Bruce Boston
Encyclopedia
Bruce Boston is an American
speculative fiction
writer and poet who was born in Chicago and grew up in Southern California
. He received a B.A. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, 1965, and an M.A., 1967. He lived in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1961 to 2001, where he worked in a variety of occupations, including computer programmer, college professor (literature and creative writing, John F. Kennedy University, Orinda, California, 1978–82), technical writer, book designer, gardener, movie projectionist, retail clerk, and furniture mover. He ly lives in Ocala, Florida
, with his wife, writer-artist Marge Simon
, whom he married in 2001.
Boston has won the Rhysling Award for speculative poetry
a record seven times: for Best Long Poem in 1989 and 1999, and for Best Short Poem in 1985, 1988, 1994, 1996, and 2001, and the Asimov's Readers' Award for poetry a record six times: 1990, 1994, 1997, 2003, 2005 and 2008. He has also received a Pushcart Prize
for fiction, 1976, a record four Bram Stoker Award
s in poetry for his collections Pitchblende, 2003, Shades Fantastic, 2006, The Nightmare Collection, 2008, Dark Matters, 2010, and the first Grandmaster Award of the Science Fiction Poetry Association
, 1999. His collaborative poem with Robert Frazier
, "Return to the Mutant Rain Forest," received first place in the 2006 Locus Online Poetry Poll for Best All-Time Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror Poem.
Boston has also published more than a hundred short stories and the novels Stained Glass Rain and The Guardener's Tale (the latter a Bram Stoker Award
Finalist and Prometheus Award
Nominee). His work has appeared widely in periodicals and anthologies, including Asimov's SF Magazine, Amazing Stories Magazine, Realms of Fantasy
, Science Fiction Age, Weird Tales
, Strange Horizons
, Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, and the Nebula Awards Showcase. Both his fiction and poetry exhibit a variety in styles and subjects. Writing in The Washington Post
, Paul Di Filippo
described his collection Masque of Dreams as containing "nearly two dozen brilliant stories ranging across all emotional and narrative terrains." Reviewing Stained Glass Rain for Tangent, Howard V. Hendrix
called it "probably the best novel yet written about the sixties and its drug culture."
Boston has chaired the Nebula Award
Novel Jury (SFWA) and the Philip K. Dick Award Jury, and served as Secretary and Treasurer of the Science Fiction Poetry Association
. He has served as fiction and/or poetry editor for a number of publications, including Occident, The Open Cell, Berkeley Poets Cooperative, City Miner, Star*Line, and The Pedestal Magazine. As of 2011, he is Poetry Book Editor for Dark Regions Press, edits speculative fiction/poetry for The Pedestal Magazine, and Chairs the Bram Stoker Awards Novel Jury.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
speculative fiction
Speculative fiction
Speculative fiction is an umbrella term encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres, specifically science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and alternate history in literature as well as...
writer and poet who was born in Chicago and grew up in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
. He received a B.A. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, 1965, and an M.A., 1967. He lived in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1961 to 2001, where he worked in a variety of occupations, including computer programmer, college professor (literature and creative writing, John F. Kennedy University, Orinda, California, 1978–82), technical writer, book designer, gardener, movie projectionist, retail clerk, and furniture mover. He ly lives in Ocala, Florida
Ocala, Florida
Ocala is a city in Marion County, Florida. As of 2007, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 53,491. It is the county seat of Marion County, and the principal city of the Ocala, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated 2007 population of 324,857.-History:Ocala...
, with his wife, writer-artist Marge Simon
Marge Simon
Marge Simon is an American artist and a writer of speculative poetry and fiction. Her poems, short fiction, and illustrations have appeared in hundreds of publications, including Amazing Stories, Nebula Awards 32, Strange Horizons, The Pedestal Magazine, Chizine, Niteblade, Vestal Review, and Dark...
, whom he married in 2001.
