Baen Author Edward M. Lerner profiled
in University of Illinois publication.

(This article was Published in the "PHYSICS ILLINOIS NEWS * 2004 Number 2." Physics Illinois News is a bi-annual production of the University of Illinois Department of Physics)

BY RICK KUBETZ

Capping four years that saw a dozen sales to top science fiction magazines and an entry in a Year's Best Science Fiction anthology, Edward M Lerner (BS '71 Physics, MSE '73 Computer Science) will see his second novel, Moonstruck, published in February 2005. Lerner's fiction draws on his academic background - physics and computer science - and 30 years' experience at some of the country's premiere high-tech firms. "Both books feature physicist heroes," Lerner explained. "It goes back to that whole notion of writing what you know. I think it is especially important in science fiction, where settings and characters ground the story in reality, particularly when the plot is 'out there'."

According to Lerner, the idea of writing science fiction surfaced "somewhere in the vicinity of 1982." "I finished my MBA, which meant I had my evenings and weekends back, and was reading again for fun. I was criticizing some of the things I read. My wife suggested, "If you can do better, why don't you?"

"At that time, I had a long commute to work, so I started toying with plot ideas. I did a lot of "what if?" gameplaying with myself while I drove, then scribbled down my thoughts the moment I arrived. It took a couple months of driving to refine the plot." His first novel, the techno- thriller Probe, was reviewed in the November/ December 1991 issue of the university's alumni magazine (then called the Illinois Quarterly).

"The hero of Probe is a physicist named Bob Hanson from UIUC, and chief technologist at the imaginary Illinois-based Asgard Aerospace Corporation. His life's work is Asgard's privately funded space probe, Prospector, which is seeking mineral wealth in the Asteroid Belt. When Prospector stumbles upon a wrecked alien spacecraft, the Pentagon, NASA, his employers, and a cabal of mysterious plotters all have plans - disclosed and otherwise - for Prospector and what it's found.

"I'm partial to stubborn physicists who refuse to take some phenomenon at face value (even if that face belongs to a supposedly much-smarter-than-human alien sapient)," he remarked. "And the unwrapping of physical riddles is plot-crucial. My other U of I degree is in computer science, so that affects my writing as well."

The hero of Moonstruck is a physicist and government researcher named Kyle Gustafson. "Having finally achieved the eminent post of Presidential science advisor, Gustafson thinks that, just maybe, he'll have the opportunity to make a difference," Lerner stated. "Then, even before the prologue ends, the shuttle Atlantis self- destructs during launch. By the end of Chapter One, the aliens arrive. And the physics of it all is just so puzzling and interesting." As a side note, Lerner mentions that he sold Moonstruck in serial form just days before the Columbia self-destructed during its descent, which was an eerie near-coincidence. "With some minor edits - to be sensitive to the Columbia tragedy - we went forward," he explained. "Then the Iraq war happened, and (without "spilling the beans' plot- wise), suddenly, more plot tweaks were in order. Writing nearfuture fiction is a dangerous business." But it's from his "business" that Lerner has gotten his best ideas. "My stories are seeded by technologies that currently interest me. Those seeds can take time to germinate, though. Moonstruck draws heavily upon my NASA contractor days, which ended in 1997."

Over the course of his career, Lerner's employers have included some of the country's technology heavyweights: Bell Labs ("What a talent pool that is!"), Honeywell - Ñfirst as a consultant, then as an employee - PAR (Pattern Analysis & Recognition) Technologies, AT&T, Northrop Grumman, and Hughes Aircraft.

"At Hughes, I worked on a proposal for NASA's Earth Observing System, monitoring the world from low-earth orbit to see how its parts - atmosphere, oceans, land, ice caps - interact. The observation program is planned for at least 15 years (two full solar cycles). Hughes was bidding to be systems integrator for the multi-petabyte distributed data repository." After Hughes was awarded the contract, Lerner became a manager, with more than 300 engineers and scientists reporting to him. "I contributed to the first three releases, and several of the satellites have since been launched. Along the way, I procured lots of good story input to Moonstruck. As the plot developed, I needed an alien weapon that was something different. I ended up caucusing with an atmospheric physicist on the concept.

"Concurrently, I was developing ideas for computer- science fiction, which eventually became a virtualreality neural-interfaces novella published in Analog in February 2002. That was followed by a short-novel sequel in the November and December issues, adding artificial life to the mix. This story arc deals with evolved-insidethe- computer monsters. I call it, "Cyber without the punk'."

Lerner has fond memories of his days at the University. "I've been back several times on recruiting trips. When I was there in '94 to do some recruiting, I swung by NCSA to check out the newfangled World Wide Web." Upon turning 50, Lerner decided that he had been managing projects long enough and gave himself a sabbatical, writing stories for magazines such as Artemis and Analog. He recently decided to pursue writing full-time from the home that he shares with his wife, Ruth Mayland Lerner (BA '71 FAA, MS '72 LIS) in Herndon, Virginia. "She is my first reader," Lerner added. "She doesn't like it when I kill people. That's how I can tell if I have a likeable character; she objects when I kill them off." Moonstruck will be published by Baen Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) in February 2005; it will be available for advanced ordering starting November - December 2004. Lerner's website is www.sfwa.org/members/lerner/. (SFWA = Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America).

END OF ARTICLE

View the PDF file at http://www.physics.uiuc.edu/Alumni/PIN-current.pdf. This issue should be available for several months, but will then be archived.