Barry Brookes Longyear (May 12, 1942 – May 6, 2025) was an American science fiction author who resided in

New Sharon, Maine New Sharon is a New England town, town in Franklin County, Maine, Franklin County, Maine, incorporated in 1794. The population was 1,458 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The town is roughly bisected by the Sandy River, a tributary ...

Career

Born in

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg ( ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,099 as of 2020, Harrisburg is the ninth-most populous city in Pennsylvania. It is the larger of the two pr ...

, Longyear was known best for his 1979 Hugo- and

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA), a nonprofit association of pr ...

–winning novella " Enemy Mine", which was subsequently made into a movie of the same name. The story is of an encounter between a human and an alien soldier whose races are at war. They are marooned together in space and have to overcome their mutual distrust in order to cooperate and survive. A greatly expanded version of the original novella as well as two novels completing the trilogy, ''The Tomorrow Testament'' and ''The Last Enemy'', are gathered with additional materials into '' The Enemy Papers''. The novella helped Longyear to win the

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer The ''Astounding'' Award for Best New Writer (formerly the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer) is given annually to the best new writer whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the two previous ...

in 1980. He was the only writer to win the Hugo, Nebula, and Campbell awards in the same year until this was matched by

Rebecca Roanhorse Rebecca Roanhorse (born 23 September 1971) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer from New Mexico. She has written short stories and science fiction novels featuring Navajo characters.Kerry Lengel"Navajo legends come to life in Rebecca ...

in 2018. He also wrote the series ''Circus World'' and ''Infinity Hold'', several stand-alone novels, numerous short stories, and two books for the ''

Alien Nation ''Alien Nation'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Rockne S. O'Bannon (later known for ''Farscape''), comprising film, television, and other media productions about alien refugees living on Earth. The series began with ...

'' novelization series. His trilogy "Infinity Hold", "Kill All the Lawyers", and "Keep the Law", was released in 2002 in a single paperback volume titled ''Infinity Hold 3''. His Jaggers & Shad mystery stories, featuring two detectives in the Artificial Beings Crimes Division (Devon Office), are set mostly in Exeter and the surrounding Devon countryside and villages. The first of the stories, ''The Good Kill'', won ''Analog'' magazine's AnLab award for Best Novella in 2006, and ''Murder in Parliament Street'' won the same award for 2007. ''The Hook'' won the 2021

Prometheus Award The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activist L. Neil Smith established the Best Novel category for the award in 1979; however, it was not award ...

for the year's best work of

libertarian science fiction Libertarian science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction that focuses on the politics and social order implied by right-libertarian (especially American libertarian) philosophies with an emphasis on individualism and private ownership of ...

. The series ''Circus World'' chronicles the adventures of a space-going circus troupe whose spaceship crashes, marooning them on a deserted planet without contact with the outside world. The series ''Infinity Hold'' concerns a society developing from a group of violent convicts dumped on a new planet without police or government. ''Saint Mary Blue'' centers around the course of treatment for a man with

substance abuse Substance misuse, also known as drug misuse or, in older vernacular, substance abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods that are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder, differing definition ...

and mental health problems, while resident in a treatment facility. ''The God Box'' is a stand-alone

secondary world A fictional universe, also known as an imagined universe or a constructed universe, is the Continuity (fiction), internally consistent fictional Setting (narrative), setting used in a narrative or a work of art. This concept is most commonly as ...

fantasy novel in which the protagonist finds himself the keeper of a small wooden box that provides cryptic guidance from the gods. Longyear had also written a mystery series, ''The Hangman's Son'' trilogy (2011) and ''Rope Paper Scissors'' (2013), featuring detective Joe Torio. Longyear died May 6, 2025, at the age of 82.

Published works

Stand-alone novels

* '' Sea of Glass'' (1987) * ''Naked Came the Robot'' (1988) * ''The God Box'' (1989) * ''The Homecoming'' (1989) * ''Jaggers & Shad: ABC Is for Artificial Beings Crimes'' (2010) * ''THe Candle Man'' (2024)

Enemy Mine series

# " Enemy Mine" (''Asimov's Science Fiction'', Sep 1979; 1980 Hugo, Nebula & Locus winner) # ''The Tomorrow Testament'' (1983) # ''The Last Enemy'' (1997)

Omnibus

*'' The Enemy Papers'', also containing additional material (1998)

Infinity Hold series

# ''Infinity Hold'' 1989 # ''Infinity Hold\3'' 2002 (Containing ''Infinity Hold'', ''Kill All the Lawyers'', and ''Keep the Law'')

Circus World series

# '' Circus World'' (1980) # ''City of Baraboo'' (1980) # '' Elephant Song'' (1981)

Joe Torio mysteries

* ''The Hangman's Son'' (2011) * ''Just Enough Rope'' (2012) * ''Rope'' (Book 1 of Rope Paper Scissors, 2013) * ''Paper'' (Book 2 of Rope Paper Scissors, 2013) * ''Scissors'' (Book 3 of Rope Paper Scissors, 2013)

The War Whisperer

* ''The War Whisperer: Book 1: Geronimo'' (2019) * ''The War Whisperer: Book 2: Black'' (2019) * ''The War Whisperer: Book 3: Misty'' (2019) * ''The War Whisperer: Book 4: The RAT'' (2020) * ''The War Whisperer: Book 5: The Hook'' (2020) (

winner) * ''The War Whisperer: Book 6: The Notice'' (2020) * ''The War Whisperer: Book 7: Changes'' (2020)

Recovery works

* ''Saint Mary Blue'' (novel set in a treatment facility), SteelDragon Press, 1988 * ''Yesterday's Tomorrow: Recovery Meditations for Hard Cases'', Hazelden, 1997 * "The Monopoly Man" (''Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'', January 2009)

''Alien Nation'' tie-in novels

* ''The Change'' (1994) * ''Slag Like Me'' (1994)

Nonfiction

* ''Science Fiction Writer's Workshop-I'' * ''The Write Stuff Online Writing Seminar'' * ''Alien Runes: Building and Using Your Personal Oracle'' (2020) * ''Vade Mecum for Alien Runes'' (2020)

Short story collections

* ''Manifest Destiny'' * ''It Came from Schenectady'' * ''Dark Corners'' (2022) *''The Fireteller Tales'' (2024)

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Longyear, Barry B. 1942 births 2025 deaths 20th-century American novelists American fantasy writers American male novelists American mystery writers American science fiction writers Hugo Award–winning writers Nebula Award winners John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer winners Constructed language creators American male short story writers Writers from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers People from New Sharon, Maine 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Pennsylvania 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers