The Things

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Peter Watts is an awkward hybrid of biologist and science-fiction author, known for pioneering the technique of appending extensive technical bibliographies onto his novels; this serves both to confer a veneer of credibility and to cover his ass against nitpickers. Described by the Globe & Mail as one of the best hard-sf authors alive, his debut novel (Starfish) was a NY Times Notable Book. His most recent (Blindsight) — a rumination on the nature of consciousness which actually became a required text in occasional undergrad courses on philosophy and neuropsych — made the final ballot for a whole shitload of genre awards including the Hugo, winning exactly none of them (although it has won multiple awards in Poland). This may reflect a certain critical divide regarding Watts' work in general; his bipartite novel behemoth, for example, was praised by Publisher’s Weekly as an «adrenaline-charged fusion of Clarke’s The Deep Range and Gibson’s Neuromancer» and «a major addition to 21st-century hard SF», while being simultaneously decried by Kirkus as «utterly repellent» and «horrific porn». (Watts happily embraces the truth of both views.) His work has been extensively translated, and both Watts and his cat have appeared in the prestigious journal Nature.

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