George Guthridge

Speculative fiction

In the mid-1970s, Guthridge was teaching English at Loras College. A colleague in the department had received a grant to attend a science fiction convention in Milwaukee, but was unable to attend, so Guthridge went instead ("because Milwaukee is famous for beer"), although he confesses that at that time he despised science fiction and fantasy. At the convention, Guthridge met George R. R. Martin, who persuaded him to give speculative fiction a second look, and to write in the field himself. "George changed my life, he really did," Guthridge says. "Not just because he opened doors for me, but he opened this whole vista of sci-fi and fantasy and horror that I never would've gotten into." In turn, Guthridge later helped Martin find a job at Clarke College. (Martin had been operating chess tournaments to supplement his writing income, but "wasn't making enough money to stay alive," says Guthridge.) Guthridge has been a finalist for the Hugo Award and twice for the Nebula Award for science fiction and fantasy. In 1998 he and coauthor, Janet Berliner, won the Bram Stoker Award for the year's best horror novel.

"The Kids from Nowhere"

Guthridge is also known for having coached ten students from the Siberian Yupik Eskimo village of Gambell, Alaska, on blizzard-swept St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea, to national championships in academics. They became the only Native American team ever to do that—and they did it twice. Guthridge is the author of The Kids from Nowhere: The Story Behind the Arctic Educational Miracle, published by Alaska Northwest Books in 2006.

Publications

Novels

The Madagascar Manifesto (omnibus) (2002)¹

Children of the Dusk (1997)¹ Bram Stoker Award Winner

Child of the Journey (1996)¹

The Bloodletter (1994)

Child of the Light (1991)¹

The Death Mask of Pancho Villa (1987)²

Nonfiction

The Kids from Nowhere (2006)

Selected Short Fiction

The Bridge (2011)

Katoey (2008)³

Nine Whispered Opinions Regarding the Alaskan Secession (2004)

The Silence of Phii Krasue (2000)

Mister Pigman (1999)

Something's Got to Give (1999)¹

Notes Toward a Rumpled Stillskin (1997)

Chin Oil (1997)

Mirror of Lop Nor (1995)

The I of the Eye of the Worm (1997)¹

Maskal (1996)¹

The Faliksotra (1995) ¹

Inyanga (1995)¹

Song of the Shofar (1994)¹

The Macaw (1994)⁴

The Tower (1994)

Snowcoil (1993)

Exhibition (1988)

Philatelist (1988)

Evolutions (1988)

Recession (1987)

See the Station Master (1984)

Memory's Noose (1984)⁴

Legacy (1983)⁵

Champion of the World (1982)⁴

Triangle (1982)⁵

The Child (1982)

The Quiet (1982)

Blackmail (1982)

Taken on Faith (1982)

Pinnacle (1982)

Ishbar, the Trueborn (1981)

Jahratta Dki (1980)

Oregon (1979)

Warship (1979)⁶

The Exiled, the Hunted (1977)

Dolls' Demise (1976)

¹ with Janet Berliner ² with Carol Gaskins ³ with Blythe Ayne ⁴ with Steve Perry ⁵ with Dianne Thompson ⁶ with George R.R. Martin

Writing Awards

1982 - Finalist, Nebula Award, "The Quiet" (science fiction short story)

1982 - Finalist, Hugo Award, "The Quiet" (science fiction short story)

1994 - Finalist, Nebula Award, "The Mirror of Lop Nor" (fantasy novelette)

1997 - Bram Stoker Award, Year's Best Horror Novel (with Janet Berliner)

2007 - Finalist, Benjamin Franklin Award, Year's Best Book about Education, The Kids from Nowhere

2013 - First Place, Las Vegas International Film Festival, The Kids from Nowhere (screenplay), with Deborah Schildt

2013 - First Place, Moondance International Film Festival, The Kids from Nowhere (screenplay), with Deborah Schildt

2013 - First Place, Silent River International Film Festival, The Kids from Nowhere (screenplay), with Deborah Schildt

2013 - First Place, New Hampshire International Film Festival, The Kids from Nowhere (screenplay), with Deborah Schildt

2013 - Finalist, Portland International Film Festival, The Kids from Nowhere (screenplay), with Deborah Schildt

2013 - Second Place, Kay Snow Writing Competition, The Kids from Nowhere (screenplay), with Deborah Schildt

Educational Awards and Achievements

1984 Future Problem Solving National Coach of the Year

1988 First Alaskan to be awarded Christa McAuliffe Fellowship

1990 Named as one of America's top 78 teachers

2001 Co-recipient, Alaska's first Distance Educator of the Year Award

Guthridge also helped develop the Rural Alaska Honors Institute (RAHI). It has become one of the nation's top college preparatory programs for Native Americans. Over 1000 of its graduates have gone on to college success, including at some of the most prestigious universities in America.