Jerry Pournelle

Jerry Pournelle combined work on the American space programme with political research before establishing himself in science fiction. He studied psychology and political science, then spent fifteen years working in the space programme for government and private organisations. His CoDominium sequence began in magazines during the 1970s and grew into a detailed future history. Future History, an Orbit omnibus published in 1980, brought together West of Honor and The Mercenary, two books about John Christian Falkenberg. Pournelle later expanded that material in Falkenberg's Legion and collaborated with Larry Niven on novels including The Mote in God's Eye and The Gripping Hand. Beyond fiction, his “Chaos Manor” column for Byte made home computing a major strand of his work. He also edited anthologies and continued publishing technical and political nonfiction. Pournelle died in 2017.