Phil D'Amato
Encyclopedia
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
NYPD forensic detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
who has a penchant for strange cases. D'Amato is the central character in three science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
mystery
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
novelette
Novelette
A novelette is a piece of short prose fiction. The distinction between a novelette and other literary forms is usually based upon word count, with a novelette being longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella...
s and three novels written by Paul Levinson
Paul Levinson
Paul Levinson is an American author and professor of communications and media studies at Fordham University in New York City. Levinson's novels, short fiction, and non-fiction works have been translated into twelve languages....
. The first novelette, "The Chronology Protection Case," was adapted into a radio play which was nominated for an Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
by the Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday....
. The first novel, The Silk Code, won the Locus Award
Locus Award
The Locus Award is a literary award established in 1971 and presented to winners of Locus magazine's annual readers' poll. Currently, the Locus Awards are presented at an annual banquet...
for the Best First Novel of 1999.
"The Chronology Protection Case"
Dr. Phil D’Amato – who has a PhD in forensic science – debuted in "The Chronology Protection Case," published in Analog Magazine in 1995. The novelette was nominated for NebulaNebula
A nebula is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen gas, helium gas and other ionized gases...
and Sturgeon
Sturgeon
Sturgeon is the common name used for some 26 species of fish in the family Acipenseridae, including the genera Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. The term includes over 20 species commonly referred to as sturgeon and several closely related species that have distinct common...
Awards.
It was reprinted four times:
- The Best Time Travel Stories of All Time edited by Barry Malzberg, 2003
- Nebula Awards 32: SFWA's Choices for the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year edited by Jack DannJack DannJack Dann is an American writer best known for his science fiction, an editor and a writing teacher, who has lived in Australia since 1994. He has published over seventy books, in the majority of cases as editor or co-editor of story anthologies in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres...
, 1998 - Supernatural Sleuths edited by Charles G. Waugh & Martin H. GreenbergMartin H. GreenbergMartin Harry Greenberg was an American speculative fiction anthologist and writer.-Biography:Dr. Martin H. Greenberg was born March 1, 1941, to Max and Mae Greenberg in South Miami Beach, Florida...
, 1996 - Infinite Edge, a webzine, 1997
The novelette was adapted into a radio play written by Mark Shanahan (with Paul Levinson and Jay Kensinger) in 2002, and performed at New York City's Museum of Television and Radio. In addition to being nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Play
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
, the radio play was later recorded and released as an audiobook by Listen & Live/Audible.com
Audible.com
Audible.com is an Internet provider of spoken audio entertainment, information, and educational programming.Audible sells digital audiobooks, radio and TV programs, and audio versions of magazines and newspapers....
in 2004.
"The Chronology Protection Case" was also adapted into a student film by director Jay Kensinger, which premiered at the I-Con SF Convention in 2002, and was later released on DVD by MODVEC Productions. A review can be found here.
"The Chronology Protection Case" extrapolates from Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking
Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity...
’s chronology protection conjecture
Chronology protection conjecture
The chronology protection conjecture is a conjecture by the physicist Professor Stephen Hawking that the laws of physics are such as to prevent time travel on all but sub-microscopic scales. Mathematically, the permissibility of time travel is represented by the existence of closed timelike curves...
, and posits a vengeful universe that seeks to protect itself from time travel by killing any scientists who discover or even begin to understand how to do it.
"The Copyright Notice Case"
D’Amato returned in "The Copyright Notice Case," published in Analog in 1996. The novelette was nominated for a Nebula AwardNebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
, won the HOMer Award, and was reprinted in Levinson’s anthology, Bestseller: Wired, Analog, and Digital Writings in 1999.
The novelette explores what might happen had an inviolable copyright notice
Copyright notice
A copyright notice, either as symbol or phrase, informs users of the underlying claim to copyright ownership in a published work.Copyright law is different from country to country, and a copyright notice is required in about 20 countries for a work to be protected under copyright...
been embedded in human DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
in the prehistoric past. Phil meets Jenna Katen for the first time in this story.
"The Mendelian Lamp Case"
D’Amato’s last appearance in short fiction to date came in "The Mendelian Lamp Case," a novelette published in Analog in 1997.It was reprinted three times:
- The Hard SF Renaissance edited by David G. HartwellDavid G. HartwellDavid Geddes Hartwell is an American editor of science fiction and fantasy. He has worked for Signet , Berkley Putnam , Pocket , and Tor Books David Geddes Hartwell (b. July 10, 1941) is an American editor of science fiction and fantasy. He has worked for Signet (1971–1973), Berkley Putnam...
& Kathryn CramerKathryn CramerKathryn Elizabeth Cramer is an American science fiction author, editor, and literary critic.- Life :Cramer grew up in Seattle, and currently lives in Pleasantville, New York with her husband David G. Hartwell and their two children. She is the daughter of physicist John G. Cramer...
, 2002 - Science Fiction Theater edited by Brian Forbes, 1999
- Year's Best SF3 edited by David G. HartwellDavid G. HartwellDavid Geddes Hartwell is an American editor of science fiction and fantasy. He has worked for Signet , Berkley Putnam , Pocket , and Tor Books David Geddes Hartwell (b. July 10, 1941) is an American editor of science fiction and fantasy. He has worked for Signet (1971–1973), Berkley Putnam...
, 1998
While investigating the mysterious death of a friend, D'Amato discovers an Amish
Amish
The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...
-like group who use innocent-looking bio-technology for nefarious ends.
The Silk Code
Levinson continues the intrigue of "The Mendelian Lamp Case" in his first novel, The Silk Code (Tor Books, 1999). Phil D’Amato uses his debut in longer form to explore not only bio-technology and groups masquerading as Amish, but the possible survival of Neanderthals into the present day.The Silk Code won the Locus Award for Best First Novel of 1999. A Polish translation —Kod Jedwabiu— was published in 2003.
The Consciousness Plague
D’Amato’s next novelistic outing was in The Consciousness Plague, published in 2002 by Tor Books. Here D’Amato gets caught up in the possibility that our very consciousness may be engendered by microorganisms that live in the brain. Paths of exploration in this novel range from LindisfarneLindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...
to Julian Jaynes
Julian Jaynes
Julian Jaynes was an American psychologist, best known for his book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind , in which he argued that ancient peoples were not conscious....
’s Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.
The Consciousness Plague won the Media Ecology Association
Media ecology
Media ecology is a contested term within media studies having different meanings within European and North American contexts. The North American definition refers to aninterdisciplinary field of media theory and media design involving the study of "symbolic environment, or the socially constructed,...
’s Mary Shelley Award and was translated into Polish as Zaraza Swiadomosci and published in 2005. An audiobook narrated by Mark Shanahan was released by Listen and Live in 2005, and nominated for the Audie Award
Audie Awards
The Audie Awards are annually bestowed annually in the USA for outstanding audiobooks. The Audies have been granted by the Audio Publishers Association, a not-for-profit trade organization, since 1996. The nominees are announced each year in January, and the winners are announced at a gala banquet...
that year.
The Pixel Eye
Phil D’Amato’s most recent appearance is in The Pixel Eye, published in 2003 by Tor Books. In this chilling post 9/11 tale set in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, D’Amato contends with squirrel
Squirrel
Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...
s and other critters whose brains are outfitted with microchips that transmit everything they see and hear. Although all of the D’Amato stories are set in New York, The Pixel Eye has the most extensive New York ambiences - from Central Park to the New York Public Library to Grand Central Station.
The Pixel Eye was nominated for the Prometheus Award
Prometheus Award
The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society, which also publishes a quarterly journal Prometheus. L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newly founded Libertarian Futurist...
in 2004.
Critical commentary about Phil D’Amato
Multiple Nebula and Hugo Award winning author Connie WillisConnie Willis
Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis is an American science fiction writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for Blackout/All Clear...
said "Forensic detective Phil D’Amato is one of my favorite characters."