Texas A&M Wesley Foundation is a Methodist student organization and endowment at Texas A&M University. It defines itself as the "organized educational ministry through which the United Methodist Church endeavors to promote and support the interests of education and campus ministry on accordance with the Annual Conference and the General Board of Education, Division of Higher Education"

The Texas Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers was founded in 1913 at a meeting held in Corpus Christi, with the objective of the advancement of the science and profession of engineering. By 1980, the society had reached a membership level of over 3000, organized into eleven local branches.

The society provides opportunities for the exchange of scientific information through the organization of technical groups which hold conferences for scholarly discussion and the presentation of papers and concerns itself in many ways with the affairs of the civil engineering profession in general. It has formulated a professional code of ethics, standardized formulas for compensation, and a standardized contract. It gives honorary awards for outstanding contributors to the profession, organizes and subsidizes student chapters, and cooperates with other engineering societies in promoting the interests of engineers in the formulation of public policy. The society also publishes a monthly newsletter, The Texas Civil Engineer.

Edward Thomas was an English author and poet in the early part of the 20th Century. He was born on March 3, 1878, in Lambeth, London, and educated at Battersea Grammar School, St Paul's School and Lincoln College, Oxford. Initially working as a book reviewer and literary critic, he became a writer himself. While he is known for his poetry, he also wrote a novel, a children's book, and several non-fiction books. He became a poet full-time just after the outbreak of World War I.

Thomas enlisted into the military in July 1915 with the Artists' Rifles, promoted to Corporal, and commissioned to the Royal Garrison Artillery in 1916. He was killed in action at Arras on April 9, 1917, shortly after arriving in France.

According to the biographical information received with the letter and other sources, Alexander Thomson, Jr. was born 29 Aug. 1785 in St. Matthews Parrish, S.C., the only son of Alexander and Lucy (Fontaine) Thomson. Thomson lived in Georgia in his youth, and married Elizabeth Dowsing in Lincoln County, Ga. 31 July 1805. Thomson and his family left Georgia in 1814, moving to Giles County, Tenn., where Thomson rented land from Sterling Clack Robertson, who later became a land empresario, second only to Stephen Austin in the size of his holdings. Thomson emigrated to Texas, and settled at Washington, Tex. around 1830, becoming one of the first settlers in what is now Burleson County in east Central Texas. According to the biographical note, Alexander Thomson and his wife had twelve children, but other sources state they had thirteen. The Thomson letter is addressed to his son William D. Thomson, who later served as the first county clerk of Milam County, and Engrossing clerk of the House of Representatives, First Congress, Republic of Texas, which convened at Columbia, Tex. on October 3, 1836.

As a surveyor and full partner of the empresarioSterling C. Robertson, who represented the colonization project called Robertson's Colony, which was variously known as the Texas Association, Leftwich's Grant, and the Nashville Colony, Alexander Thomson encouraged the colonization of Central Texas, and invested $20,000.00 himself in Robertson's colonization plan. As a result of drawn out legal disputes with the much more influential empresarioStephen F. Austin over the ownership of the area covered by Robertson's colony, mainly caused by the passing of the Law of 6 April 1830 in which the Mexican government banned any further emigration from the United States into Texas, Thomson settled in Austin's colony in 1830. The land disputes were not settled until 1834, at which time colonists were legally permitted take up their land grants in Robertson's Colony and settle there. The handwritten biography accompanying the Thomson letter notes that Thomson was also related to Sterling Robertson, since Helen P. Robertson was Alexander Thomson's cousin, and that a more complete record of Alexander Thomson's various services to the development of Texas is recorded in the April 1904 issue of the Texas Quarterly.

