John E. Stith (born 1947 in Boulder, Colorado) is an American science fiction author, known for the scientific rigor he brings to adventure and mystery stories.
Redshift Rendezvous, a Nebula Award nominee, is a murder mystery set aboard a space ship travelling through hyperspace, where the speed of light is ten meters per second, so relativistic effects occur at running speed. The solution respects the laws of physics. Manhattan Transfer, a novel about an alien abduction of the entire borough of Manhattan, was a Seiun Award nominee in Japan.
Stith's Nick Naught is a detective with a sense of humor in a dystopian future. He first appeared in Analog Magazine and his exploits (Naught for Hire and Naught Again) have been reprinted in the collection, All For Naught. Stith's other short fiction has appeared in Amazing Stories, Nature, and Dragon.
A webisode series of Naught for Hire is in development in the Spring of 2010. The screenplay is by series producer Jeffrey Berman and John E. Stith. Ben Browder is set to star and be executive producer.
His work has been translated into French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Russian.