The influential writer, poet, editor, and essayist Thomas M. Disch was born on February 2, 1940. With the 1965 publication of his first novel The Genocides, Disch began an impressive output of challenging, creative fiction. Other noteworthy novels included Camp Concentration (1968), Black Alice (1968 with John Sladek), 334 (1972), On Wings of Song (1979), The Businessman: A Tale Of Terror (1984), The M.D.: A Horror Story (1991), and THE WORD OF GOD: OR, HOLY WRIT REWRITTEN (2008).
In 1980, Disch ventured into the world of children’s books with The Brave Little Toaster: A Bedtime Story for Small Appliances, which was the basis for the acclaimed Disney film. His other works for children included The Tale Of Dan De Lion (1986), The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (1988 also made into a Disney film in 1998), and A Child’s Garden Of Grammar (1997). In 1999, Disney released The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue, the third film to use characters created by Disch.
Disch’s numerous shorts stories were collected into several volumes including One Hundred and Two H-Bombs (1967), Under Compulsion (1968), White Fang Goes Dingo (1971), Getting Into Death (1974), Fundamental Disch (1980), The Man Who Had No Idea (1982), and THE WALL OF AMERICA (2008). His acclaimed poetry was collected in several volumes including The Right Way To Figure Plumbing (1972), Abcdefg Hijklm Npoqrst Uvwxyz (1981), Burn This (1982), Dark Verses and Light (1991), Haikus of an Ampart (1991), About the Size of It (2007), and Endzone (2018). His poem BILLET-DOUX (2007) was produced as limited edition broadside in celebration of Tachyon Publications’ twelfth anniversary.
As an award-winning essayist, Disch was regular contributor to The Nation, The Weekly Standard, Harper’s, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Times Literary Supplement, and Entertainment Weekly. He won a Hugo award for the non-fiction The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered The World.
Among Disch’s other numerous accomplishments, are editing the anthologies Highway Sandwiches (1970 with Marilyn Hacker and Charles Platt), The Ruins of Earth (1971), Bad Moon Rising (1973), The New Improved Sun (1975), New Constellations: An Anthology of Tomorrow’s Mythologies (1976 with Charles Naylor), and Strangeness (1977 with Charles Naylor).
Sadly, the iconic Thomas Disch died in 2008, just days after Tachyon published what proved to be his final novel, THE WORD OF GOD: OR, HOLY WRIT REWRITTEN.
O’Leary and his metaphysical snake slither across a hallucinogenic Alice In Wonderland/Yellow Submarine/Slaughterhouse Five narrative that is even weirder than the reality that is America.
—Mario Acevedo, author of The Nymphos of Rocky Flats
Did the infamous Roswell site contain something so weird that it bears little resemblance to UFOs, aliens, or the most intricate conspiracy theories? With 51, Patrick O’Leary (The Gift) delivers a witty, unpredictable novel that upends one of the best-kept secrets in American history: the strange events at Area 51. This implausibly plausible explanation intricately entangles estranged friends, their not-quite-imaginary friends, and a series of very confused American presidents.
A deeply felt exploration of friendship, loyalty, memory, and growing old . . . there are also passages of truly lovely prose to remind us that this is much more than a conspiracy thriller.
—Locus
What really happened in Area 51?
Adam Pagnucco is just trying to help out a stranger who’s down and out. He has no idea that man is Winston Koop, his exceptionally talented, ex-best friend. Koop and Nuke had been inseparable in college, but then life happened. Nuke finally quit drinking, and Koop—Koop was at the center of a massive conspiracy that the government faked UFOs just to cover it up.
Even after confessing to removing the memories of hundreds of people, Koop is still hiding something crucial from Nuke. The truth is even stranger than fiction, and time is running out for the real inhabitants of the Roswell site. Can Nuke somehow find a way to forgive . . . but not to forget?
In his long-awaited new novel, Patrick O’Leary (Door Number Three) deftly navigates the invisible currents of secrets and forgiveness. Gripping, profound, and utterly unique, 51 is sure to please fans of fans of smart paranormal nostalgia, such as the X-Files, Old Man’s War, and Stranger Things.
O’Leary’s 51 is literary fiction on LSD, laced with surreal dreamscapes, humor, and dark insights into the human condition
—William C. Dietz, author of the Winds of War series
New York Times Bestselling author of more than twenty novels and over eighty short stories, Carrie Vaughn is best known for the Kitty Norville urban fantasy series about a werewolf who hosts a talk radio advice show for supernatural beings. Beginning with Kitty and the Midnight Hour (2005) through Kitty Saves the World (2015), she has written 14 novels featuring the titular character. Along the way, Vaughn produced numerous Kitty short stories, many of which were collected in Kitty’s Greatest Hits (2011) and KITTY’S MIX-TAPE (2020). THE IMMORTAL CONQUISTADOR (2020) chronicled the origin story of Kitty’s famed vampiric ally, Rick.
Vaughn’s numerous other books include Voices of Dragons (2010) and its sequel Refuge of Dragons (2017), Discord’s Apple (2010), After Golden Age (After the Golden Age [2011] and Dreams of the Golden Age [2014]), Steel (2011), Martians Abroad (2017), The Coast Road Novels (Bannerless [2017, Philip K. Dick Award winner] and The Wild Dead [2018]), Cormac and Amelia (Dark Divide [2019], Badlands Witch [2019], Fatal Storm [2021], Charmed Waters [2021]), The Locksley Chronicles (The Ghosts of Sherwood [2020] and The Heirs of Locksley [2020]), and Questland (2021).
Many of her short stories have been collected in Straying from the Path (2011) and Amaryllis and Other Stories (2016). Vaughn is a frequent contributor to George R. R. Martin’s famed Wild Cards shared universe.
All of us a Tachyon wish the amazing Carrie, a happy birthday.
The third wife of the legendary Philip K. Dick, Anne R. Dick (born January 27, 1927) crafted one of the seminal works on the influential author, THE SEARCH FOR PHILIP K. DICK. The personal memoir and biography follows Philip K. Dick from childhood through the course of their marriage (1958-1964), which also coincided with arguably his most fertile creative period. During that time, he penned 17 novels, including several of his most celebrated works: The Man in the High Castle, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Martian Time-Slip, Confessions of a Crap Artist, Dr. Bloodmoney, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Anne Dick, as the custom jewelry maker Rubenstein, encompassed a major plot element in High Castle and their children’s Barbies inspired the reality-altering Perky Pat dolls in Palmer Eldritch. The couple raised sheep, which are the prized possessions in Do Androids.
Immediately after his death, Anne R. Dick began the research for Search For Philip K. Dick, 1928-1982, the first Dick biography. It was completed in 1984 and first published in 1995 as a $120 hardback from Edwin Mellen Press. Thankfully the manuscript was given to all Dick biographers, allowing a unique insider’s account to an important literary figure. In 2009, Dick revised the work for an affordable self-published edition and then again for the current Tachyon Publications edition.
Shortly after their divorce, Dick began selling her sculptures and jewelry. Eventually, Dick became know as a pioneer in the American Crafts movement whose bronze jewelry has been exhibited around the world.
Dick’s other publications included seven collections of poetry and two additional non-fiction books.
ISBN: Print: 9781616963781; Digital: 9781616963798
Published: August 2022
Available Format(s): Trade Paperback and Digital
In this intricately layered debut fantasy, a nonbinary refugee practitioner of blood magic discovers a strange disease causing political rifts in their new homeland. Persian-American author Naseem Jamnia has crafted a gripping narrative with a moving, nuanced exploration of immigration, gender, healing, and family.
Firuz-e Jafari is fortunate enough to have immigrated to the Free Democratic City-State of Qilwa, fleeing the slaughter of other traditional Sassanian blood magic practitioners in their homeland. Despite the status of refugees in their new home, Firuz has a good job at a free healing clinic in Qilwa, working with Kofi, a kindly new employer, and mentoring Afsoneh, a troubled orphan refugee with powerful magic.