Among his services to Texas after this 1832 letter was written, Alexander Thomson participated as a member of the General Council, which helped govern Texas as a part of the provisional government established by the Consultation in San Felipe de Austin, which adjourned 14 Nov. 1835, until the opening on 1 March 1836 of the Convention which wrote the Texas Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the Republic of Texas. Alexander Thomson is particularly credited with naming Milam County, introducing a resolution as a delegate from the Municipality of Viesca (Milam County) to the Consultation on 26 December 1835, naming the County in honor of Ben Milam who had just been killed in San Antonio. Thomson probably also helped bring Methodism to Milam County, significant since the Mexican government had earlier specified in their land grant agreements that all colonists must be Catholics.

After his first wife's death 24 Dec. 1849, Thomson married Elizabeth Hill, widow of Asa Hill 28 May 1850. Alexander Thomson died 1 June 1863 (the biographical note gives May 1865), and was buried in a family graveyard at Yellow Prairie, Tex., renamed Chriesman in 1885, in honor of Horatio Chriesman, a later pioneer. Though declined by 1993 to barely thirty citizens, Chriesman is still located seven miles northwest of Caldwell, Tex. in northwestern Burleson County.

Marmaduke Knox Thornton Jr. was born in 1892 in Arkansas. He attended Mississippi A&M College (now Mississippi State University) and graduated in 1909 with a BS in Education. Thornton married Lucille Ramsey on December 28, 1921. They had two children, Lucille Thornton, and Marmaduke III.  He was a professor of Industrial Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M College from 1919-1934. He later became various specialists at Texas A&M College along with the Agricultural Extension services until his retirement in 1964. Thornton Jr. died on January 8, 1984, in Bryan, TX.

J. R. R. Tolkien was a professor, linguist, and the author of, most famously, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. He is regarded as one of the greatest figures of modern fantasy literature, and his works have been an inspiration to millions of readers and authors alike.

"Doc" W. A. Tolson was born in San Angelo Texas in 1912. He originated and broadcasted the first radio announcement of the A&M College football game (Texas vs. A&M, Thanksgiving Day 1919) while a sophomore electrical engineering student at A&M. Tolson was band "Reg" private in the Corps of Cadets and was recognized for this accomplishment on CBS's AN American Portrait in 1986. He worked with RCA in London, USA, and abroad working on radio communications. Tolson continued to researched radio technology and taught at Princeton University. He served in World War II (WWII) through radio work and was awarded Navy "E" pins for outstanding service in 1942.

No information was found on when C. S. Travis attended in the Texas A&M College records. He most likely was one in the first class of students who attended Texas A&M or a lecturer who was not listed in the early records. No records were found on if or when he completed his degree.

Ide Peebles Trotter was born in Brownsville, Tenn. on 12 December 1895, the son of Isham Patten and Susie Eager Trotter. Most of his working career was devoted to education, mainly in Texas, though he also spent several years in Missouri.

Trotter received a B.A. from Mississippi College in 1915, and a B.S. (1918) and M.S. (1921) from Mississippi A & M. In 1933 the University of Wisconsin awarded him a Ph.D. in Agriculture. His dissertation topic was A Comparative Study of the Individual and Group Behavior of Farmers as Influenced by Certain Methods of Soils and Crops Extension Teaching Used in Missouri.

For one year following the receipt of his B.A., Trotter served as the Assistant Principal of the High School in Hernando, Miss. He then re-entered college. Immediately after receiving his B.S., he entered the military and served as Director of Agriculture for the military base hospitals at Camp Travis, Texas, and Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Upon being released from military duties, he entered graduate school. For slightly more than two years after receiving his M.S., Trotter worked at the Delta Branch Experiment Station in Stoneville, Miss., serving first as Foreman and later as Assistant to the Superintendent.

During 1923-1936, Trotter served as the Extension Agronomist at the Missouri College of Agriculture. While serving in this capacity, he was charged with several additional responsibilities, in 1933 he was placed in charge of the Federal Cotton Plow-up Program, and in 1934, the A.A.A. Program in eighteen counties in Southeastern Missouri. Trotter also represented the University of Missouri on the Bankhead Committee, and, from 1935 to 1936, served as Agronomy Advisor to the Administrator of the U.S.D.A., the A.A.A., and Soil Conservation Programs.