Boston has won the Rhysling Award for speculative poetry
Speculative poetry
Also variously called science fiction poetry or SF poetry or fantastic poetry, speculative poetry is to poetry roughly what speculative fiction is to fiction. Speculative poetry is often published by the same markets that publish science fiction, fantasy and horror.Speculative poetry is not...
a record seven times: for Best Long Poem in 1989 and 1999, and for Best Short Poem in 1985, 1988, 1994, 1996, and 2001, and the Asimov's Readers' Award for poetry a record six times: 1990, 1994, 1997, 2003, 2005 and 2008. He has also received a Pushcart Prize
Pushcart Prize
The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are invited to nominate up to 6 works they have featured....
for fiction, 1976, a record four Bram Stoker Award
Bram Stoker Award
The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented by the Horror Writers Association for "superior achievement" in horror writing. The awards have been presented annually since 1987, and the winners are selected by ballot of the Active members of the HWA...
s in poetry for his collections Pitchblende, 2003, Shades Fantastic, 2006, The Nightmare Collection, 2008, Dark Matters, 2010, and the first Grandmaster Award of the Science Fiction Poetry Association
Science Fiction Poetry Association
The Science Fiction Poetry Association was established in 1978 by Suzette Haden Elgin to bring together poets and readers interested in science fiction poetry. The organization administers the Rhysling Award and publishes the journal Star*Line, as well as providing market listings and industry news...
, 1999. His collaborative poem with Robert Frazier
Robert Frazier
Robert Alexander Frazier is an American writer of speculative poetry and fiction, as well as an impressionist painter on Nantucket Island....
, "Return to the Mutant Rain Forest," received first place in the 2006 Locus Online Poetry Poll for Best All-Time Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror Poem.
Boston has also published more than a hundred short stories and the novels Stained Glass Rain and The Guardener's Tale (the latter a Bram Stoker Award
Bram Stoker Award
The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented by the Horror Writers Association for "superior achievement" in horror writing. The awards have been presented annually since 1987, and the winners are selected by ballot of the Active members of the HWA...
Finalist and Prometheus Award
Prometheus Award
The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society, which also publishes a quarterly journal Prometheus. L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newly founded Libertarian Futurist...
Nominee). His work has appeared widely in periodicals and anthologies, including Asimov's SF Magazine, Amazing Stories Magazine, Realms of Fantasy
Realms of Fantasy
Realms of Fantasy is a professional bimonthly fantasy speculative fiction magazine published by Damnation Books, which specializes in fantasy, nonfiction, and art. The magazine publishes short stories by some of the genre's most popular and most prominent authors...
, Science Fiction Age, Weird Tales
Weird Tales
Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....
, Strange Horizons
Strange Horizons
Strange Horizons is an online speculative fiction magazine. It also features speculative poetry in every issue....
, Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, and the Nebula Awards Showcase. Both his fiction and poetry exhibit a variety in styles and subjects. Writing in The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, Paul Di Filippo
Paul Di Filippo
Paul Di Filippo is an American science fiction writer. He has been published in Postscripts...
described his collection Masque of Dreams as containing "nearly two dozen brilliant stories ranging across all emotional and narrative terrains." Reviewing Stained Glass Rain for Tangent, Howard V. Hendrix
Howard V. Hendrix
Howard Vincent Hendrix is an American scholar and science fiction writer. He was born in Cincinnati. He is a cousin of blues musician Mike Tetrault. He is author of the novels Lightpaths and Standing Wave, Better Angels, Empty Cities of the Full Moon, The Labyrinth Key, and Spears of God...
called it "probably the best novel yet written about the sixties and its drug culture."
Boston has chaired the Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
Novel Jury (SFWA) and the Philip K. Dick Award Jury, and served as Secretary and Treasurer of the Science Fiction Poetry Association
Science Fiction Poetry Association
The Science Fiction Poetry Association was established in 1978 by Suzette Haden Elgin to bring together poets and readers interested in science fiction poetry. The organization administers the Rhysling Award and publishes the journal Star*Line, as well as providing market listings and industry news...
. He has served as fiction and/or poetry editor for a number of publications, including Occident, The Open Cell, Berkeley Poets Cooperative, City Miner, Star*Line, and The Pedestal Magazine. As of 2011, he is Poetry Book Editor for Dark Regions Press, edits speculative fiction/poetry for The Pedestal Magazine, and Chairs the Bram Stoker Awards Novel Jury.
Novels
- Stained Glass Rain. Ocean View, 1993, WildsideWildside PressWildside Press is an independent publishing company located in Maryland, USA. It was founded in 1989 by John Gregory and Kim Betancourt. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction in both trade and limited editions, it has broadened out somewhat since then, both...
, 2003 - The Guardener's Tale. Sam's Dot Publishing, 2007, 2011
- El Guardian de Almas, Spanish-language edition of The Guardener's Tale, La Factoria de Ideas, 2009
Fiction and Poetry Collections
- The Complete Accursed Wives. Talisman/Dark Regions, 2000
- Masque of Dreams. WildsideWildside PressWildside Press is an independent publishing company located in Maryland, USA. It was founded in 1989 by John Gregory and Kim Betancourt. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction in both trade and limited editions, it has broadened out somewhat since then, both...
