Edward M. Lerner

Edward M. Lerner (born 1949) is an American science fiction author who spent more than three decades in aerospace and information technology, working at organizations including Bell Labs, Hughes Aircraft, Honeywell, and Northrop Grumman, before committing to full-time writing in 2004. He is best known for the Fleet of Worlds series, five novels co-written with Larry Niven that extend Niven's Known Space universe from the perspective of the cowardly, risk-averse Puppeteers, and for his own InterstellarNet series, exploring first contact and trade conducted entirely through slow, light-speed-limited interstellar communication; InterstellarNet: Enigma won the inaugural Canopus Award in 2015. His short story "Grandpa?" was adapted into the short film The Grandfather Paradox, which won Best Film at Balticon in 2006. Much of his short fiction has appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact.