Charles Sheffield books in order

Charles Sheffield (1935-2002) was an English-born physicist and science fiction writer, based in the United States, known for hard science fiction such as The Web Between the Worlds (1979) and Brother to Dragons (1992).

Born in Kingston upon Hull on 25 June 1935, he took a double first in mathematics and physics at St John's College, Cambridge. After moving to the United States he worked in applied physics, consulting for NASA and serving as chief scientist of the Earth Satellite Corporation in Washington, which processed remote-sensing data. The death of his first wife, Sarah, in 1977 prompted him to start writing fiction: Sight of Proteus (1978) was followed by The Web Between the Worlds (1979), which, together with Arthur C. Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise published almost simultaneously, first popularised the space elevator. His later books include Summertide (1990), Brother to Dragons (1992), winner of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (1997). His novelette Georgia on My Mind won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. He was president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America from 1984 to 1986 and of the American Astronautical Society. At the time of his death on 2 November 2002 he was married to the writer Nancy Kress and lived in Silver Spring, Maryland.

For collectors

Sheffield's first two novels appeared first from Ace in the United States, with hardback editions following in Britain. Sight of Proteus came from Ace in 1978, then in hardback from Sidgwick & Jackson in 1980. The Web Between the Worlds was an Ace trade paperback in 1979, and its first UK edition was a Sidgwick & Jackson hardback in 1980. Baen's 2001 revised edition reprints the open letter Clarke wrote in 1979 about the two space-elevator novels.