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Caitlín R. Kiernan

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Caitlín R. Kiernan
Kiernan in 2011
Kiernan in 2011
BornMay 26, 1964
Dublin, Ireland
Pen nameKathleen Tierney
Occupationauthor, paleontologist
NationalityU.S.
Periodpresent
GenreScience fiction, dark fantasy
Notable worksSilk; Threshold; Alabaster; The Red Tree; The Drowning Girl
Website
http://www.caitlinrkiernan.com/

Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan (born May 26, 1964) is the author of science fiction and dark fantasy works, including eight novels; many comic books; and more than two hundred published short stories, novellas, and vignettes. She is also the author of scientific papers in the field of paleontology.

Early life

2001

Born in Dublin, Ireland, she moved to the United States as a young child with her mother. Much of her childhood was spent in the small town of Leeds, Alabama, and her early interests included herpetology, paleontology, and fiction writing. As a teenager, she lived in Trussville, Alabama, and, in high school, began doing volunteer work at the Red Mountain Museum in Birmingham, Alabama and spending summers on her first archaeological and paleontological digs.

Kiernan attended college at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Colorado at Boulder, studying geology and vertebrate paleontology, and she held both museum and teaching positions before finally turning to fiction writing in 1992.

Career

In 1988, she co-authored a paper describing the new genus and species of mosasaur, Selmasaurus russelli.[1][failed verification] Her first novel, The Five of Cups, was written between June '92 and early '93, though it wasn't published until 2003. In 1998 her first published novel, Silk, was released. Her first published short story was "Persephone," a dark science fiction tale, released in 1995. Her most recent scientific publications are a paper on the biostratigraphy of Alabama mosasaurs, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (2002) and "First record of a velociraptorine theropod (Tetanurae, Dromaeosauridae) from the Eastern Gulf Coastal United States." The Mosasaur (2005).

Kiernan has had short fiction selected for Year's Best Fantasy and Horror series, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, and The Year's Best Science Fiction, and her short stories have been collected in several volumes (see Bibliography). To date, her work has been translated into German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, Czech, Polish, Russian, Korean, and Japanese. In May 1996, Kiernan was approached by Neil Gaiman and editors at DC/Vertigo Comics to begin writing for The Dreaming, a spin-off from Gaiman's very successful title, The Sandman. Kiernan wrote for the title from 1996 until its conclusion in 2001, working closely with Gaiman and focusing not only on pre-existing characters (The Corinthian, Cain and Abel, Lucien, Nuala, Morpheus, Thessaly, etc.), but also on new characters (Echo, Maddy, the white dream raven Tethys, etc.).[1] In 2012, Kiernan returned to comics, scripting Alabaster: Wolves (based on her character Dancy Flammarion). She wrote the novelization for the Beowulf film (scripted by Gaiman and Roger Avary).

Style

In her blog she stated, "I'm getting tired of telling people that I'm not a 'horror' writer. I'm getting tired of them not listening, or not believing. Most of them seem suspicious of my motives."[2]

Kiernan has garnered a reputation as one of the foremost authors of contemporary weird fiction. In his review of her novel 2009 The Red Tree, H. P. Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi writes: "Kiernan already ranks with the most distinctive stylists in our field – Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Dunsany, Thomas Ligotti. With Ligotti's regrettable retreat into fictional silence, hers is now the voice of weird fiction."[3]

Music

Between 1996 and 1997, Kiernan also fronted an Athens, Georgia-based "goth-folk-blues band," Death's Little Sister,[4] named for Neil Gaiman's character, Delirium. She was the band's vocalist and lyricist, and the group enjoyed some success on local college radio and played shows in Athens and Atlanta. Kiernan has said in interviews that she left the band in February 1997 because of her increased responsibilities writing for DC Comics and because her novel Silk had recently sold. She was briefly involved in Crimson Stain Mystery, a studio project, two years later. CSM produced one EP to accompany a special limited edition of Silk, illustrated by Clive Barker (Gauntlet Press, 2000).

Publishing

In 2005, she began publishing the monthly Sirenia Digest[5] (otherwise known as MerViSS) consisting of vignettes and short stories: "The MerViSS Project is a continuation of Kiernan's exploration of the fusion of erotic literature with elements of dark fantasy and science fiction, creating brief, dreamlike fictions." It is currently illustrated by Vince Locke. The digest includes the occasional collaboration with Sonya Taaffe.