In 1936, Trotter came to Texas A & M University, then called the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, where he held several responsible positions before his retirement in 1960. Until 1944, he served as Head of the Department of Agronomy. From 1944 until 1949, he was Director of the Agricultural Extension Service. During these years, he made several changes, such as having regional directors reside in the regions in which they served rather than in College Station, and, to avoid duplication of effort, having subject specialists in the Extension Service work more closely with the people in their subject area in the School of Agriculture. Trotter also devoted a great deal of effort to the professional improvement of Extension personnel. Between 1949 and 1956, Trotter was Dean of the Graduate School and thereafter served as Associate Dean until his retirement in 1960. In addition, he was an Extension Consultant on Personnel and Professional Improvement during this time. He was particularly active in the training of African-American Extension personnel.

Twice during his long career, Trotter was engaged in activities that took him abroad for extended periods. Upon retiring from Texas A&M University, Trotter accepted a position on the faculty of the University of Missouri. He served on the U.S. AID team for India until 1964, during which time he helped organize the Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology on the Pattern of U.S. Land Grant colleges, where research, teaching, and extension are coordinated.

In 1948 Trotter also served as an International Commodity Specialist in cotton, and surveyed cotton activities in Japan, China, India, Pakistan, and Greece for the Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations.

Throughout his career, Trotter was committed to religious and civic involvement. His numerous early morning radio talks on various agricultural topics as well as New Year's and Thanksgiving greetings demonstrate this. He was largely responsible for the planning for and organization of the first Rural Church Conference in College Station in 1946. His speech on that occasion, "Soils and Souls," was reprinted several times in church and agricultural publications.

Trotter and his wife, Lena Ann Breeze Trotter, live in Bryan, Texas. They have two sons, Ide Peebles Trotter, Jr., and Benjamin Breeze Trotter, both of whom are graduates of Texas A&M University. Ide Peebles Trotter has also long been an active member of numerous societies and social and fraternal organizations.

Arthur Wilson "Bob" Tucker (1914-2006) enjoyed a long career as both a science fiction fan and a professional author of science fiction and mystery stories. A resident of Bloomington, Illinois, Tucker published a wide variety of fanzines over the course of his life, including The Planetoid (1932), which was one of the first fanzines ever made; the Bloomington News Letter/Science Fiction Newsletter, Fanews, D'Journal, Invisible Stories, Le Zombie, Fantasy and Weird Fiction, Yearbook of Science, Fanewscard, Fanzine Yearbook, and several others. In 1955 he published the Neo-Fan's Guide to SF Fandom.

Tucker was a fan guest of honor, professional guest of honor, toastmaster, or master of ceremonies at uncountable numbers of science fiction conventions over the years. He was a notable and constant presence in the world of American fandom.

In addition to his fannish activities, Tucker also wrote a number of novels and short stories, including The Long Loud Silence (1952), The Lincoln Hunters (1958), and The Year of the Quiet Sun (1971), which was nominated for the 1970 Nebula and 1971 Hugo for Best Novel (and which won the 1976 John W. Campbell Memorial Award).

Tucker won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 1970, and the 1954 Retro Hugo for Best Fan Writer in 2004. His Science Fiction Newsletter (a.k.a. Bloomington News Letter) won the Retro Hugo Award for Best Fanzine in 1951. In addition, Tucker also won the 1985 First Fandom Award, the 1986 Skylark Award (Edward E. Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction), the 1990 Phoenix Award, and the 1996 Nebula Award for Special Author Emeritus. He was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2003.

Tucker is credited for the 1941 invention of the term "space opera", referring to the popular subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes melodramatic adventure and episodes of outer space warfare.

Richard R. Tumlinson graduated from Texas A&M University in 1951. He left for Korea on December 2, 1952, to the USNS John Pope; he was stationed as a Maintenance Officer.

