Marjorie Liu
Encyclopedia
Marjorie M. Liu is a New York Times best-selling author of paranormal romance and urban fantasy
novels and comic books. Her novels include the 2005 paranormal romance Tiger Eye. Her comics work includes a number Marvel Comics
series related to the X-Men
and Wolverine
, including NYX, X-23
and Dark Wolverine.
. She developed an early love of reading, from books such as Laura Ingalls Wilder
's Little House on the Prairie
books, and the works of Robert Louis Stevenson
, Joseph Campbell
, Charles de Lint
and Jorge Luis Borges
.
Liu majored in East Asian Languages and Cultures and minored in Biomedical Ethics at the Lawrence University
in Appleton, Wisconsin
. During her undergraduate years there, she also practiced her web design skills by designing a fan site called The Wolverine and Jubilee page, based on her discovery of numerous X-Men fan sites that she found to be well-designed. Although she had never read comic books in her youth, she was familiar with the X-Men
through the animated TV series and fan fiction
, and to familiarize herself with them more closely, she purchased X-Men and Wolverine
comics for reference from Powerhouse Comics in Appleton, Wisconsin
. In the process, she became a fan of the franchise herself, and wrote her own X-Men fan fiction, finding it an experimental exercise that it improve her storytelling skills.
After graduating, she found that there were not many careers for which education in her chosen areas of study qualified her. She decided to attend law school at the University of Wisconsin, as she was impressed with their East Asian legal center, and the presence of top U.S. experts in Biotech Law on the University's faculty. She found an internship in Beijing working at the Foreign Agriculture Service at the U.S. Embassy, which at the time, was dealing with the Chinese government's new rules regarding the import of genetically modified food. She graduated in May 2003, and admitted to the bar weeks later.
Seeing a little boy dressed as Spider-Man
at a book convention in Tucson, Arizona
, Liu remarked to her literary agent, Lucienne Diver, how she would enjoy writing for Marvel Comics
. Diver, who knew an editor at Marvel who was acquiring authors to write Marvel tie-in novels for Pocket Books
, made some inquiries, and found that while the publisher had already employed enough writers to write Spider-Man books amid the released of the 2002 film
, they had not hired anyone to write tie-in novels for the X-Men.
After writing the X-Men
novel Dark Mirror in 2005, Liu began talking with Marvel editors about doing comics work for them. It was three years later that she got her first assignment, the X-Men spin-off NYX.
She currently serves as co-writer on Marvel's Daken: Dark Wolverine
with Daniel Way
, and writes the X-23
series.
In addition to her literary agent, Lucienne Diver of The Knight Agency, Liu is also represented by Elena Stokes of Wunderkind PR.
Her favorite TV shows include Stargate
, The Amazing Race
and Lost
.
Urban fantasy
Urban fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Many urban fantasies are set in contemporary times and contain supernatural elements. However, the stories can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods...
novels and comic books. Her novels include the 2005 paranormal romance Tiger Eye. Her comics work includes a number Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
series related to the X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
and Wolverine
Wolverine (comics)
Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born as James Howlett and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing...
, including NYX, X-23
X-23
X-23 is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, in particular those featuring the X-Men. X-23 is a female clone of Wolverine.-Publication history:...
and Dark Wolverine.
Early life
Marjorie M. Liu was born in Philadelphia, and grew up in Seattle, WashingtonSeattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. She developed an early love of reading, from books such as Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder was an American author who wrote the Little House series of books based on her childhood in a pioneer family...
's Little House on the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie
Little House is a series of children's books by Laura Ingalls Wilder that was published originally between 1932 and 1943, with four additional books published posthumously, in 1962, 1971, 1974 and 2006.-History:...
books, and the works of Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
, Joseph Campbell
Joseph Campbell
Joseph John Campbell was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience...
, Charles de Lint
Charles de Lint
Charles de Lint is a Canadian fantasy author and folk musician. He is also the chief book critic for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction....
and Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
.
Liu majored in East Asian Languages and Cultures and minored in Biomedical Ethics at the Lawrence University
Lawrence University
Lawrence University is a selective, private liberal arts college with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, in Appleton, Wisconsin. Lawrence University is known for its rigorous academic environment. Founded in 1847, the first classes were held on November 12, 1849...
in Appleton, Wisconsin
Appleton, Wisconsin
Appleton is a city in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is situated on the Fox River, 30 miles southwest of Green Bay and 100 miles north of Milwaukee. Appleton is the county seat of Outagamie County. The population was 78,086 at the 2010 census...
. During her undergraduate years there, she also practiced her web design skills by designing a fan site called The Wolverine and Jubilee page, based on her discovery of numerous X-Men fan sites that she found to be well-designed. Although she had never read comic books in her youth, she was familiar with the X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
through the animated TV series and fan fiction
Fan fiction
Fan fiction is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator...
, and to familiarize herself with them more closely, she purchased X-Men and Wolverine
Wolverine (comics)
Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born as James Howlett and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing...
comics for reference from Powerhouse Comics in Appleton, Wisconsin
Appleton, Wisconsin
Appleton is a city in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is situated on the Fox River, 30 miles southwest of Green Bay and 100 miles north of Milwaukee. Appleton is the county seat of Outagamie County. The population was 78,086 at the 2010 census...
. In the process, she became a fan of the franchise herself, and wrote her own X-Men fan fiction, finding it an experimental exercise that it improve her storytelling skills.
After graduating, she found that there were not many careers for which education in her chosen areas of study qualified her. She decided to attend law school at the University of Wisconsin, as she was impressed with their East Asian legal center, and the presence of top U.S. experts in Biotech Law on the University's faculty. She found an internship in Beijing working at the Foreign Agriculture Service at the U.S. Embassy, which at the time, was dealing with the Chinese government's new rules regarding the import of genetically modified food. She graduated in May 2003, and admitted to the bar weeks later.
