Brad R. Torgersen


Brad R. Torgersen is an American science fiction author whose short stories regularly appear in various anthologies and magazines, including Analog Science Fiction and Fact and Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show.
Torgersen's stories have won the Analog AnLab readers' choice award three different times, and he was a triple finalist in 2012 for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, the Hugo Award for best novelette, and the Nebula Award for best novelette. In addition to short fiction, Torgersen has two published novels, including the 2019 Dragon Award winner, A Star-Wheeled Sky. The Who's Who page for Analog magazine lists him as one of the "leading writers in the genre".
In 2015, Torgensen took charge of the Sad Puppies movement, an unsuccessful annual attempt to win awards for a slate of nominees against perceived bias in the voting of the Hugo Awards. He was replaced the following campaign.

Career

Writing

Torgersen was born April 6, 1974. His first public credit was as an unpaid script writer for locally-produced space opera serial Searcher & Stallion, which broadcast on Salt Lake City community radio KRCL FM in the early 1990s. "Footprints" was published in North Seattle Community College's 2002 Licton Springs Review.
In 2009, his story "Exanastasis" won third place in the third quarter Writers of the Future contest. Torgersen's first professional sale occurred shortly thereafter, when editor Stanley Schmidt bought Torgersen's novelette "Outbound" for Analog Science Fiction and Fact, and the story was selected in the Analog AnLab readers' poll for Best Novelette for 2010. His novelette "Ray of Light" was the cover story on the December 2011 issue of Analog and was nominated for both the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award. He was also nominated for the 2012 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.
Torgersen received two nominations for the 2014 Hugo Awards: for the novella "The Chaplain's Legacy" and the novelette "The Exchange Officers". "The Chaplain's Legacy" also won the 2014 AML Award for Short Fiction. The Chaplain's War, published by Baen Books in October 2014, took his Analog stories "The Chaplain's Assistant" and the AnLab-winning "The Chaplain's Legacy" and expanded them into a fix-up novel. During the 2015 Hugo nomination and voting period, Torgersen led the Sad Puppies movement, which claimed that popular works were often unfairly passed over by Hugo voters in favor of more literary works, or stories with progressive political themes.
He won his third Analog AnLab readers' choice award for the novelette "Life Flight". In December 2018, Baen published A Star-Wheeled Sky, which won the 2019 Dragon Award for "Best Science Fiction Novel". In February 2020 Brad was the Literary Guest of Honor and Keynote Speaker at the 38th annual Life, the Universe, & Everything professional science fiction and fantasy arts symposium.

US Army Reserve

Torgersen was a chief warrant officer in the United States Army Reserve.

Works

Series

''The Chaplain's War''

''The Nemesis''

A serial space opera story on the Searcher & Stallion radio drama show on KRCL FM.
  1. "The Beginning"
  2. "The Preparation"
  3. "Time for Action"
  4. "A Trap is Sprung"
  5. "Times of Conquest"
  6. "Retaliate and Escape"
  7. "The Price of Freedom"
  8. "Fight or Flight"
  9. "On the Move"
  10. "Desperation"
  11. "Return to Center"
  12. "Battle to the Last"

''Waywork Universe''

''Zenophobia Saga''

This series is written with Craig Martelle.
  1. Heretic
  2. Messenger
  3. ''Extremist''

Collections

  • Lights in the Deep
  • ''Racers of the Night''

Anthologies

These are anthologies edited or co-edited by Torgersen.
  • Red Tide co-authored with Larry Niven and Matthew J. Harrington

