Dark Secret - Edward M. Lerner

Edward joins the show to discuss his novel, his experience in the Space Shuttle Simulator, and what would really happen if some of our fears came to light.

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Before taking the plunge in 2004 into full-time writing, technologist turned author Edward M. Lerner spent thirty years in high tech at every level from engineer to senior vice president. Many novels later, he’s glad (and still just slightly surprised) that he leaped.

He worked at such techie havens as Bell Labs, Hughes Aircraft, and Northrop Grumman—and at a long-gone start-up of which you’ve likely never heard. He delivered high-tech products and systems to government agencies (including NASA, the FBI, and the Defense Department) and commercial customers as varied as AT&T and McDonald’s. Along the way, he visited a satellite factory, flew the space shuttle training simulator, wandered about the space station trainer, and watched a space shuttle launch. Sooner or later, all that experience shows up in his fiction.

Lerner’s novels run the gamut from technothrillers like Energized (solar-power satellites), Small Miracles (medical nanotech), and Fools’ Experiments (AI) to traditional science fiction, like Dark Secret and his InterstellarNet series, to (with NY Times bestselling author Larry Niven) the space epic Fleet of Worlds series. Ed’s fiction has been nominated for Hugo, Prometheus, and Locus awards, and won the inaugural Canopus Award.

Ed’s short fiction has appeared in major science fiction magazines, anthologies, and collections. His short story “Grandpa?” became the award-winning short film “The Grandfather Paradox.”

He also writes nonfiction, most notably Trope-ing the Light Fantastic: The Science Behind the Fiction. He also teaches the occasional writing class, blogs regularly on the state of science and SF. He has spoken at, among venues, the Library of Congress and the US Naval Academy. His fiction has been translated into ten languages.

The varied career(s) didn’t just happen: Ed’s education is almost as eclectic, with degrees in physics, computer science, and business.

Lerner is a member of the Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and  SIGMA (not an acronym, and sometimes known as “The Science Fiction Think Tank”).

Lerner was born in Chicago and has lived in Illinois, New Jersey, and New York. He now resides in Virginia.
His blog, SF and Nonsense, can be found at https://blog.edwardmlerner.com/
website: https://edwardmlerner.com

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