Career
Despite enjoying law school, Liu was disillusioned with the life of a lawyer by the time she graduated, and decided to become a writer. After she published poetry, short stories, and non-fiction pieces, she submitted her first novel, a paranormal romantic adventure set in China and the United States called Tiger Eye, which she wrote in a month, to several publishers before it was acquired by Dorchester. In was published in November 2007. She eventually wrote a sequel to Tiger Eye, as well as A Taste of Crimson, the sequel to Liz Maverick's Crimson City, which was published in August 2005.Seeing a little boy dressed as Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
at a book convention in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
, Liu remarked to her literary agent, Lucienne Diver, how she would enjoy writing for Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. Diver, who knew an editor at Marvel who was acquiring authors to write Marvel tie-in novels for Pocket Books
Pocket Books
Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.- History :Pocket produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in America in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry...
, made some inquiries, and found that while the publisher had already employed enough writers to write Spider-Man books amid the released of the 2002 film
Spider-Man (film)
Spider-Man is a 2002 American superhero film, the first in the Spider-Man film series based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was directed by Sam Raimi and written by David Koepp...
, they had not hired anyone to write tie-in novels for the X-Men.
After writing the X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
novel Dark Mirror in 2005, Liu began talking with Marvel editors about doing comics work for them. It was three years later that she got her first assignment, the X-Men spin-off NYX.
She currently serves as co-writer on Marvel's Daken: Dark Wolverine
Daken
Akihiro, also codename as Daken is a fictional comic book supervillain appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. Daken is the mutant son of Wolverine and his deceased wife Itsu...
with Daniel Way
Daniel Way
-Career:Way received the Xeric Foundation's Xeric Grant in 2000 for his first publication, Violent Lifestyle #1. Through Violent Lifestyle, Way was introduced to Marvel Comics editor Axel Alonso, who hired Way for a Deathlok mini-series that was cancelled prior to publication.Way's first published...
, and writes the X-23
X-23
X-23 is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, in particular those featuring the X-Men. X-23 is a female clone of Wolverine.-Publication history:...
series.
In addition to her literary agent, Lucienne Diver of The Knight Agency, Liu is also represented by Elena Stokes of Wunderkind PR.
Personal life
Marjorie M. Liu currently resides in the American Midwest.Her favorite TV shows include Stargate
Stargate
Stargate is a adventure military science fiction franchise, initially conceived by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Stargate. It was originally released on October 28, 1994, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Carolco, and became a hit, grossing nearly...
, The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race is a reality television game show in which teams of two people, who have some form of a preexisting personal relationship, race around the world in competition with other teams...
and Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
.
Novels
- Dirk & Steele series
- Book 1 - Tiger Eye (2005)
- Book 2 - Shadow Touch (2006)
- Book 3 - The Red Heart of Jade (2006)
- Book 4 - A Dream of Stone and Shadows (2006) - in Dark Dreamers anthology , NYT Best Seller
- Book 5 - Eye of Heaven (2006)
- Book 6 - Soul Song (2007)
- Book 7 - The Last Twilight (2008)
- Book 8 - The Wild Road (2008)
- Book 9 - The Fire King (2009)
- Book 10 - In the Dark of Dreams (2010)
- Hunter Kiss series
- The Iron Hunt (2008)
- Darkness Calls (2009)
- Armor of Roses (1/2010) - in Inked anthology
- A Wild Light (7/2010)
- Other novels
- A Taste of Crimson: Crimson City, Book 2 (2005)
- X-Men: Dark Mirror (2005)
Comics
- NYX: No Way Home #1 - 6 (Marvel ComicsMarvel ComicsMarvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
, 2008–2009) - Dark WolverineDakenAkihiro, also codename as Daken is a fictional comic book supervillain appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. Daken is the mutant son of Wolverine and his deceased wife Itsu...
#75 - 90 (co-written with Daniel WayDaniel Way-Career:Way received the Xeric Foundation's Xeric Grant in 2000 for his first publication, Violent Lifestyle #1. Through Violent Lifestyle, Way was introduced to Marvel Comics editor Axel Alonso, who hired Way for a Deathlok mini-series that was cancelled prior to publication.Way's first published...
, Marvel Comics, 2009–2010) - X-23X-23X-23 is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, in particular those featuring the X-Men. X-23 is a female clone of Wolverine.-Publication history:...
- Women of Marvel one-shot (Marvel Comics, 2010) - Black Widow #1 - 5 (Marvel Comics, 2010)
- Girl Comics #3 (Wolverine & Jubilee story only, Marvel Comics, 2010)
- Wolverine: Road to Hell - one-shot (Marvel Comics, 2010)
- Daken:Dark WolverineDakenAkihiro, also codename as Daken is a fictional comic book supervillain appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. Daken is the mutant son of Wolverine and his deceased wife Itsu...
#1 - present (co-written with Daniel Way, Marvel Comics, 2010–present) (continuation of Dark Wolverine) - X-23X-23X-23 is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, in particular those featuring the X-Men. X-23 is a female clone of Wolverine.-Publication history:...
#1 - present (Marvel Comics, 2010)
Short Stories
- Where the Heart Lives in My Big Fat Supernatural HoneymoonMy Big Fat Supernatural HoneymoonMy Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon, edited by P.N. Elrod, is the 2007 sequel to the 2006 book My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding. Honeymoon is an anthology of honeymoon stories contributed by several authors such as the author of the Otherworld series Kelley Armstrong, the author of The Morganville...
(2007)