Francis C. Turner (1908-1999) was born in Dallas, Texas, and graduated from Texas A & M University in 1929 with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. He worked as a highway engineer for the Bureau of Public Roads, earning a professional degree in civil engineering from Texas A & M University in 1940 as well. As a highway engineer, he was selected to work on the Alaska Highway Project in 1943. From 1946 until 1949 he helped restore roads and organize a highway department in the Philippines, serving as coordinator of the Philippine Rehabilitation Program by 1949. Upon his return to the United States, he became Assistant to Bureau of Public Roads Chief Thomas H. McDonald.

In 1954 Turner was appointed Executive Secretary to President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Advisory Committee on a National Highway Program . Turner's work on the President's Committee on a National Highway Program , or Clay Committee, (so-called after its Chair, General Lucius D. Clay), is widely acknowledged as being instrumental in the passage of the highway legislation that established and provided for the funding of a national interstate highway system.

Turner continued to work for the Bureau of Public Roads and its successor, the Federal Highway Administration, for the rest of his career, and ultimately headed these organizations. In 1967 President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Turner as Director of the Bureau of Public Roads, an occasion Johnson may have commemorated by giving Turner a copy of his book A More Beautiful America inscribed "To Frank Turner, with great expectations." (The book is included in Series 1. of the Papers and cataloged separately. See Items Separated section in this finding aid.) later, President Richard M. Nixon appointed Turner as Federal Highway Administrator in 1969.

Although Turner retired from his post as Federal Highway Administrator in 1972, he remained active in the service of the highway program for the rest of his life. He was influential in transportation circles, continuing his life-long membership in numerous industry associations such as the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. A member of an elite circle of transportation experts known as the "No Name Group" or "No Name Committee", he was also in constant demand as a consultant by agencies such as the Transportation Research Board and the International Road Federation. Perpetually researching issues relating to the transportation field, he remained a champion of highway causes until his death in 1999.

Over the course of his life, Turner received numerous awards, beginning with membership in the Philippine Legion of Honor in 1951. He was named a distinguished alumnus by Texas A & M University in 1969. The American Society of Civil Engineers honored him with the James Laurie Prize in 1971 and created the Francis C. Turner Lecture Series in 1989. In 1998, the Transporatation Research Board established the Frank Turner Medal for lifetime achievement in the field of transportation. Turner died in a Goldsboro, North Carolina hospice facility in 1999.

Lisa Tuttle was born in Houston, TX on September 16, 1952. She was active from an early age in science fiction fandom (she founded and edited the Houston Science Fiction Society's fanzine Mathom while still in high school, and much of her early writing appeared in various fanzines), as well as writing. Tuttle graduated from Syracuse University in 1974 with a BA in English Literature, after which she moved to Austin and became an active member of the Texas science fiction community as well as a journalist for the Austin American-Statesman newspaper.

Tuttle published her first professional short story, "Stranger In The House", in the 1972 Clarion II anthology. In 1973 she helped found the Turkey City Writer's Workshop in Austin, together with Howard Waldrop, Steven Utley, and Tom Reamy. The workshop has graduated a number of important writers, including Bruce Sterling, Ted Chiang, Cory Doctorow, George R.R. Martin, Steven Gould, Maureen McHugh, Lewis Shiner, Martha Wells, and Connie Willis.  In 1974 Tuttle was awarded the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (shared with Spider Robinson).

Tuttle has been writing continuously over the succeeding decades. In 1975 she co-wrote with George R.R. Martin the novella "The Storms of Windhaven", which won the 1976 _Locus_Award for Best Novella and was expanded into the 1981 novel WindhavenTuttle's first). Her other novels include, among others, Lost Futures (1992, nominated for the 1992 BSFA Award for Best Novel, the 1992 James Tiptree Award, and the 1993 Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel), The Pillow Friend(1996, nominated for the 1996 Tiptree Award and the 1996 International Horror Guild Award), The Mysteries (2005), and The Silver Bough(2006). She has written a large number of acclaimed short stories and novellas, including, among others, "Stone Circle" (1976, nominated for the 1977 Nebula Award for Best Novella), "One-Wing" (1980, co-written with Martin and winner of the 1980 _Analog_Award for Best Serial Novel/Novella), "In Translation" (1989, winner of the 1989 BSFA for Best Short Fiction), "And The Poor Get Children" (1995), and "My Death: (2004, nominated for the 2004 International Horror Guild Award for Best Long Form, the 2005 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella, and the 2005 British Fantasy Award for Best Novella).

