Happy birthday to the groundbreaking, award-winning Suzy McKee Charnas
Hugo, Nebula, and
Tiptree award–winning author Suzy McKee Charnas is best known for
her groundbreaking HOLDFAST CHRONICLES, a four-volume story written
over the course of almost thirty years (1974-1999) which addressed
the oft-controversial topics of feminist dystopia, separatist
societies, war, and reintegration, and her critically acclaimed
exploration of the vampire mythos, THE VAMPIRE TAPESTRY.
The first and second
volumes of the HOLDFAST CHRONICLES, WALK TO THE END OF THE WORLD
(1974) and MOTHERLINES (1978), each won a 1996 Retrospective James
Tiptree, Jr. Award. The final volume THE CONQUEROR’S CHILD (1999) won
the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. The series as a whole which also
included THE FURIES (1994) was given the 2003 Gaylactic Spectrum Hall
of Fame Award. Her young adult novel THE KINGDOM OF KEVIN MALONE
earned the Aslan Award for Best Children’s Book of 1993. The novella
“The Unicorn Tapestry,” that was part of THE VAMPIRE TAPESTRY,
won a 1980 Nebula.
Other works include
THE SORCERY HALL trilogy – THE BRONZE KING (1985), THE SILVER GLOVE
(1988) and THE GOLDEN THREAD (1989) – and the short story
collections MOONSTONE AND TIGER-EYE
(1992), MUSIC OF THE NIGHT (2001), and STAGESTRUCK VAMPIRES AND OTHER
PHANTASMS (2004). Charnas adapted THE VAMPIRE TAPESTRY into the
two-act play VAMPIRE DREAMS. It enjoyed runs in both San Francisco
and New York, debuting as part of Springfest in San Francisco in
1990.
All of us at Tachyon
wish the sensational Suzy a happy birthday!
For more information on STAGESTRUCK VAMPIRES AND OTHER PHANTASMS, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover by John Picacio