Connie Willis quietly establishing herself as science fiction's best writer

It's been eight long years since Connie Willis has published a new book. This is a big deal. If you haven't noticed, she's become one of the most important authors in the science fiction field today. She's quietly amassed more Hugo and Nebula awards than any other science fiction writer in history.

Her new book is called Blackout and it returns to familiar territory. Like her Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing About the Dog, it deals with time-travelling historians. This time, they are sent back to London during the Blitz, a theme that she visited in her fantastic novellette, Fire Watch.

The only thing you should know before reading the book is that it is actually part one of a two-part story. The story concludes in her next book, All Clear.

Considering her stature, some have dubbed her the heir to Robert Heinlein's throne as the genre's top dog. There was a time that people pointed to Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke as the genre's Big Three. There have been no one like that since, but Willis might be this generation's addition.

Perhaps realizing a need to preserve her legacy, she has donated some of her papers to the University of Northern Colorado to help document her writing process.