Biography

Willis is a 1967 graduate of Colorado State College, now the University of Northern Colorado, where she completed degrees in English and Elementary Education. She lives in Greeley, Colorado, with her husband Courtney Willis, a former professor of physics at the University of Northern Colorado. They have one daughter, Cordelia.

Willis's first published story was "The Secret of Santa Titicaca" in Worlds of Fantasy, Winter 1970 (December). At least seven stories followed (1978-81) before her debut novel, Water Witch by Willis and Cynthia Felice, published by Ace Books in 1982. After receiving a National Endowment for the Arts grant that year, she left her teaching job and became a full-time writer.

Scholar Gary K. Wolfe has written, "Willis, the erstwhile stand-up superstar of SF conventions - having her as your MC is like getting Billy Crystal back as host of the Oscars - and the author of some of the field's funniest stories, is a woman of considerably greater complexity and gravity than her personal popularity reflects, and for all her facility at screwball comedy knock-offs and snappy parody, she wants us to know that she's a writer of some gravity as well."

Willis is an Episcopalian.

Writing style

Willis tends to the comedy of manners style of writing. Her protagonists are typically beset by single-minded people pursuing illogical agendas, such as attempting to organize a bell-ringing session in the middle of a deadly epidemic (Doomsday Book), or frustrating efforts to analyze near-death experiences by putting words in the mouths of interviewees (Passage).

Other themes and stylistic devices include:

• a scientist as protagonist (the main theme of Bellwether, but also present in Uncharted Territory, Passage, and—to a lesser degree—the Fire Watch universe stories).
• satires of political correctness (the over-appreciation of indigenous cultures in Uncharted Territory, anti-smoking stances in Bellwether, prohibition of "addictive substances" in Remake and censorship of an English class in the short story "Ado").
• the inclusion of meticulously researched, detailed trivia related tangentially or symbolically to the narrative (fads in Bellwether, mating customs in Uncharted Territory, old movies in Remake, the Titanic disaster in Passage, famous pairs of ill-fated lovers in To Say Nothing of the Dog).
• "Romantic 'screwball' comedy in the manner of 1940s Hollywood movies, updated"

Willis is acclaimed as a science-fiction writer, with much of her writing exploring the social sciences. She often weaves technology into her stories in order to prompt readers to question what impact it has on the world. For instance, Lincoln's Dreams plumbs not just the psychology of dreams, but also their role as indicators of disease. The story portrays a young man's unrequited love for a young woman who might or might not be experiencing reincarnation or precognition, and whose outlook verges on suicidal. Similarly Bellwether is almost exclusively concerned with human psychology.

Among other themes, Uncharted Territory contemplates the extent to which technology shapes expectations of gender; "technology" here ranges from a land rover and binoculars to Built's online "tchopping" and the pop-up holograms—even socioexozoology. Remake embraces old movies and the computer graphics revolution, as well as intellectual property, digital copyright issues, and the question of public domain.

Other Willis stories explore the so-called "hard" sciences, following in the classic science fiction tradition. "The Sidon in the Mirror" harks back to the interplanetary and interstellar romanticism of the 1930s and 1940s. "Samaritan" is another take on the theme of Heinlein's "Jerry Was a Man", while "Blued Moon" is similarly reminiscent of Heinlein's "The Year of the Jackpot".

Awards

Hugo Awards

Wins

• Fire Watch : novelette : 1983
• The Last of the Winnebagos : novella : 1989
• Doomsday Book : novel : 1993
• Even the Queen : short story : 1993
• Death on the Nile : short story : 1994
• The Soul Selects Her Own Society: Invasion and Repulsion: A Chronological Reinterpretation of Two of Emily Dickinson's Poems: A Wellsian Perspective : short story : 1997
• To Say Nothing of the Dog : novel : 1999
• The Winds of Marble Arch : novella : 2000
• Inside Job : novella : 2006
• All Seated on the Ground : novella : 2008
• Blackout/All Clear : novel (published in two parts): 2011

Additional Nominations

• Daisy, In the Sun : short story : 1980
• The Sidon in the Mirror : novelette : 1984
• Blued Moon : novelette : 1985
• Spice Pogrom : novella : 1987
• At the Rialto : novelette : 1990
• Time-Out : novella : 1990
• Cibola : short story : 1991
• In the Late Cretaceous : short story : 1992
• Jack : novella : 1992
• Miracle : novelette : 1992
• Remake : novel : 1996
• Passage : novel : 2002
• Just Like the Ones We Used to Know : novella : 2004

