James Stevens-Arce
A graduate of the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana Campus, where he earned a B.A. in Creative Writing and an M.A. in Theatre Arts and completed three years’ doctoral work in film and theatre, Jim Stevens-Arce has sold and published 25 pieces of short genre fiction (science fiction, horror, fantasy, crime, and YA) and one novel.
His stories have appeared in such national publications as Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine and Amazing Stories, as well as in a number of original hardcover and paperback anthologies in the U.S., Italy, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom, including the prestigious NEW LEGENDS anthology edited by Greg Bear.
His novel SOULSAVER (Harcourt) shared First Place in the 1997 UPC Award for Science Fiction, cited by renowned British SF critic, historian, and Science Fiction Grand Master Brian Aldiss as “the most prestigious science fiction award in all of Europe.” SOULSAVER was included in the The San Francisco Chronicle’s Notable Science Fiction/Fantasy 2000 list and Locus Magazine’s Recommended Reading 2000, and The Denver Rocky Mountain News named it Best First Novel of 2000 in its list of Best of 2000 Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror. SOULSAVER also was recommended by The New York Times Review of Books’ Readers’ Catalog and was published in translation in Spain as EL SALVADOR DE ALMAS and in France as SAUVEURS D’ÂMES.
His short story Cycles earned an Honorable Mention in THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION: THIRD ANNUAL COLLECTION, edited by Gardner Dozois. His novelette The Devil’s Sentrybox earned an Honorable Mention in THE YEAR’S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR: FIFTH ANNUAL COLLECTION, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. His short story Smart Bomb earned an Honorable Mention in THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION: TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL COLLECTION, edited by Gardner Dozois. And his short screenplay Souls — available here as a short story — took first place at the L.A. Screamfest Film Festival Screenwriting Competition.
Jim is a native speaker of English and Spanish, both of which he reads, writes and speaks fluently, the result of having a father from Illinois of English, Irish, Scottish, and Dutch descent, and a mother from Puerto Rico, of Spanish ancestry. In keeping with Hispanic naming tradition, Jim's second surname — Arce — is his mother's maiden name. Pronounced ARE-seh, it is the Spanish word for maple.
