喬治·R·R·馬丁

歐美奇幻小說大師，作品主要以人物為關注點，描寫細膩豐富，突破瞭幻想文學界固有的創作模式，多次引領閱讀潮流。代錶作有十大浪漫太空歌劇之一的《光逝》、由雨果奬獲奬名篇擴展而成的《風港》以及當代正統奇幻的第一經典《冰與火之歌》等。由於馬丁的輝煌成就，他被譽為美國的托爾金和新世紀的海明威。由《冰與火之歌》改編的電視劇《權力的遊戲》已在HBO播齣。喬治·R·R·馬丁被時代雜誌評選為2011年影響世界的一百人。

加德納·多佐伊斯

擔任瞭近二十年《阿西莫夫科幻小說》的編輯，也是《年度最佳科幻》係列年選的編輯，贏得瞭十六次軌跡年度最佳選集奬，十五次雨果年度最佳編輯奬，三十次軌跡最佳編輯奬（創下瞭十六次連續獲奬的記錄）。他自己創作的短篇作品贏得瞭兩次星雲奬，以及一次側嚮奬。加德納是超過一百部書的作者或編者，他最近的作品包括《獵人行》及選集《銀河帝國》等。

丹尼爾·亞伯拉罕

美國作傢、劇作傢，上世紀90年代末與喬治·R·R·馬丁在寫作工坊中結緣，接受瞭後者的教導，並從此結成亦師亦友的關係。他傳承瞭老師多棲寫作的本領，自21世紀初投身長篇小說創作以來，分彆在三個領域——史詩奇幻、太空歌劇和都市奇幻——同時發錶作品，且均獲得瞭很大成就。他創作的《利維坦覺醒》獲2012年雨果最佳小說奬和軌跡最佳科幻小說奬提名，《平麵的戴安娜》獲星雲奬提名、並贏得瞭國際恐怖小說協會奬。

A new benchmark in modern SF. A sharp, clever, funny morality tale that answers the biggest question of all: what makes us human? A fight in an alley behind a bar: a visiting European is knifed by local thug Ramon Espejo and all hell breaks loose. The dead man was a diplomat on an important mission to Sao Paulo, and next day Ramon is on the run heading north in his van toward land that no one has ever explored, or even thought of exploring, land so far only glimpsed from orbit during the first colony surveys. There are women still alive on Sao Paulo who can recall the initial descent onto an untouched world. All the cities of the south have bloomed since then, like mould on a Petri dish. Ramon was among the second wave of colonists. He's gone from being nothing in the hills of Mexico to being nothing on this strange alien world. His only friend Griego tells Ramon God meant him to be poor, or he wouldn't have made him so mean. Ramon's rage has never deserted him. It was there in the alley behind the bar, but he can't actually remember why he killed the European. Leaving all the hell and shit and sorrow of Diegotown behind, Ramon's plan is to look for minerals in the unmapped lands while the heat dies down. He's made a bare living prospecting so far, expecting each trip to be the big one that'll make him rich, and this one is no different. The first samples he blows out of the mountain, however, bring down the mountain upon him as well and a whole undiscovered alien race. Ramon is tethered to one of them and set to 'perform his function'. Whatever that means, he'll find out. And he'll remember why he killed the European.