicon 8(1974).jpg

| caption = Ben Bova in 1974

| pseudonym =

| birth_name = Benjamin William Bova

| birth_date = {{birth date |1932|11|8}}

| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age |2020|11|29 | 1932|11|8 |mf=yes}}

| death_place = Naples, Florida, U.S.

| occupation = {{Hlist|Author|essayist|journalist}}

| education = South Philadelphia High School
Temple University
University at Albany, SUNY (MA)
California Coast University (EdD)

| genre = Science fiction

| movement =

| notableworks =

| awards = Inkpot Award,{{Cite web|url=https://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot|title=Inkpot Award|date=December 6, 2012|website=Comic-Con International: San Diego}} Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor

| spouse = {{marriage|Rosa Cucinotta|1953|1974|end=div}}
{{marriage|Barbara Berson Rose|1974|2009|end=d}}

}}

Benjamin William Bova (November 8, 1932{{spaced en dash}}November 29, 2020) was an American writer and editor. During a writing career of 60 years, he was the author of more than 120{{cite web |title=Official Website |url=http://www.benbova.net/bio.html |access-date=December 24, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130103022310/http://www.benbova.net/bio.html |archive-date=January 3, 2013 }} works of science fact and fiction, an editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, for which he won a Hugo Award six times, and an editorial director of Omni; he was also president of both the National Space Society and the Science Fiction Writers of America.{{cite book|title=Orion and King Arthur|year=2012|publisher=Tor Tom Doherty|isbn=9780765330178|pages=inside back flap|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/orionkingarthur00bova}}

Personal life and education

Ben Bova was born on November 8, 1932, in Philadelphia. He graduated from South Philadelphia High School in 1949. In 1953, while attending Temple University in Philadelphia, he married Rosa Cucinotta; they had a son and a daughter. The couple divorced in 1974. That year he married Barbara Berson Rose.{{cite book| title = St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers | editor = Jay P. Pederson| publisher = St. James Press| date = December 1, 1995| edition = 4th

|isbn = 978-1-55862-179-4}} Barbara Bova died on September 23, 2009.{{Cite web|url=http://www.locusmag.com/News/2009/09/barbara-bova-dies.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191020/http://www.locusmag.com/News/2009/09/barbara-bova-dies.html|url-status=dead|title=Locus sf&f news: Barbara Bova Dies|archive-date=March 3, 2016}} Bova dedicated his 2011 novel Power Play to Barbara. In March 2013, he announced on his website that he had remarried, to Rashida Loya.

Bova was an atheist and was critical of what he saw as the unquestioning nature of religion.{{cite web | url=http://ffrf.org/news/day/dayitems/item/14639-ben-bova | title=Ben Bova | publisher=Freedom From Religion Foundation | work=FFRF Website | access-date=April 3, 2014 | author=Gutsch, Bonnie| date=November 8, 1980 }} He wrote an op-ed piece in 2012, in which he argued that atheists can be just as moral as religious believers.{{cite web | url=https://archive.naplesnews.com/columnists/opinion/ben-bova-history-says-atheists-just-as-moral-as-believers-ep-388278393-342462321.html?print=1 | title=Ben Bova: History says atheists just as moral as believers | publisher=Scripps Newspaper Group | work=naplesnews.com | date=July 22, 2012 | access-date=April 3, 2014 | author=Bova, Ben}}

He went back to school in the 1980s, earning a Master of Arts degree in communications in 1987 from the State University of New York at Albany and a Doctor of Education degree from California Coast University in 1996.

Bova died from COVID-19 related pneumonia and a stroke on November 29, 2020, at the age of 88.[https://www.sfwa.org/2020/11/30/in-memoriam-ben-bova/ In Memoriam: Ben Bova], at Science Fiction Writers of America; published November 30, 2020; retrieved November 30, 2020

Career

File:Amazing stories 196201.jpg, illustrated by Ed Emshwiller.]]

Bova worked as a technical writer for Project Vanguard in the 1950s and later for the Avco Everett Research Laboratory{{Cite web|url=http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/feb/14/ben-bova-we-need-more-kantrowitzs-impure-research/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320071111/http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/feb/14/ben-bova-we-need-more-kantrowitzs-impure-research/|url-status=dead|title=Ben Bova: We need more of Kantrowitz's 'impure research'|first = Ben|last = Bova|date =February 14, 2009|work = Naples Daily News|archive-date=March 20, 2012}}

In 1972, Bova became editor of Analog Science Fact & Fiction, after John W. Campbell's death in 1971. At Analog, Bova won six Hugo Awards for Best Professional Editor.