Tuttle made history in 1982 for being the first, and to date only, writer to refuse a Nebula Award. Her short story "The Bone Flute" was awarded the Nebula for Best Short Story, but Tuttle had already withdrawn it from competition in protest of another nominee having actively campaigned for the award.

She has also written YA fiction, including Catwitch(with illustrator Una Woodruff) (1983), Panther in Argyll(1996) and Love-on-Line (1998). Tuttle has written under different pseudonyms for a number of books. In 1987 she wrote the novel Megan's Story under the name Laura Waring, and Virgo: Snake Inside for a series of twelve young-adult books called Horrorscopes(1995) under the house pseudonym of Maria Palmer. She was a contributing author to Ben M. Baglio's 2000-2002 YA series Dolphin Diaries.

Tuttle has also written non-fiction, including the Encyclopedia of Feminism(1986) and Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction(2002). As editor she has compiled several anthologies, including Skin of the Soul: New Horror Stories by Women(1990), and Crossing the Border: Tales of Erotic Ambiguity(1998) .Her work, both fiction and non-fiction, is known for her focus on strong female characters and on gender issues.

Lisa Tuttle was married from 1981-1987 to fellow SF writer Christopher Priest, and is now married to Colin Murray. The two reside in Scotland. Her recent published works include the "Jesperson and Lane" paranormal mystery series, with The Curious Affair of the Somnambulist and the Psychic Thief (2016) , its 2017 sequel The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross, and the latest book in the series, The Curious Affair of the Missing Mummies (2023); and the 2021 Stoker-nominated collection The Dead Hours of Night. Her most recent published collection of stories was Riding The Nightmare, published by Valancourt Books in June 2023.

Tim Underwood and Chuck Miller formed the small press of Underwood-Miller in San Francisco, CA in 1976. Their first published work was Jack Vance's The Dying Earth, which had never before been published in hardcover. Eventually, the firm came to publish a number of Vance's works, both new and old. In addition to Vance, Underwood-Miller published fine small press books by a number of other noted science fiction and fantasy authors, including Philip K. Dick, Roger Zelazny, Harlan Ellison, Anne McCaffrey, Robert Silverberg, and Peter Straub. The press was notable in publishing in the hardcover form a number of works that had only appeared previously in paperback or in pulp magazines.

Underwood-Miller dissolved in 1994 resulting in Underwood Books and Charles F. Miller, publisher.

James A. Riley was a Graphic Design student at Kent State University where he met Scott H. Urban. The two established the Unnameable Press in 1984 as a specialty book publisher of dark fantasy literature and art, with Urban as Editor and Riley as Designer and Printer. Six early booklets were printed for course credit; material for them came from Riley, Urban, and the University Science Fiction and Fantasy club was known as The October Society (named for Ray Bradbury's The October Country).

Riley and the Press moved to Atlanta, Georgia later in 1984, and in 1985 Daniel Deyo also came onboard as Press Editor though he eventually left, and Elizabeth A. Saunders took his place.

The Press continued publishing folios, ephemera, and trade material through the early 1990s. Currently, Unnameable Press is on publishing hiatus, though there are online sites devoted to their work.

Joseph “Joe” Utay was born on May 2, 1887, in St. Louis Missouri. He attended A&M College (AMC) in 1905 and played on the football team as a halfback from 1905-1907. He was a student member of the Athletic Council and helped organize the "T" association on campus during his time as an undergraduate at AMC. Utay graduated in 1908 from AMC with a degree in Electrical Engineering.

