Michael A. Banks (March 21, 1951 – June 19, 2023) was a writer and editor of

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 non-fiction.

Biography

Banks was born in

Princeton, Indiana Princeton is the largest city in and the county seat of Patoka Township, Gibson County, Indiana, United States. The population was 8,301 at the 2020 United States census, and it is part of the greater Evansville, Indiana, Metropolitan Area. H ...

on March 21, 1951. He wrote several biographies for magazines, including those about aviators, inventors, and other figures. His book, ''Crosley'', is the story of inventor Powel Crosley, Jr., who founded

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

WLW WLW (700 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial news/talk radio station city of license, licensed to Cincinnati, Ohio. Owned by iHeartMedia, WLW is a clear-channel station, often identifying itself as "The Big One". Its studios ...

and built the Crosley automobile, Moonbeam aircraft, and low-cost radios that touched off the broadcasting industry in 1921. Banks died on June 19, 2023, at the age of 72.World Fantasy Convention 2023 In Memoriam
Retrieved 2023-06-21.

Career

Computing

A former columnist for ''Windows Magazine'' and ''Computer Shopper'', Banks documented the growth of online services and the Internet and Web from the early 1980s onward. His book ''The Modem Reference'' was a guide to the online world during the 1980s and into the 1990s, selling more than 200,000 copies. Banks explored Internet crime and computer privacy with his books ''Web Psychos'', ''Stalkers and Pranksters'', and ''PC Confidential''. He also served as a freelance acquisitions editor for

Baen Books Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher an ...

and associate editor for Baen's quarterly "book-a-zine", and ''New Destinies'' in the 1980s. Banks also wrote ''On the Way to the Web: The Secret History of the Internet'', which tells the story of what was happening online before the Web, including the histories of Videotex and online services such as

CompuServe CompuServe, Inc. (CompuServe Information Service, Inc., also known by its initialism CIS or later CSi) was an American Internet company that provided the first major commercial online service provider, online service. It opened in 1969 as a times ...

The Source The Source may refer to: Film and television * ''The Source'' (1918 film), 1918 American drama directed by George Melford * ''The Source'' (1999 film), a 1999 documentary film about the Beat generation * ''The Source'' (2002 film), a 2002 scienc ...

PlayNET PlayNET (or PlayNet) was an American online service for Commodore 64 personal computers that operated from 1984 to 1987. It was operated by the PlayNet, Inc of Troy, New York. History PlayNet was founded in 1983 by two former GE Global Researc ...

AOL AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. The service traces its history to an online ...

, Q-Link,

Viewdata Viewdata is a Videotex implementation. It is a type of information retrieval service in which a subscriber can access a remote database via a common carrier channel, request data and receive requested data on a video display over a separate ...

, and

Prestel Prestel was the Brand#Brand names and trademark, brand name of a videotex service launched in the UK in 1979 by BT Group#Post Office Telecommunications, Post Office Telecommunications, a division of the British Post Office Limited#History, Po ...

Science fiction

His nonfiction works in the science fiction field include ''Understanding Science Fiction'' and collaborations with

Mack Reynolds Dallas McCord "Mack" Reynolds (November 11, 1917 – January 30, 1983) was an American science fiction writer. His pen names included Dallas Ross, Mark Mallory, Clark Collins, Dallas Rose, Guy McCord, Maxine Reynolds, Bob Belmont, and Todd Har ...

. Banks wrote several novels, including ''The Odysseus Solution'' with Dean R. Lambe, and has also been a contributor to ''Analog'', ''Asimov's SF'', and other publications.

Other work

Banks also wrote ''Before Oprah: Ruth Lyons, the Woman Who Created Talk TV''.

References

External links

*
Mike Banks blog
1951 births 2023 deaths 20th-century American biographers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American short story writers American male biographers American male novelists American science fiction writers American male short story writers People from Princeton, Indiana {{US-sf-writer-stub