Peter Watts | |
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Born | 1958 |
Occupation | Writer |
Nationality | Canadian |
Period | 1990–present |
Genre | science fiction |
Website | |
http://www.rifters.com |
Peter Watts (born 1958) is a Canadian science fiction author and marine-mammal biologist.
His first novel Starfish (1999) reintroduced Lenie Clarke from his 1990 short story, "A Niche"; Clarke is a deep-ocean power-station worker physically altered for underwater living and the main character in the sequels: Maelstrom (2001), βehemoth: β-Max (2004) and βehemoth: Seppuku (2005). The last two volumes comprise one novel, published split in two for commercial considerations.[1] Starfish, Maelstrom and βehemoth comprise a trilogy usually referred to as "Rifters" after the modified humans designed to work in deep-ocean environments.
His novel Blindsight was released in October 2006 and was nominated for a Hugo Award. The novel has been described by Charles Stross thus: "Imagine a neurobiology-obsessed version of Greg Egan writing a first contact with aliens story from the point of view of a zombie posthuman crewman aboard a starship captained by a vampire, with not dying as the boobie prize."[2] Watts is currently writing two novels: Sunflowers[3][4] and Echopraxia, a "sidequel" about what happened on Earth during Blindsight.[5]
Watts has made his novels and some short fiction available on his website under Creative Commons license. He believes that doing so has "actually saved [his] career outright, by rescuing Blindsight from the oblivion to which it would have otherwise been doomed."[6]
In addition to his novels and short stories, Watts has also worked in other media. He was peripherally involved in the early stages of the animated science fiction film and television project Strange Frame. He also worked briefly with Relic Entertainment on one of the early drafts of the story that would eventually, years later, become Homeworld 2. However, the draft Watts worked on bears no resemblance to the one used for the released game. More recently, he has been recruited[7] by Crytek as a writer and art consultant on Crysis 2. Technological elements from Blindsight have been referenced in the fictional Crysis 2 "Nanosuit Brochure".[8]
The creative director of Bioshock 2 has cited Watts's work as an influence on that game.[9]
Elizabeth Bear, herself an award-winning author in the science fiction field, has written, "Watts is one of the crown princes of science fiction's most difficult subgenre: his work is rigorous, unsentimental, and full of the sort of brilliant little moments of synthesis that make a nerd's brain light up like a pinball machine. But he's also a poet — a damned fine writer on a sentence level, who can make you feel the blank Lovecraftian indifference of the sea floor or of interplanetary space with the same...facility with which he can pen an absolutely breathtaking passage of description. His characters have personalities and depth, and if most of them aren't very nice people, well, that's appropriate to the dystopian hellholes they inhabit."[10]
Watts obtained a bachelor's of science degree in 1980 and a master's of science degree in 1983, both from the University of Guelph, Ontario, and a PhD from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC from the Department of Zoology and Resource Ecology in 1991.[11]
In December 2009, Watts was detained at the US/Canadian border by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) performing a reportedly random search of the rental vehicle he was driving. Watts is alleged to have assaulted a CBP Officer and was turned over to local authorities to face charges. According to an officer, the authorities used pepper spray to subdue Watts after Watts became aggressive toward officers.[12] According to Watts, he was assaulted, punched in the face, pepper-sprayed and thrown in jail for the night.[13] The officer later admits in court that he had punched Watts. A jury found Watts guilty of obstructing a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer. He faced a maximum sentence of two years in prison. Watts blogged about his sentence saying that because of how the law was written, his asking: "What is the problem?" was enough to convict him of non-compliance.[14] In April 2010 he was given a suspended sentence, and a fine.[15] However, due to immigration laws,[16] Watts' felony conviction prevents him from re-entering the United States.[17]
In February 2011, he contracted the rare disease necrotizing fasciitis in his leg, which he has blogged about on his website.[18]
He married fellow Canadian author Caitlin Sweet in August 2011.[19]
"Whenever I find my will to live becoming too strong, I read Peter Watts."[22] – James Nicoll, SF critic.
"The Things":
The Island:
Starfish:
A Niche:
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