, 2001, 2009 - Bruce Boston: Short Stories, Volume 1 (ebook). FictionwiseFictionwiseFictionwise, owned by Barnes & Noble, is one of the largest electronic book sellers in North America with an estimated 1.5 million ebook content units sold in 2008. Fictionwise sells ebooks in various formats...
, 2003 - Bruce Boston: Short Stories, Volume 2 (ebook). FictionwiseFictionwiseFictionwise, owned by Barnes & Noble, is one of the largest electronic book sellers in North America with an estimated 1.5 million ebook content units sold in 2008. Fictionwise sells ebooks in various formats...
, 2003
Fiction Collections
- Jackbird. BPW&P, 1976
- She Comes When You're Leaving. BPW&P, 1982
- Skin Trades, Chris Drumm, 1988
- Hypertales & Metafictions. Chris Drumm, 1990
- All the Clocks Are Melting (single story booklet), Pulphouse PublishingPulphouse PublishingPulphouse Publishing was an American small press publisher based in Eugene, Oregon and specializing in science fiction and fantasy. It was founded by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch in 1988. The press was active until 1996...
, 1991 - Night Eyes. Chris Drumm, 1993
- Dark Tales & Light. Dark Regions, 1999
- Flashing the Dark. Sam's Dot Publishing, 2006
Poetry Collections
- XXO. Maya Press, 1969
- Potted Poems. Maya Press, 1970
- All the Clock Are Melting. Velocities, 1984
- Alchemical Texts. Ocean View, 1985
- Nuclear Futures. Velocities, 1987
- Time. Titan, 1988
- The Nightmare Collector. 2AM Publications, 1989
- Faces of the Beast. Starmont House, 1990
- Other Voices, Other Worlds (audio tape, music by Jack Poley). Chris Drumm, 1990, (MP3 audio) Telltale Weekly, 2004
- Short Circuits (prose poems). Ocean View, 1991
- Cybertexts. Talisman, 1991
- Chronicles of the Mutant Rain Forest (with Robert Frazier). Horror's Head Press, 1992
- Accursed Wives. Night Visions, 1993
- Specula: Selected Uncollected Poems, 1968-1993. Talisman, 1993
- Sensuous Debris: Selected Poems, 1970-1995. Dark Regions, 1995
- Conditions of Sentient Life. Gothic Press, 1996
- Cold Tomorrows. Gothic Press, 1998
- Pavane for a Cyber-Princess (single poem chapbook). Miniature Sun, 2001
- White Space. Dark Regions, 2001
- Quanta: Award Winning Poems. Miniature Sun, 2001
- Night Smoke (ebook, with Marge Simon), Miniature Sun & Quixsilver, 2002
- She Was There for Him the Last Time (single poem chapbook). Miniature Sun, 2002
- Head Full of Strange (ebook). CyberPulp, 2003
- Pitchblende. Dark Regions, 2003
- Etiquette with Your Robot Wife. Talisman, 2005
- Shades Fantastic. Gromagon Press, 2006
- Night Smoke (with Marge Simon, expanded print edition of 2002 ebook). Kelp Queen Press, 2007
- The Nightmare Collection. Dark Regions, 2008
- Double Visions (collaborative poems). Dark Regions, 2009
- North Left of Earth. Sam's Dot, 2009
- Dark Matters. Bad Moon BooksBad Moon BooksBad Moon Books is a publishing company owned by Roy K. Robbins in Garden Grove, California. In the middle of 1986, they began as a bookseller only, but in 2007 they began publishing. Their works include many Black Quill Award and Bram Stoker Award winners and nominees...
, 2010 - Surrealities. Dark Regions, 2011
Poetry Broadsides
- Musings. Eldritch Emu Press, 1988
- The Last Existentialist. Chris Drumm, 1993
- Confessions of a Body Thief. Talisman, 1998
- The Lesions of Genetic Sin. Miniature Sun, 2000
- In Far Pale Clarity. Quixsilver, 2002
- The Crow Is Dismantled in Flight (ebroadside). Miniature Sun, 2003
External links
- Bruce Boston's website
- Interview by John Amen at The Pedestal Magazine
- Interview by JoSelle Vanderhooft at Strange Horizons
- Bruce Boston at Fictionwise
- "Songs of the Stars: The Poetry of Bruce Boston," retrospective essay by Gary William Crawford.
- Locus Index to SF Awards