Louis Sergio Antonelli (January 6, 1957 – October 6, 2021) was an American

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from Realism (arts), realism, or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural, futuristic, or ...

author who wrote primarily

alternate history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

, secret history,

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

, and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

. He resided in

Clarksville, Texas Clarksville is a city in and the county seat of Red River County, Texas, Red River County, Texas, United States, in the northernmost part of the Piney Woods region of East Texas. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city popula ...

. Antonelli's stories have been published in print publications based in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, as well as

e-zine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to an online only magazine was the computer ...

s based in India and Portugal.

Early life

Antonelli was born in

Medford, Massachusetts Medford is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus on both sides of the Medford and Somervill ...

and grew up in Rockland. As a young man, he attended

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In 1982, at the age of 25, Antonelli ran as a Republican for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

in a district including most of the West Side of

Manhattan Island Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York. Located almost entire ...

along with parts of

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. He lost to the Democratic incumbent

Ted Weiss Theodore S. Weiss (September 17, 1927 – September 14, 1992) was an American Democratic Party politician who served in the United States House of Representatives for New York from 1977 until his death in 1992. Background Weiss was born in 1927 ...

by a margin of 85%–15%. In 1985, Antonelli moved to Texas. In 1992, he was elected to a term as a member of the Cedar Hill ISD school board and served until 1995. In 2020, he ran for

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

Texas's 4th congressional district Texas's 4th congressional district of the United States House of Representatives is in an area of Northeast Texas, that includes some counties along the Red River northeast of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, as well as some outer eastern su ...

as a

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

, winning 1.9% of the vote.Texas's 4th Congressional District Election, 2020
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Writing career

Antonelli was a professional

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. In January 2015, he was named managing editor of ''The Clarksville Times'' based in

. Antonelli got a late start in his fiction writing career; his first story ("Silvern" in the June 2003 issue of ''RevolutionSF'') was published when he was 46 years old. His first professional sale was "A Rocket for the Republic", published in ''

Asimov's Science Fiction ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine edited by Sheila Williams and published by Dell Magazines, which is owned by Penny Press. It was launched as a quarterly by Davis Publications in 1977, after obtaining Isaac ...

'' in September 2005. His 2012 short story "Great White Ship" was nominated for the

Sidewise Award for Alternate History The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were established in 1995 to recognize the best alternate history stories and novels of the year. Overview The awards take their name from the 1934 short story " Sidewise in Time" by Murray Leinster, in w ...

. , he had 112 short stories published either in print or online. His stories have appeared in ''Asimov's Science Fiction'', ''Worlds of Wonder'', ''

Jim Baen's Universe ''Jim Baen's Universe'' (''JBU'') was a bimonthly online fantasy and science fiction magazine created by Jim Baen (founder and long-time publisher of Baen Books). It was recognized by the SFWA as a Qualifying Short Fiction Venue. ''JBU'' beg ...

'', ''Continuum Science Fiction'', ''Astounding Tales'', ''Bewildering Stories'', ''Andromeda Spaceways In-flight Magazine'', ''Nova Science Fiction'', ''Planetary Stories'', ''Aphelion'', ''Ray Gun Revival'', ''4 Star Stories'', ''Drink Tank'', ''Nova Science Fiction'', ''Omni Reboot'', the ''Song Stories'' anthology, the

FenCon FenCon is a literary science fiction and fantasy convention with filk held each year in or around Dallas, Texas. The name is derived from "fen", the fannish plural of "fan", and "con", an abbreviation for "convention". FenCon is a production of ...

IV Souvenir Program Book, and other publications. Eleven of his stories have received honorable mentions in ''The Year's Best Science Fiction'' published by

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

for 2011, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2005 and 2004. "A Rocket for the Republic" placed third in the ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' Readers Poll for 2005 in the Short Story category. His 2012 short story "Great White Ship" was nominated for the

. "On a Spiritual Plain" (originally published in ''Sci-Phi Journal'' No. 2, November 2014) was nominated for

Hugo Award for Best Short Story The Hugo Award for Best Short Story is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The short story award is available for works of fiction of ...

in 2015. His debut novel, "Another Girl, Another Planet", was nominated for the Dragon Award for Best Alternate History novel in 2017.

Bibliography

Novel

* ''Another Girl, Another Planet'' (2016)

Collections

* ''Fantastic Texas'' (2009) * ''Texas & Other Planets'' (2010) * ''Music for Four Hands'' with Edward Morris (2011) * ''The Clock Struck None'' (2014)

Non-Fiction

* ''Letters from Gardner'' (2014)

Anthologies

* ''The First Bewildering Stories Anthology'' (2006, Adventure Books, , paperback, 164 pages) * ''Zombified: An Anthology of All Things Zombie'' (2011, Sky Warrior, , paperback, 206 pages) * ''Zombie Writing'' (2012, Create Space, , paperback, 160 pages) * ''Song Stories: Volume 1'' (2013, Song Story Press, ASIN B00BTZRVIE, e-book, 196 pages) * ''Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera for a New Age'' (2013, Every Day Publishing, , hardcover, 360 pages)

2015 Hugo Awards controversy

In July 2015, in the midst of the " Sad Puppies/Rabid Puppies" controversy, Antonelli (whose nomination for the

was part of both "Puppies" slates for the Hugo ballot)2015 Hugo Awards Short Fiction Shortlist: Reviewed by Martin Lewis
, at ''

Strange Horizons ''Strange Horizons'' is an online magazine, online speculative fiction magazine. It also features speculative poetry and non-fiction in every issue, including reviews, essays, interviews, and roundtables. History and profile It was launched in S ...

''; published June 8, 2015; retrieved August 24, 2015 wrote a letter to the Spokane Police Department telling them to be on the lookout for

World science fiction convention Worldcon, officially the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during Wor ...

Guest of Honor

David Gerrold David Gerrold (born Jerrold David Friedman; January 24, 1944)Reginald, R. (September 12, 2010)''Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, Volume 2'' Borgo Press p. 911. Archived at Google Books. Retrieved June 23, 2013. is an American science fict ...

(who was scheduled to be master of ceremonies at the award ceremony in Spokane) as a person who may incite violence calling him "insane and a public danger and needs to be watched when the convention’s going on." Antonelli later apologized, and Gerrold accepted the apology, saying "Let's put this one to bed, once and for all. Lou Antonelli did something dumb. People were outraged. Someone who cared about him held up a mirror and he recognized he was (in his words) turning into his own crazy uncle. He apologized. I'm satisfied that his apology was sincere. And that should be the end of it."David Gerrold's comment on Facebook
/ref>

Personal life

He was married to Patricia (Randolph) Antonelli, a

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

native. Antonelli died suddenly at the age of 64 at his residence in

References

External links

Antonelli's Blog - This Way to Texas
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Antonelli, Lou 1957 births 2021 deaths American male novelists American male short story writers American science fiction writers American short story writers Columbia College (New York) alumni People from Clarksville, Texas People from Medford, Massachusetts People from Rockland, Massachusetts