Nebula Awards

Wins

• Fire Watch : novelette : 1983
• A Letter from the Clearys : short story : 1983
• The Last of the Winnebagos : novella : 1988
• At the Rialto : novelette : 1990
• Doomsday Book : novel : 1993
• Even the Queen : short story : 1993
• Blackout/All Clear : novel : 2010

Additional Nominations

• The Sidon in the Mirror : novelette : 1984
• Schwarzschild Radius : novelette : 1988
• Jack : novella : 1992
• Death on the Nile : novelette : 1994
• Bellwether : novel : 1998
• To Say Nothing of the Dog : novel : 1999
• Passage : novel : 2002
• Just Like the Ones We Used to Know : novella : 2005

Locus Awards

Wins

• Doomsday Book: SF novel: 1993
• To Say Nothing of the Dog: SF Novel: 1999
• Passage: SF novel: 2001
• Blackout/All Clear : novel (published in two volumes): 2010

Additional Nomination

• Lincoln's Dreams: Fantasy Novel: 1988

Arthur C. Clarke Awards

Nominations

• Doomsday Book: SF novel: 1993
• Passage: SF novel: 2001

World Fantasy Awards

Nominations

• Chance : novella : 1987
• The Winds of Marble Arch : novella : 2000

John W. Campbell Memorial Award

Win

• Lincoln's Dreams: 1988

British Science Fiction Association Award

Nomination

• Doomsday Book: SF novel: 1993

Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award

• Lifetime achievement, 2011, presented at the Nebula Awards banquet, May 2012

Works

Novels and novellas

• Water Witch (1982) - with Cynthia Felice
• Lincoln's Dreams (1987) - John W. Campbell Memorial Award winner, Locus Fantasy Award nominee, 1988
• Light Raid (1989) - with Cynthia Felice
• Doomsday Book (1992) - Nebula Award winner, BSFA Award nominee, 1992; Hugo and Locus SF Awards winner, Clarke Award nominee, 1993
• Remake (1994) - Hugo Award nominee, 1996
• Uncharted Territory (1994)
• Bellwether (1996) - Nebula Award nominee, 1997
• Promised Land (1997) - with Cynthia Felice
• To Say Nothing of the Dog (1998) - Hugo and Locus SF Awards winner, 1999; Nebula Award nominee, 1998
• Passage (2001) - Locus SF Award winner, Hugo and Clarke Awards nominee, 2002; Nebula Award nominee, 2001
• Inside Job (2005)
• D.A. (2007)
• All Seated on the Ground (2007)
• Blackout (2010)
• All Clear (2010)
• All About Emily (2011)
• Crosstalk (2016)

Short story collections

• Fire Watch (1984), whose title story won the 1982 Hugo and Nebula Awards
• Impossible Things (1993) - contains three Nebula Award winners, two of which also won Hugo Awards
• Futures Imperfect (1996) - omnibus edition of Uncharted Territory, Remake and Bellwether.
• Even the Queen: And Other Short Stories (1998) - sound recording of five stories read by Connie Willis including "Even the Queen", "Death on the Nile", and "At the Rialto"
• Miracle and Other Christmas Stories (1999)
• The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium (2007)
• Time is the Fire: The Best of Connie Willis The Hugo and Nebula award-winning short fiction (2013). ISBN 978-0-575-13114-9

Short stories

• "Samaritan" (1978) - Collected in Fire Watch and The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• "Capra Corn" (1978) - Collected in the "Limited/Lettered Editions" of The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• "Daisy, in the Sun" (1979) - Collected in Fire Watch
• "And Come from Miles Around" (1979) - Collected in Fire Watch
• "The Child Who Cries for the Moon" (1981) - Collected in A Spadeful of Spacetime
• "Distress Call" (1981) - Published separately by Roadkill Press and collected in two anthologies
• "A Letter from the Clearys" (1982) - Collected in Fire Watch and The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium and The Best of Connie Willis: Award-Winning Stories
• "Fire Watch" (1982) - Collected in Fire Watch and The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium and The Best of Connie Willis: Award-Winning Stories
• "Service For the Burial of the Dead" (1982) - Collected in Fire Watch and The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• "Lost and Found" (1982) - Collected in Fire Watch
• "The Father of the Bride" (1982) - Collected in Fire Watch
• "Mail Order Clone" (1982) - Collected in Fire Watch
• "And Also Much Cattle" (1982)
• "The Sidon in the Mirror" (1983) - Collected in Fire Watch
• "A Little Moonshine" (1983)
• "Blued Moon" (1984) - Collected in Fire Watch and The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• "Cash Crop" (1984) - Collected in The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• "Substitution Trick" (1985) - Collected in the "Limited/Lettered Editions" of The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• "The Curse of Kings" (1985) - Collected in The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• "All My Darling Daughters" (1985) - Collected in Fire Watch and The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• "And Who Would Pity a Swan?" (1985)
• "With Friends Like These" (1985)
• "Chance" (1986) - Collected in Impossible Things, The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium, and Gardner Dozois' Modern Classics of Science Fiction
• "Spice Pogrom" (1986) - Collected in Impossible Things
• "The Pony" (1986) - Collected in Miracle and Other Christmas Stories
• "Winter's Tale" (1987) - Collected in Impossible Things
• "Schwarzschild Radius" (1987) - Collected in Impossible Things
• "Circus Story" (1987)
• "Lord of Hosts" (1987)
• "Ado" (1988) - Collected in Impossible Things and The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• "The Last of the Winnebagos" (1988) - Collected in Impossible Things and The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium and The Best of Connie Willis: Award-Winning Stories
• "Dilemma" (1989)
• "Time Out" (1989) - Collected in Impossible Things
• "At the Rialto" (1989) - Collected in Impossible Things, The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium and "Even the Queen: And Other Short Stories" (1998) recording and The Best of Connie Willis: Award-Winning Stories
• "Cibola" (1990)
• "Miracle" (1991) - Collected in Miracle and Other Christmas Stories
• "Jack" (1991) - Collected in Impossible Things and The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• "In the Late Cretaceous" (1991) - Collected in Impossible Things and The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• "Even the Queen" (1992) - Collected in Impossible Things, The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium and "Even the Queen: And Other Short Stories" (1998) recording and The Best of Connie Willis: Award-Winning Stories
• "Inn" (1993) - Collected in Miracle and Other Christmas Stories and The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• "Close Encounter" (1993)
• "Death on the Nile" (1993) - Collected in "Even the Queen: And Other Short Stories" (1998) recording and The Best of Connie Willis: Award-Winning Stories
• "A New Theory Explaining the Unpredictability of Forecasting the Weather" (1993)
• "Why the World Didn't End Last Tuesday" (1994)
• "Adaptation" (1994) - Collected in Miracle and Other Christmas Stories
• "The Soul Selects Her Own Society: Invasion and Repulsion: A Chronological Reinterpretation of Two of Emily Dickinson's Poems: A Wellsian Perspective" (1996) - Collected in The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium and The Best of Connie Willis: Award-Winning Stories
• "In Coppelius's Toyshop" (1996) - Collected in Miracle and Other Christmas Stories
• "Nonstop to Portales" (1996) - Collected in The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• "Newsletter" (1997) - Collected in Miracle and Other Christmas Stories and The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• "Cat's paw" (1999) - Collected in Miracle and Other Christmas Stories
• "Epiphany" (1999) - Collected in Miracle and Other Christmas Stories and The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• "The Winds of Marble Arch" (1999) - Collected in The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium and The Best of Connie Willis: Award-Winning Stories
• "deck.halls@boughs/holly" (2001)
• "Just Like the Ones We Used to Know" (2003) - Collected in The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• "New Hat" (2008)
• "Now Showing" (2014) - Collected in Rogues (anthology)

Other

• Roswell, Vegas, and Area 51: Travels with Courtney (2002)

Essays

• On Ghost Stories (1991)
• Foreword (1998)
• Introduction (1999)
• The Nebula Award for Best Novel (1999)
• The 1997 Author Emeritus: Nelson Bond (1999)
• The Grand Master Award: Poul Anderson (1999)
• A Few Last Words to Put It All in Perspective (1999)
• Bibliography, including a list of all of her SF short stories and "confessions" stories, collected in the "Limited/Lettered Editions" of The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories: A Connie Willis Compendium
• A Final Word; Twelve Terrific Things to Read... (Christmas stories); And Twelve to Watch (Christmas movies); all collected in Miracle and Other Christmas Stories

[ Source: Wikipedia ]