Bernard Werber (born 1961 in Toulouse) is a French science fiction writer, active since the 1990s. He is chiefly recognized for having written the trilogyLes Fourmis, the only one of his novels to have been published in English. This series weaves together philosophy, spirituality, science fiction, thriller, science, mythology and consciousness.
Writing style
Werber's writing style mixes literary genres, including saga, science fiction and philosophical ideas.[citation needed] Most of his novels have the same format, alternating between prose and encyclopedic passages that expand upon the ideas in the former. Many of Werber's novels are also connected by common characters, story threads and themes. For example, the character Edmond Wells appears both in the trilogy Les Fourmis (The Ants), the novel L'Empire des anges (The Empire of the Angels), and the novel Nous Les Dieux (We the Gods).
Werber is a member of the Institute for Research on Extraordinary Experiences (IREE), an association that promotes the acknowledgement of extraordinary or unusual experiences. This is reflected in his novels that incorporate science, the paranormal and spirituality as prominent themes including Thanatonautes (The Thanatonauts), which proposes a spiritualist version of near death experiences and afterlife; L'Empire des Anges (The Empire of the Angels) and Le Mystère des Dieux (The Mystery of the Gods), which describe a connection between souls, angels and gods; and Nos amis les Terriens (Our Earthmen Friends), which describes alien abductions.
Works
The Ants trilogy (Les Fourmis trilogy)
Les Fourmis, Prix des lecteurs de Science et Avenir, 1991, ISBN2-226-05257-7. (lit. The Ants, translated into English as Empire of the Ants).
Voyage au cœur du vivant, 2011 (lit. Journey within the Living)
Short-story Collections
L'Arbre des possibles, 2002, ISBN2-226-13459-X (lit. The Tree of Possibles)
Paradis sur mesure, 2008, ISBN9782226188502 (lit. Custom Paradise(s))
Comics
Exit
Amandine is a journalist, working for a video game magazine. One day, she gets fired, finds her boyfriend with another woman, and contemplates suicide. She finds a mysterious website, advocating an underground group named Exit, which advocates a kind of murder game: By killing
someone who wishes to die, another member will try to kill you.
Bernard Werber (text) and Alain Mounier (art), Le Deuxième Cercle (lit. the second circle) [Tome 2], éditions Albin Michel, Paris, 2000, 43 p., ISBN2-226-11474-2, BNF371148466.
Bernard Werber (text) and Éric Puech (art), Jusqu'au dernier souffle (lit. until the last breath) [Tome 3], éditions Albin Michel, Paris, 2000, 44 p., ISBN2-226-12542-6, BNF388913761.
Collections
Bernard Werber (text), Alain Mounier et Éric Puech (art), Exit [no mention of colourists] colourized by Walter Pezzali and Sophie Dumas, pour les couleurs), éditions Albin Michel, [no series name], Paris, 2003, 45-43-47 p., ISBN2-226-14413-7, BNF391173297.
Bernard Werber (text), Alain Mounier et Éric Puech (art), Exit (with Walter Pezzali an Sophie Dumas, colourists), éditions Albin Michel, coll. « Les Intégrales », Paris, 2008, 141 p., ISBN978-2-35626-108-3, BNF41425210s.
Other works
Les Enfants d'Ève, May 2005 (lit. The Children of Eve)
Films
La Reine de nacre (short, 15'), 2001 (lit. The Mother-of-pearl Queen)