Utay received a Bachelor of Law degree from Stanford University Law School in 1912. He was commissioned as a Major in the North Texas Regiment and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1918. He was also a member of the National Guard Cavalry Regiment during World War I (WWI).

Joe Utay was the assistant coach of the AMC football team in 1912-1915 and later served under the AMC Board of Regents from 1934-1941. He served as president of the Texas Officials Association from 1912-1936 and was instrumental in the formation of the Cotton Bowl. He also organized the Southwest Football Officials Association that formed the Southwestern Conference (SWC) and served as chairman of the group for over 20 years. In addition, Utay was an attorney in Dallas for 55 years.

Joe Utay won numerous achievements during his lifetime. He was inducted into the Texas A&M Athletic Hall of Fame in 1972, the College Football Hall of Fame in 1974, and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1984.

He passed away on November 24, 1977. Joe Utay has a Texas A&M dormitory named after him, in honor of his contributions to the University.

Steven Utley was born in 1948. He lived in Austin during the 1970s, associating with Chad Oliver, Howard Waldrop, Lisa Tuttle and Bruce Sterling. This group, with some other writers, formed the Turkey City Writer’s Workshop. Utley's first professionally published story, "The Unkindest Cut of All” appeared in 1972. Since then he has published sporatically in a variety of genres. He is best known for his “Silurian Tales” set in paleozoic times.

Steven Utley (1948-2013) was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky. As a young man he moved to Texas, where he was a co-founder of the Turkey City Writer's Workshop in Austin, a writers collective that included such local and regional authors as Lisa Tuttle, Howard Waldrop, and Bruce Sterling. Utley wrote a large number of short stories, poems, essays, and story collections, beginning with his first published story "The Unkindest Cut of All', which was published in the 1972 anthology Perry Rhodan #20: The Thrall of Hypn o(edited by Forrest J. Ackerman).

Utley collaborated with his fellow Turkey City writer Howard Waldrop on several stories, including the novella "Custer's Last Jump" (1976, nominated for a 1977 Nebula Award for Best Novelette) and "Black as the Pit, From Pole to Pole" (1977), both of which are considered forerunners of the steampunk subgenre of science fiction. Perhaps his most famous works are the stories collected in the "Silurian Tales"; starting with "There and Then" in 1993, this series chronicles a time-travelling scientific expedition to the Paleozoic Age.

Utley was also an editor of several works, including the 1976 Lone Star Universe: Speculative Fiction From Texas(with George W. Proctor).

Lone Star Universe: Speculative Fiction from Texas (1976, with George W. Proctor) - See more at: http://www.locusmag.com/News/2013/01/steven-utley-1948-2013/#sthash.s6TbQnkV.dpuf

Margaretha Helena Maria "Lips" van Bavel was born in Wageningen, The Netherlands on February 3, 1925. Margaret received a degree in Home Economics shortly before marrying Cornelius van Bavel in May 1947, later moving to the Ames, Iowa in 1948 after surviving World War II. She fell in love with Texas and Brazos County history which lead her to do research and write a book on Brazos County history, Birth and Death of Boonville: First Town of Brazos County (1986).

Margaret passed away on December 11, 2016, at the age of 91 in Austin Texas, and was buried in Colorado County.

Alfred Elton Van Vogt was born in Winnipeg, Ontario, Canada, on April 26, 1912; he immigrated to the United States in 1944 and became a naturalized citizen in 1952. Inspired by reading an issue of _Astounding Science Fiction_in 1938, Van Vogt decided to embark on his own career writing science fiction. In 1939, he published his first story, "The Black Destroyer", the tale of an exploration spaceship (the Space Beagle) whose decks are stalked by a carnivorous monster; it was combined with several other _Beagle_stories into a fix-up novel: The Voyage of the Space Beagle, in 1950. The story was an inspiration for a number of science fiction movies such as It! The Terror From Beyond Space(1958) and Alien(1979).

