Skurzynski, Gloria
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1930- ) US author from the 1970s of fiction and nonfiction for Young Adult markets; in her first sf novel, Cyberstorm (1995), a young girl finds herself trapped in a Virtual Reality room meant to re-create a world of happy memories for its elderly owner; wrongness soon pervades the enclave. Skurzynski's Virtual War Chronologs sequence beginning with Virtual War (1997) is set in a devastated Near Future America, ravaged by Disasters and plagues, the surviving population being restricted to Keeps; the main protagonists of the series are Clones, bred within Virtual Reality cages, whose destiny it is to engage in ritualized conflict (see Games and Sports) with the winner gaining Lebensraum for his or her owners. Later volumes focus on the intense relationships established among various clones, who revolt against their enslaved status. [JC]
Gloria Joan Skurzynski
born Duquesne, Pennsylvania: 6 July 1930
works
series
Virtual War Chronologs
- Virtual War (New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1997) [Virtual War Chronologs: hb/Francesco Caseres]
- The Clones (New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2002) [Virtual War Chronologs: hb/]
- Devastation (New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2010) [omni of the above two: Virtual War Chronologs: pb/]
- The Revolt (New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2005) [Virtual War Chronologs: hb/]
- The Choice (New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2011) [Virtual War Chronologs: hb/]
- Afterwar (New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2011) [omni of the above two: Virtual War Chronologs: pb/]
individual titles
- The Remarkable Journey of Gustavus Bell (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1973) [chap: illus/hb/Greg & Tim Hildebrandt]
- Cyberstorm (New York: Macmillan Books for Young Readers, 1995) [hb/Jim Carroll]
nonfiction
- Bionic Parts for People: The Real Story of Artificial Organs and Replacement Parts (New York: Four Winds, 1978) [nonfiction: hb/]
- Almost the Real Thing: Simulation in Your High-Tech World (New York: Bradbury, 1991) [nonfiction: hb/]
- Are We Alone?: Scientists Search for Life in Space (Washington, District of Columbia: National Geographic Society, 2004) with Frank Schwarz [nonfiction: hb/]
- This Is Rocket Science: True Stories of the Risk-taking Scientists Who Figure Out Ways to Explore Beyond Earth (Washington, District of Columbia: National Geographic Society, 2010) [nonfiction: hb/]
links
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