After writing a few interesting but unexceptional
short stories during the 1970s, Connie Willis
began to emerge as a major writer in the early
1980s. She has subsequently gone on to collect
seven Hugo Awards and six Nebulas. Her first
outstanding piece was “Fire Watch” (1982), which
won both awards; it is a time travel story in which
scientists travel back to England during World
War II. Time travel would prove to be a common
theme in her subsequent work, and Willis displayed an increasing ability to portray historic periods with a marvelous sense of authenticity.
Another early story, “A Letter from the Clearys,”
would also win a Nebula.
Her first novel was a collaboration with Cynthia Felice. Water Witch (1982) is set on a colony
world where water is a priceless commodity. The
plot deals with the political maneuvering for control of that resource. Much more notable were her
short stories from this period, which included such
excellent tales as the somewhat controversial “All
My Darling Daughters” (1985), which includes a
very explicitly sexual situation, and “The
Schwartzchild Radius” (1987). Her first collection
of short stories was Fire Watch (1985) and her first
solo novel was Lincoln’s Dreams (1987). The novel
is a very subtle time travel story, accomplished this
time through a mental link between a contemporary woman and General Robert E. Lee during the
Civil War. Willis avoided most of the clichés of
time travel fiction; the result is a mature and
thoughtful treatment.
Willis continued to be most impressive at
shorter lengths, however. THE LAST OF THE
WINNEBAGOS (1988) won the Hugo and Nebula
Awards, and “At the Rialto” (1989) won a Nebula.
Her next novel, Light Raid (1989), with Cynthia
Felice, was another adventure—this time involving
the efforts of a young woman to clear her mother’s
name—set against a backdrop of raiders from
space. “Even the Queen” (1991) took both awards
for best short story, and her next novel, The
Doomsday Book (1992), added another Nebula.
This was another time travel story, loosely related
to “Fire Watch.” The protagonist is studying the
Black Death on what should have been a short assignment; but, ironically, a new plague has devastating effects in her own time, leaving her stranded
in the past. The parallels between the two situations are quite effectively drawn and the evocation
of historic Europe is superb.
“Death on the Nile” (1993) won a Hugo
Award, and a second collection, Impossible Things
(1994), brought together the best of her more
recent stories, although there are still quite a few
uncollected ones that deserve to be reprinted. Her
next three novels were all quite short. Uncharted
Territory (1994) is a comparatively lightweight
adventure story in which two colorful characters
explore a distant planet. Remake (1994) is set in a
future Hollywood where technology has made it
possible to easily re-edit old films to remove unwanted elements—for example, anything involving
the now proscribed habit of smoking. The satire is
deceptively light. The Bellwether (1996) is a particularly effective study of human behavior, in this
case revealing the truth about the occasional individual who emerges as a trendsetter.
Two novels appeared in 1997. Promised Land,
again with Cynthia Felice, is a realistic story of
what it might be like to actually settle on another
planet. The protagonist is a young woman who has
inherited valuable property on a remote world—
but she can sell it only if she lives on it for one local
year. Although her eventual decision to remain is
predictable, the authors do a marvelous job of describing her slowly changing perceptions. Good as
that novel is, Willis’s solo novel To Say Nothing of
the Dog (1997) was even better, and it won her
another Hugo. A time traveler returns to World
War II England to retrieve an artifact supposedly
destroyed during the Blitz, but his plans get caught
up in an intricate web of comic side trips. Although
Willis had occasionally written humorous pieces in
the past, notably in “Blued Moon” (1984), this was
still a considerable break from her previous work.
She also collected two more Hugos for “The Soul
Selects Her Own Society” (1996) and “The Winds
of Marble Arch” (1999). A third collection, The
Miracle and Other Christmas Stories (1999), is
mostly fantasy. Her most recent novel, Passage
(2001), involves experimentation with near-death
experiences and is only marginally science fiction.