Gould, Steven

Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.

(1955- ) US author, married to Laura J Mixon, who began to publish work of genre interest with "The Touch of Their Eyes" in Analog for September 1980, though he only began to attract wide notice with his first novel – the first volume in the Jumper sequence comprising Jumper (1992), Reflex (2004) and Jumper: Griffin's Story (2007), a Tie to the film Jumper (2008) directed by Doug Liman – which focuses, as do its successors, on a Mutant variety of Homo sapiens with the gift of Teleportation; the hero of the first volume, a Young Adult tale set in the moderately complex present or very Near Future, follows his coming of age in the complex world of New York, and the attainment of some rapport with his talent, while the second follows his young wife's attempts to rescue him from being kidnapped. The melodramatic discovery by teleporters, that they and their ancestors have been involved for aeons in a war against a breed of "Paladins" bent on destroying them, features only in the film Tie.

Of Gould's several singletons, Wildside (1996), also Young Adult, not dissimilarly offers its protagonist a portal to a pristine world, and Helm (1998) also sets its younger-son protagonist on a quest for something like self-discovery, during the course of which, with the aid of some ancient technology, he saves his colony planet. Greenwar (1997) with Laura J Mixon is a Near Future ecothriller; and Blind Waves (2004) is a Disaster story, also set in the Near Future, and detailing the consequences of global flooding due to a 90 foot rise in sea level which happens in a matter of weeks. 7th Sigma (2011) is set in a vast sanctuary [for Polder here and Jack below see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below] at the heart of an America infested by ferrophagous insects, where young Kimbal (references to Rudyard Kipling's Kim [1901] are systematically deployed) manages Jack-like to survive. As with his Hugo-nominated "Peaches for Mad Molly" (February 1988 Analog) Gould's writing is set apart from some of his peers by a kinetic joy in the exploration of his premises. He was president of SFWA from 2013 to 2015. [JC/GS]

Steven Charles Gould

born Fort Huachuca, Arizona: 7 February 1955

works

series

Jumper

Jumper (New York: Tor, 1992) [Jumper: hb/Romas Kukalis]
Reflex (New York: Tor, 2004) [Jumper: hb/Hywell Jones]
Jumper: Griffin's Story (New York: Tor, 2007) [tie to the film: Jumper: hb/Sam Bassett and Michael McQueen]
Impulse (New York: Tor, 2013) [Jumper: hb/Getty Images]
Exo (New York: Tor, 2014) [Jumper: hb/Getty Images]

7th Sigma

7th Sigma (New York: Tor, 2011) [7th Sigma: hb/Victor Koen]

individual titles

Wildside (New York: Tor, 1996) [hb/Nicholas Jainschigg]
Greenwar (New York: Tor/Forge, 1997) with Laura J Mixon [hb/Peter Bollinger]
Helm (New York: Tor, 1998) [hb/Jim Burns]
Blind Waves (New York: Tor, 1992) [hb/Jim Burns]

links

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