Short stories

  • "Footprints" in Licton Springs Review
  • "Exanastasis" in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume XXVI edited by K. D. Wentworth
  • "Outbound" in Analog Science Fiction and Fact edited by Stanley Schmidt
  • "Exiles of Eden" in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show #22 edited by Edmund R. Schubert
  • "The Bullfrog Radio Astronomy Project" in Analog Science Fiction and Fact edited by Stanley Schmidt
  • "Ray of Light" in Analog Science Fiction and Fact edited by Stanley Schmidt
  • "The Ascent" with Mike Resnick in Tales from the Fathomless Abyss edited by Philip Athans
  • "Sheep Dog" in The Gruff Variations: Writing for Charity Anthology, Vol. 1 edited by Eric James Stone
  • "Guard Dog" with Mike Resnick in Space Battles edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt
  • "The Curse of Sally Tincakes" in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show #28 edited by Edmund R. Schubert
  • "Peacekeeper" with Mike Resnick in The Mammoth Book of SF Wars edited by Ian Watson and Ian Whates
  • "Strobe Effect" with Alastair Mayer in Analog Science Fiction and Fact
  • "The Shadows of Titan" with Carter Reid in Space Eldritch edited by Nathan Shumate
  • "The Exchange Officers" in Analog Science Fiction and Fact edited by Stanley Schmidt
  • "The Bricks of Eta Cassiopeiae" in Beyond the Sun edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt
  • "Gemini 17" in Lights in the Deep
  • "Guardian of the Headwaters" in The Crimson Pact: Volume 5 edited by Paul Genesse
  • "Reardon's Law" in Five by Five 2: No Surrender edited by Kevin J. Anderson
  • "The Hideki Line" in Spark: A Creative Anthology, Volume IV edited by Brian Lewis
  • "Picket Ship" in Baen Books: Free Stories 2014
  • "Life Flight" in Analog Science Fiction and Fact edited by Trevor Quachri
  • "The Nechronomator" in Galaxy's Edge Issue 7 edited by Mike Resnick
  • "Astronaut Nick" in A Fantastic Holiday Season: The Gift of Stories edited by Kevin J. Anderson and Keith J. Olexa
  • "Blood and Mirrors" in Racers of the Night: Science Fiction Stories edited by Brad R. Torgersen
  • "Peacekeeper" in Racers of the Night: Science Fiction Stories edited by Brad R. Torgersen
  • "Recapturing the Dream" in Racers of the Night: Science Fiction Stories edited by Brad R. Torgersen
  • "The Flamingo Girl" in Racers of the Night: Science Fiction Stories edited by Brad R. Torgersen
  • "The General's Guard" in Riding the Red Horse edited by Tom Kratman and Vox Day
  • "Sparky the Dog" in Red Tide edited by Larry Niven, Brad R. Torgersen, and Matthew J. Harrington
  • "Gyre" in Galaxy's Edge Issue 13 edited by Mike Resnick
  • "The Ghost Conductor of the Interstellar Express" in Trajectories: Stories of Exploration edited by Dave Creek
  • "Jupiter or Bust" in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show No. 50 edited by Edmund R. Schubert
  • "Spirits with Visions" in 2113: Stories Inspired by the Music of Rush edited by Kevin J. Anderson and John McFetridge
  • "The Diddley Bow Horror" in Redneck Eldritch edited by Nathan Shumate
  • "Mars Court Rules" in Galactic Games edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt
  • "Purytans" in Analog Science Fiction and Fact edited by Trevor Quachri
  • "CASPer's Ghost" in A Fistful of Credits edited by Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey
  • "The Bride" in Monster Hunter Files edited by Larry Correia and Bryan Thomas Schmidt
  • "Hymns of the Mothers" in Forbidden Thoughts edited by Jason Rennie
  • "The Unsent Letter" in Freedom's Light: Short Stories edited by Lindsay Galloway, Kia Heavey, and Matthew Souders
  • "Orphans of Aries" in Rocket's Red Glare edited by James Reasoner
  • "45" in MAGA 2020 & Beyond edited by Marina Fontaine, Jason Rennie, and Dawn Witzke
  • "Old Dogs, New Tricks" in Avatar Dreams: Scientific Visions of Avatar Technology edited by Kevin J. Anderson and Mike Resnick
  • "For Man or Beast" in To Be Men: Stories Celebrating Masculinity edited by Sirius Métier
  • "Scrith" in Man-Kzin Wars XV
  • "Salvage: The Judas Gambit" in Salvage Conquest: Tales from the Salvage Title Universe edited by Chris Kennedy and Kevin Steverson
  • "Buffalo Fifteen " in Freehold: Resistance edited by Michael Z. Williamson
  • "Secondhand Empires" in Trouble in the Wind edited by Chris Kennedy and James Young
  • "A Sword of Damocles" in Through the Gate: More Tales from the Salvage Title Universe edited by Chris Kennedy
  • "All Quiet on the Phantom Front" in Weird World War III edited by Sean Patrick Hazlett
  • "Stowaway" in The Founder Effect edited by Robert E. Hampson and Sandra L. Medlock
  • "Azchut" in The Expanding Universe: Volume 7 edited by Craig Martelle
  • "The Eureka Alternative" in Weird World War IV edited by Sean Patrick Hazlett
  • "The Pinocchio Gambit" in Robosoldiers: Thank You for Your Servos edited by Stephen Lawson

Awards and recognition

Torgersen has been nominated for and won multiple awards for his various works. He is listed on Analog's Who's Who, a short listing of the "leading writers in the genre" who have been published in Analog.
YearOrganizationAward title,
Category
WorkResultRefs
2009Writers of the FutureThird quarter"Exanastasis"
2010Analog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Award,
Best Novelette
"Outbound"Won
2011Analog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Award,
Best Novelette
"Ray of Light"Nomitated
2012WorldconHugo Award,
Best Novelette
"Ray of Light"Nomitated
2012WorldconJohn W. Campbell Award for Best New WriterNomitated
2012SFWANebula Award,
Best Novelette
"Ray of Light"Nomitated
2013Analog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Award,
Best Novella
"The Chaplain's Legacy"Won
2013Analog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Award,
Best Novelette
"The Exchange Officers"Nomitated
2014WorldconHugo Award,
Best Novelette
"The Exchange Officers"Nomitated
2014WorldconHugo Award,
Best Novella
"The Chaplain's Legacy"Nomitated
2014Analog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Award,
Best Novelette
"Life Flight"Won
2014Association for Mormon LettersAML Awards,
Short Fiction
"The Chaplain's Legacy"Won
2019Dragon ConDragon Award, Best Science Fiction NovelA Star-Wheeled SkyWon