Edward M. Lerner papers

The Edward M. Lerner papers contain original manuscripts, drafts, correspondence, and other textual materials chronicling Lerner's science fiction authorial career.

Series I is devoted to his InterstellarNet book series. The series includes early drafts and precursor serializations that would become Lerner's first fiction series. Some of the early drafts show their orginal working titles.

Series II consists of Lerner's standalone novels. Several of his novels were originally published as serializations or incorporate previously published short stories or articles. These precursor works are included in this series.

Series III contains Lerner's collections, both fiction and non-fiction. Standalone non-fiction works make up Series V. In updated and extended form, many of the non-fiction works appear in Lerner's published collections Frontiers of Space, Time, and Thought: Essays and Stories on the Big Questions and Trope-ing the Light Fantastic: The Science Behind the Fiction.

Short fiction is organized in Series IV. Lerner identified a small number of works as "Trunk Stories", which are organized in Sub-Series A. The "Trunk Stories" were Lerner's earliest attempts at writing in the science fiction genre. Some of these works were later revised and incorporated into his published books and short stories. This sub-series also includes a typescript for a novel titled, Let the Chips Fall, which was abandonned by Lerner. This would have been Lerner's second novel, but he found it to be "unremarkable."

Published copies of most of the works that appear in Series IV and V can be found in our Science Fiction Magazine collection.

A very small number of floppy disks make up Series VI.