Bruce McAllister is an American writer best known for his science fiction, fantasy and literary fiction. His short fiction, which he began publishing as a teenager ("The Faces Outside," 9TH ANNUAL OF THE YEAR'S BEST SF), has appeared over the years in genre magazines, original anthologies, “year’s best” anthologies, literary quarterlies and college readers; won a National Endowment for the Arts writing award; and been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus and Shirley Jackson awards. He has published three novels--HUMANITY PRIMe, the "esp in war" Vietnam novel DREAM BABY, and THE VILLAGE SANG TO THE SEA: A MEMOIR OF MAGIC, which Michael Bishop has called "an eloquent ode to the universal mysteries of both place and coming of age." He has edited and co-edited (with Harry Harrison and Brian Aldiss) science fiction and fantasy anthologies; and has served on James Tiptree, Philip K. Dick and Nebula juries. In high school he sent a questionnaire about literary symbolism to l50 of the world's most famous writers, half of whom responded. (See Sara Funk Butler's 2011 article on their responses at the PARIS REVIEW blog.) Bruce grew up in a Navy family with marine-science and anthropology/archeology interests, lived as a child on both American coasts and in Italy (where he first fell in love with fantasy and science fiction), and, after a career in university, is now a full-time writer and writing coach living in southern California.