In 1946 Van Vogt published his first, and most famous novel, Slan. _Slan,_originally serialized in 1940) is the story of Jommy Cross, a young mutant (a "slan") wiho has, among other abilities, the power to read minds, and who flees the anti-superhuman society that killed his parents. The novel quickly gained popularity, and the slogan "fans are slans" gained currency in the world of science fiction fandom. Fans drew similarities between perceived greater intelligence and imaginative capability of science fiction fans with the superior abilities of slans in the novel, as well as their harassment by non-fans to the persecution of slans in the novel.

Among Van Vogt's other more significant works are the _Null-A_series of novels ( The World of Null-A[1948], The Pawns of Null-A[1956], and Null-A Three[1985]), which uses the adventures of Gilbert Gosseyn, who can transport himself or anything instantaneously across vast distances, to explore the non-Aristotelian concept of general semantics; The Weapon Shops of Isher(1951, fixed-up from three previously published stories) and its 1952 sequel The Weapons Makers; two books exploring the Roman Empire-like decline of a far future empire, Empire of the Atom(1956) and The Wizard of Linn(1962); Rogue Ship(1956); and Quest For The Future(1970). In addition, he also wrote a great many works of short fiction.

Van Vogt was nominated for a number of awards over the course of his lifetime. He received the 1980 Prix Aurora for Lifetime Achievement, and was made a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1996. Also in 1996 he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. His _The Weapons Shops of Isher_won the 2000 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award.

A.E. Van Vogt died on January 26, 2000, in Los Angeles, CA.

J John Herbert Varley was born in Austin, TX on August 9, 1947. He attended Michigan State University, and has been a writer since 1973. Varley won a special Locus Award in 1976, and several other Locus Awards, a Nebula Award in 1978 and 1985, a Prix Apollo in 1978, and is a regular nominee for awards.

His first published work, the short story "Picnic on Nearside", was released in 1974 and was the first work in his "Eight Worlds" Series. This cycle of novels and stories, which include The Ophiuchi Hotline (1977), the collections The Persistence of Vision (1978) and Blue Champagne (1986), Steel Beach (1992), and The Golden Globe (1998), takes place in a future Solar System that has been colonized by human refugees fleeing an alien invasion of Earth.

He is also well known for his "Gaea" trilogy of novels: Titan (1979), Wizard (1980), and Demon (1984), which involve the human exploration of a massive artificial satellite orbiting Saturn that turns out to be controlled by Gaea, a living intelligence. Other novels of Varley include Red Thunder (2003), Mammoth (2005), and Slow Apocalypse (2012).

Varley has won the Hugo Award three times: in 1979 for Best Novella ("The Persistence of Vision"), in 1982 for Best Short Story ("The Pusher"), and in 1985 for Best Novella ("Press Enter"). In addition, "The Persistence of Vision" won the 1979 Nebula Award for Best Novella, and "Press Enter" won it in 1985. He has won the Locus Award ten times, and has also received the 1979 Analog Award for Best Serial Novel or Novella (Titan), the 1982 SF Chronicle Award for Best Novella ("Press Enter"), the 1999 Prometheus Award for Best Libertarian SF Novel ( The Golden Globe), the 2004 Endeavor Award for Distinguished Novel or Collection (Red Thunder), and the 2004 Asimov's Readers Poll Award for Best Novelette (The Bellman).

Pat Mueller Virzi is a Texas-based fan, fanzine writer, and publisher. She has produced a number of fanzines, including Pirate Jenny, Awry/Oblique, Pint-Size Stories, Cactus Clipper(the newsletter for the 1987 Westercon), and, most notably, The Texas SF Inquirer. Virzi won the 1988 Hugo for Best Fanzine for the SF Inquirer, and has been nominated two other times (1987, 1990) for the same award.

Virzi has been a Guest of Honor at multiple SF conventions, including the 1988 CopperCon8 and Lunacon 31, the 1990 NorWesCon XII, the 1991 ArmadilloCon 13, the 1992 Westercon, the 1993 NorWesCon XVI, and the 2010 ApolloCon.