Roger macbride allen wikipedia
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Indeed, some sense that Allen had lost some interest in the more challenging implications of the Space Opera form he had honourably contributed to may be seen in a succession of Ties [see Checklist below] which occupied much of his time in the 1990s. But Allen, while clearly making no secret of his allegiance to nostalgia-inducing narrative conventions, remained very much a writer of the 1980s in the physical complexity and moral dubiety of the galaxy his crew enters, fighting and judging and having a fairly good time in the task of saving planets.
Although the human cultures described in the first volume are unimaginatively presented, the exuberance of Allen's large-scale plotting (and thinking) made Hunted Earth one of the touchstone galactic epics of the early 1990s, though it did not prefigure the more daunting complexities of work by writers like Dan Simmons. He crafted the thrilling trilogy known as "The Corellian Trilogy," which included the novels Ambush at Corellia, Assault at Selonia, and Showdown at Centerpoint.
Exploring the Asimov Universe
Allen's fascination with Isaac Asimov's visionary robot universe led him to pen a trio of novels based on the renowned "Robots" series.
The Torch of Honor begins with a scene all too evocative of Robert A Heinlein's sf juveniles from three decades earlier, as a batch of space cadets graduates from academy into interstellar hot water after learning – in a scene which any viewer of John Ford's Cavalry Westerns would also recognize – of the death of many of their fellows in a space encounter.
His comprehensive body of work has left an enduring mark on the literary landscape, inspiring generations of readers with its imaginative storytelling and thought-provoking ideas.
THE GAME OF WORLDS
THE TORCH OF HONOR
ROGUE POWERS
ORPHAN OF CREATION
FARSIDE CANNON
ALLIES AND ALIENS*
THE MODULAR MAN
THE WAR MACHINE (with David Drake)
SUPERNOVA (with Eric Kotani)
The Hunted Earth Series
THE RING OF CHARON
THE SHATTERED SPHERE
The Corellian Trilogy
STAR WARS: AMBUSH AT CORELLIA
STAR WARS: ASSAULT AT SELONIA
STAR WARS: SHOWDOWN AT CENTERPOINT
The Caliban Series
ISAAC ASIMOV'S UTOPIA
ISAAC ASIMOV'S INFERNO
ISAAC ASIMOV'S CALIBAN
Chronicles of Solace series
THE DEPTHS OF TIME
OCEAN OF YEARS
THE SHORES OF TOMORROW
BSI: STARSIDE series
BSI: STARSIDE: THE CAUSE OF DEATH
BSI: STARSIDE: DEATH SENTENCE
BSI: STARSIDE: FINAL INQUIRIES
Entry updated 7 July 2025.
The story of a Black anthropologist who discovers in the USA the bones of some Australopithecines who had been transported there by slave traders, the novel gives an impressive accounting of the nature of Anthropology as a science, and mounts a welcome attack on the strange contemporary vogue for Creationism. Isaac Asimov's Caliban (1993), an authorized Sequel by Other Hands, rings further changes on Isaac Asimov's use of plots driven by the Laws of Robotics.
Potentially more interesting than any of these titles is the Hunted Earth sequence, comprising The Ring of Charon (1990) and The Shattered Sphere (1993).
Supernova (1991), with Eric Kotani, relates, again with scientific verisimilitude, the process involved in discovering that a nearby star is due to go supernova and flood Earth with hard radiation. These works, titled Caliban, Inferno, and Utopia, expanded upon the themes and characters of Asimov's iconic creations.
Later Years and Legacy
As Allen's career progressed, he continued to produce captivating novels, further solidifying his reputation as a prominent figure in the science fiction genre.
A more recent series – the Chronicles of Solace sequence comprising The Depths of Time (2000), The Ocean of Years (2002) and The Shores of Tomorrow (2003) – does, however, show signs of renewed engagement, though the cosmogonic perplexities of writers like Dan Simmons or Peter F Hamilton tend to be substituted for here by perplexities of storytelling not justified by any depth in the portrayal of character.
The Modular Man (February-May 1992 Analog; 1992) deals with the implications of a Robot technology sufficiently advanced for humans to Upload their consciousnesses into machines; the story combines farce – humans download themselves into vacuum cleaners to obtain Immortality – and courtroom pathos, as a paraplegic lawyer defends a case via Avatar but dies anyway.
The BSI sequence – comprising BSI: Starside: The Cause of Death (2006), BSI: Starside: Death Sentence (2007) and BSI: Starside: Final Inquiries (2008) – in which the Bureau of Special Investigations solves complex problems in the Far Future, is less ambitious.
[JC]
see also:Asteroids; Black Holes; Moon; Outer Planets; Weapons.
Roger MacBride Allen
born Bridgeport, Connecticut: 26 September 1957
works
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Torch
Hunted Earth
Asimov
Star Wars
Chronicles of Solace
BSI: Starside
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The second novel, which features a no-nonsense female protagonist and a lovingly described Alien culture, builds on the strengths of the first while disengaging to some degree from the debilitating simplicities of Military SF.Rogue Powers, on the other hand, touches on but does not deeply explore Gender issues in its portrayal of a species whose females are sentient but who undergo a genetically-inescapable sex change at some point into almost brainless males.
Orphan of Creation (1988; vt Orphan of Creation: Contact with the Human Past2000), a singleton, demonstrates with greater clarity than the series the clarity and scientific numeracy of Allen's mind and narrative strategies.
The Solace universe, a galactic venue thousands of years hence, is complicated rather than complex, riven by Time-Travel reverse-turns, as the various protagonists attempt to find (and to utilize the skills of) the fleeing Trickster villain, whose Terraforming of numerous planets has proved ultimately unsustainable (there may be hints here of a comment on twenty-first-century environmental issues), but who may have some answer to the looming galaxy-wide disaster.
Farside Cannon (1988), in which the Near-Future solar system witnesses political upheaval on time-tested grounds, and The War Machine (1989) with David A Drake, part of the latter's Crisis of Empire sequence, were sufficiently competent to keep interest in Allen alive. Tagged: Author.
(1957- ) US author who began writing with the TorchSpace-Opera series, The Torch of Honor (1985) and Rogue Powers (1986) – both assembled as Allies and Aliens (omni, rev 1995) – whose considerable impact may seem excessive to anyone familiar only with the books in synopsis, as neither might have appeared to offer anything new.
After the passing of a beam of phased gravity-waves – a new human invention – has awakened a long dormant semi-autonomous being embedded deep within the Moon, the Earth is shunted via Wormhole to a new solar system dominated by a multifaceted culture occupying a Dyson Sphere.
Roger MacBride Allen
| American science fiction writer. Date of Birth: 26.09.1957 Country: USA |
Content:
- Roger MacBride Allen: A Master of Science Fiction and Star Wars Lore
- The "Star Wars" Legacy
- Exploring the Asimov Universe
- Later Years and Legacy
Roger MacBride Allen: A Master of Science Fiction and Star Wars Lore
Early Life and CareerRoger MacBride Allen was an American science fiction writer whose prolific output spanned decades.