Bova served as the science advisor for the television series The Starlost (1973),{{Cite news|date=November 2, 1979|title=Sci-fi author critical of TV|pages=31|work=Star-Phoenix|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64339006/sci-fi-author-critical-of-tv/|access-date=November 30, 2020|via=Newspapers.com {{open access}}}} resigning as he lacked the "contractual right to remove his name from the credits."{{Cite book|last=Patterson|first=William H. Jr.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQPHAgAAQBAJ|title=Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century, Volume 2: The Man Who Learned Better (1948–1988)|date=June 3, 2014|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-1-4299-8796-7|pages=349|language=en}} His novel The Starcrossed, loosely based on his experiences, featured a characterization of his friend and colleague Harlan Ellison as "Ron Gabriel".{{Cite book|last1=Weil|first1=Ellen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XvaIuzLV41gC&pg=PA120|title=Harlan Ellison: The Edge of Forever|last2=Wolfe|first2=Gary K.|date=2002|publisher=Ohio State University Press|isbn=978-0-8142-0892-2|pages=120–121|language=en}} In 1974, he co-wrote the screenplay for an episode of the children's science-fiction television series Land of the Lost, titled "The Search".{{Cite book|last=Erickson|first=Hal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8uUyBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA131|title=Sid and Marty Krofft: A Critical Study of Saturday Morning Children's Television, 1969–1993|date=March 13, 2015|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-0784-9|pages=131|language=en}} After leaving Analog in 1978, Bova went on to edit Omni, from 1978 to 1982.

Bova held the position of President Emeritus of the National Space Society and served as President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).{{Cite web|title=National Space Society Governor Ben Bova Biography|url=https://space.nss.org/national-space-society-governor-ben-bova-biography/|access-date=November 30, 2020|website=National Space Society|date=August 3, 2017 |language=en-US}}{{Cite news|date=March 6, 2001|title=Ben Bova|pages=88|work=News-Press|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64340388/ben-bova/|access-date=November 30, 2020|via=Newspapers.com {{open access}}}}

In 2000, he attended the 58th World Science Fiction Convention (Chicon 2000) as the Author Guest of Honor.{{cite news|last=Halevi|first=Charles Chi|date=August 27, 2000|title=Science fiction is fun for fen|page=28|work=Chicago Sun-Times}} In 2007, Stuber/Parent Productions hired him as a consultant to provide insight into what the world may look like in the near future, for their film Repo Men (2010) starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker. Also in 2007 he provided consulting services to Silver Pictures on the film adaptation of Richard K. Morgan's hardboiled cyberpunk science-fiction novel Altered Carbon (2002). He was awarded the Robert A. Heinlein Award in 2008 for his work in science fiction.{{Cite web|url=http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/Heinlein2008.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100423023607/http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/Heinlein2008.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 23, 2010|title=The Locus Index to SF Awards: 2008 Robert A. Heinlein Award|date=2008|publisher=Locus Publications|access-date=November 21, 2016}}

Published works

{{main|Ben Bova bibliography}}{{As of | February 2016}}, Bova had written over 124 books in various genres.{{Cite web|title=Ben Bova|url=http://www.benbova.net/biblio.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215175710/http://www.benbova.net/biblio.html|archive-date=February 15, 2016|access-date=February 10, 2016|website=www.benbova.net}} He edited several works, including The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two (1973)The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two, (1973), Volume two A {{OCLC|12264834}} and Volume two B {{OCLC|12264899}} and Nebula Awards Showcase 2008.{{Cite book|title=Nebula awards showcase 2008 : the year's best SF and fantasy|date=2008|publisher=Roc|editor-last=Bova|editor-first=Ben|isbn=978-0-451-46188-9|location=New York|oclc=192027364}} He wrote the Grand Tour novel series about exploration and colonization of the Solar System by humans. Reviewing a collection of 12 of the series published in 2004, Gerald Jonas in The New York Times described Bova as "the last of the great pulp writers".{{Cite news|last=Jonas|first=Gerald|date=March 7, 2004|title=Science Fiction (Published 2004)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/07/books/science-fiction.html|access-date=November 30, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}

References

{{Reflist|25em |refs=

{{cite news |agency=Canadian Press |work=Windsor Star |title=Sci-fi writer blasts gimmicks |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cFc_AAAAIBAJ&pg=3071,1618005 |date=October 20, 1979 |access-date=March 5, 2011}}

}}

External links

{{official website }}
{{Gutenberg author |id=33114| name=Ben Bova}}
{{Internet Archive author |sname=Ben Bova}}
{{Librivox author |id=565}}
{{OL author}}
{{ISFDB name|184}}
{{IBList |type=author|id=427|name=Ben Bova}}
{{Discogs artist|Ben Bova}}
[https://www.analogsf.com/the-rivets/in-memoriam/ Obituary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418202443/https://www.analogsf.com/the-rivets/in-memoriam/ |date=April 18, 2021 }} at Analog
{{IMDb name|id=0100550|name=Ben Bova}}