Personal life

Kiernan is a transsexual,[6] a lesbian, and an atheist pagan.[7] She lives in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. with her partner: photographer and doll maker Kathryn A. Pollnac.[8]

Awards

Won

Nominated (partial list)

  • Bram Stoker Award 1995, Best Short Story ("Persephone")
  • Bram Stoker Award, Best First Novel 1998 (Silk)
  • British Fantasy Award, Best First Novel 1998 (Silk)
  • Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Award, Best Graphic Novel 1998 (The Girl Who Would Be Death)
  • International Horror Guild Award, Best Collection (Tales of Pain and Wonder)
  • Bram Stoker Award, Best Graphic Novel 2001 (The Dreaming #56, "The First Adventure of Miss Caterina Poe")
  • International Horror Guild Award, Best Graphic Novel 2001 (The Dreaming #56, "The First Adventure of Miss Caterina Poe")
  • International Horror Guild Award, Best Short Form 2002 ("The Road of Pins")
  • International Horror Guild Award, Best Collection 2005 (To Charles Fort, With Love)
  • World Fantasy Award 2006, Best Collection 2005 (To Charles Fort, With Love)
  • World Fantasy Award 2006, Best Short Fiction 2005 ("La Peau Verte")
  • International Horror Guild Award, Best Mid-Length Fiction 2006 ("Bainbridge")
  • Locus Award 2010 (40th Annual), Best Fantasy Novel (The Red Tree)
  • Locus Award 2010 (40th Annual), Best Collection (A is for Alien)
  • Shirley Jackson Award (3rd Annual, 2010), Best Novel (The Red Tree)
  • World Fantasy Award 2010, Best Novel (The Red Tree)
  • Shirley Jackson Award (4th Annual, 2011), Best Short Story ("As Red as Red")
  • World Fantasy Award 2011, Best Collection 2010 (The Ammonite Violin & Others)
  • Bram Stoker Award 2012, Best Collection (Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan, Volume 1)
  • Bram Stoker Award 2012, Best Long Fiction ("The Collier's Venus [1893]")
  • Locus Award 2012, Best Collection (Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan, Volume 1)
  • World Fantasy Award 2012, Best Collection (Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan, Volume 1)
  • Nebula Award 2012, Best Novel (The Drowning Girl)

Bibliography

Main article: List of works by Caitlín R. Kiernan

Novels

  • Silk, Penguin-Putnam, 1998, ISBN 978-0-451-45668-7 (1999, Gauntlet Press)
  • Threshold (2001, Penguin-Putnam)
  • The Five of Cups, Subterranean Press, 2003, ISBN 978-1-931081-80-1
  • Low Red Moon, Penguin-Putnam, 2003, ISBN 978-1-931081-84-9
  • Murder of Angels, Penguin-Putnam, 2004, ISBN 0-451-45996-2
  • Daughter of Hounds, Penguin-Putnam, 2007, ISBN 978-0-451-46157-5
  • Beowulf (2007; HarperCollins; novelization of 2007 film)
  • The Red Tree (2009; Penguin-Putnam)
  • The Drowning Girl: A Memoir (March, 2012; Penguin-Putnam), nominated for 2012 Nebula Award for Best Novel[9]
  • Blood Oranges (writing as Kathleen Tierney; February, 2013, Penguin-Putnam)

Short fiction collections

Notes

  1. ^ a b Irvine, Alex (2008). "The Dreaming". In Dougall, Alastair (ed.). The Vertigo Encyclopedia. New York: Dorling Kindersley. pp. 64–65. ISBN 0-7566-4122-5. OCLC 213309015.
  2. ^ Kiernan, Caitlín R. (2002-02-03). "Chapter Two proceeds apace". Low Red Moon journal. Retrieved 2007-05-18.
  3. ^ Dead Reckonings (No. 6, Volume 2009, pp. 28-30)
  4. ^ Musical projects
  5. ^ Kiernan, Caitlín R. "sirenia". Retrieved 2007-05-18.
  6. ^ http://www.locusmag.com/2008/Issue12_Kiernan.html
  7. ^ http://greygirlbeast.livejournal.com/883678.html
  8. ^ Caitlín R. Kiernan's MySpace page accessed 29 March 2007.
  9. ^ 2012 Nebula Awards Nominees Announced, SFWA, February 20, 2013
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