But Firuz and Kofi have discovered a terrible new disease which leaves mysterious bruises on its victims. The illness is spreading quickly through Qilwa, and there are dangerous accusations of ineptly performed blood magic. In order to survive, Firuz must break a deadly cycle of prejudice, untangle sociopolitical constraints, and find a fresh start for their both their blood and found family.
Powerful and fascinating, The Bruising of Qilwa is the newest arrival in the era of fantasy classics such as the Broken Earth Trilogy, THE FOUR PROFOUND WEAVES, and Who Fears Death.
Naseem Jamnia is a former neuroscientist and recent MFA graduate from the University of Nevada, Reno. Their work has appeared in the Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, The Rumpus, The Writer’s Chronicle, and other venues.
Jamnia is a 2018 Bitch Media Fellow in Technology, a 2019 Lambda Literary Fellow in Young Adult Fiction, and they recently received the 2021 inaugural Samuel R. Delany Fellowship.
In addition to cowriting the academic text Positive Interactions with At-Risk Children (Routledge, 2019), Jamnia’s work has been included in the Lambda Literary EMERGE anthology (2020) and We Made Uranium! And Other True Stories from the University of Chicago’s Extraordinary Scavenger Hunt (University of Chicago, 2019).
Jamnia is the managing editor at Sword & Kettle Press, an independent publishing house of inclusive feminist speculative fiction. They are also the former managing editor at Sidequest.Zone, an independent gaming criticism website.
A Persian-Chicagoan and child to Iranian immigrants, Jamnia now lives in Reno with their husband, dog, and two cats. Find out at more at www.naseemwrites.com or on Twitter and Instagram @jamsternazzy.
A former marine biologist and according to the US Department of Homeland Security, a convicted felon and terrorist, Peter Watts’ acclaimed debut novel Starfish (1999) was named a New York Times Notable Book. He followed that success with the next three volumes of the Riftersseries: Maelstrom (2001), Behemoth: B-Max (2004), and Behemoth: Seppuku (2005). Blindsight (2006) has become a core text in diverse undergraduate courses ranging from philosophy to neuropsych. The sidequel Echopraxia appeared in 2014. Crysis: Legion (2011) novelized the game Crysis 2.
His numerous award-winning shorter works have been collected in Ten Monkeys, Ten Minutes (2001), BEYOND THE RIFT (2013), the Polish Odtrutka na optymizm (2013), the French Au-delà du gouffre (2016), PETER WATTS IS AN ANGRY SENTIENT TUMOR (2019), and the Russsian Революция в стоп-кадрах (2021). For the Spring 2000 issue of On Spec, Watts produced the frontispiece “Alien Intents” as well as cover to Firefall (2014), which collected Blindsight and Echopraxia.
Starting with the Hugo Award-winning “The Island” (2009), Watts began the Sunflower Cycle about the voyage of a jump gate-building ship Eriophora. Their stories continued in “Hotshot” (2014), “Giants” (2014), and 2018′s acclaimed THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION.
All of us at Tachyon wish the amazing Peter a happy birthday!
ISBN: Trade paperback 978-1-61696-376-7; Digital 978-1-61696-377-4
Published: July 2022
Available Format(s): Trade Paperback and Digital
In her breakout technothriller, virtual reality expert Kimberly Unger has created the iconic, badass, cyberpunk heroine that we need: Eliza McKay. McKay is a disgraced underground hacker who is just trying to take back her career one dangerous job at a time. But when her latest contract throws her into the middle of a corporate power struggle, she finds herself fighting for her life in both the real and digital worlds.
I can’t wait to read more from Unger.
—Lissa Price, internationally bestselling author of the Starters series
Eliza McKay is an Extractionist: an expert in the virtual reality space where people’s minds are uploaded as digital personas. When rich or important people get stuck in the Swim for reasons that are sleazy, illegal, or merely unlucky—it’s McKay’s job to quietly extract them. And McKay’s job just got a lot more dangerous.
After McKay repels an attack on her Swim persona, hired thugs break into her house to try and hack her cybernetic implants directly. Meanwhile, the corporate executive she was hired to rescue from VR space is surprisingly reluctant to be extracted. Something is lurking in the Swim, and some very powerful people will stop at nothing to keep it secret.Turn On Builder
ISBN: Trade paperback 978-1-61696-376-7; Digital 978-1-61696-377-4
Published: July 2022
Available Format(s): Trade Paperback and Digital
In her breakout technothriller, virtual reality expert Kimberly Unger has created the iconic, badass, cyberpunk heroine that we need: Eliza McKay. McKay is a disgraced underground hacker who is just trying to take back her career one dangerous job at a time. But when her latest contract throws her into the middle of a corporate power struggle, she finds herself fighting for her life in both the real and digital worlds.
I can’t wait to read more from Unger.
—Lissa Price, internationally bestselling author of the Starters series
Eliza McKay is an Extractionist: an expert in the virtual reality space where people’s minds are uploaded as digital personas. When rich or important people get stuck in the Swim for reasons that are sleazy, illegal, or merely unlucky—it’s McKay’s job to quietly extract them. And McKay’s job just got a lot more dangerous.
After McKay repels an attack on her Swim persona, hired thugs break into her house to try and hack her cybernetic implants directly. Meanwhile, the corporate executive she was hired to rescue from VR space is surprisingly reluctant to be extracted. Something is lurking in the Swim, and some very powerful people will stop at nothing to keep it secret.
The author of over 30 books, Nancy Kress‘ first novel The Prince of Morning Bells (1981) appeared to much acclaim. In 1986, she won her first of six Nebula Awards with the short story “Out of All Them Bright Stars.” It was Kress’ second Nebula and first Hugo win for the 1991 novella Beggars In Spain that cemented her legacy. Her other Nebula Award-winning works include “The Flowers of Adult Prison (1996; also won Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award),” Fountain Of Age (2007), AFTER THE FALL, BEFORE THE FALL, DURING THE FALL (2013), and YESTERDAY’S KIN (2015). Among Kress’ other award-winning stories are Probability Space (2003, John W. Campbell Memorial Award) and The Erdmann Nexus (2009 Hugo Award). Other acclaimed works include An Alien Light (1988), Oaths And Miracles (1996), Maximum Light (1997), DANCING ON AIR (1997), Probability Moon (2000), DOGS (2008), Flash Point (2012), Yesterday’s Kin trilogy (Tomorrow’s Kin [2017], If Tomorrow Comes [2018], Terran Tomorrow [2018]), The Eleventh Gate (2020), and SEA CHANGE (2020). Under the name Anna Kendall, Kress wrote the young adult The Soulvine Moor trilogy (Crossing Over [2010], Dark Mist Rising [2011], A Bright and Terrible Sword [2012]).
Her numerous short stories have been collected in Trinity and Other Stories (1985), The Aliens of Earth (1993), Beaker’s Dozen (1998), Nano Comes to Clifford Falls and Other Stories (2008), Future Perfect: Six Stories of Genetic Engineering (2012), The Body Human: Three Stories of Future Medicine (2012), AI Unbound: Two Stories of Artificial Intelligence (2012), Fountain of Age: Stories (2012), The Best of Nancy Kress (2015), and Danses aériennes [French] (2017). Kress edited Nebula Awards Showcase 2003 (2003).
A regular at the Clarion writing workshops and at The Writers Center in Bethesda, Maryland, Kress was, during the Winter of 2008/09, the Picador Guest Professor for Literature at the University of Leipzig’s Institute for American Studies in Leipzig, Germany. She has produced trio of books on the craft for Writer’s Digest: Beginnings, Middles, and Ends (1993), Dynamic Characters (1998), and Characters, Emotion, and Viewpoint (2004).
All of us a Tachyon wish the extraordinary Nancy, a happy birthday.
