Jay Lake
Encyclopedia
Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is a science fiction
and fantasy
writer. In 2003 he was a quarterly first place winner in the Writers of the Future
contest. In 2004 he won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction. He lives in Portland, Oregon
and currently works as a product manager for a voice services company. When appearing at conventions
he usually wears a Hawaiian shirt.
Jay has appeared in numerous publications, including Postscripts
, Realms of Fantasy
, Interzone
, Strange Horizons
, Asimov's Science Fiction
, Nemonymous
, and the Mammoth Book of Best New Horror. He is an editor for the Polyphony anthology series from Wheatland Press
, and is also a contributor for the Internet Review of Science Fiction.
(his father is foreign service officer Joseph Edward Lake
) and grew up there and in Nigeria
. He graduated from the University of Texas in 1986.
In addition to these three novels there are at least two more stories set in the City Imperishable:
In addition to these three novels there are at least two more novellas set in the Mainspring Universe:
In addition to these three novels there are at least two more story set in the world of Green:
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
writer. In 2003 he was a quarterly first place winner in the Writers of the Future
Writers of the Future
Writers of the Future is a science fiction and fantasy story contest that was originated by L. Ron Hubbard in the early 1980s. Hubbard...
contest. In 2004 he won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction. He lives in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
and currently works as a product manager for a voice services company. When appearing at conventions
Convention (meeting)
A convention, in the sense of a meeting, is a gathering of individuals who meet at an arranged place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interest. The most common conventions are based upon industry, profession, and fandom...
he usually wears a Hawaiian shirt.
Jay has appeared in numerous publications, including Postscripts
Postscripts
Postscripts is a quarterly Britishmagazine of science fiction, fantasy, horror and crime fiction, first published in June 2004.Each issue is published in two editions: a regular newsstand-type edition and a signed, numbered, 150-copy hardcover edition. Beginning with Postscripts #14, it is a...
, 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...
, Interzone
Interzone (magazine)
Interzone is an award-winning British fantasy and science fiction magazine. Published since 1982, Interzone is the eighth longest-running science fiction magazine in history and the longest-running British SF magazine...
, Strange Horizons
Strange Horizons
Strange Horizons is an online speculative fiction magazine. It also features speculative poetry in every issue....
, Asimov's Science Fiction
Asimov's Science Fiction
Asimov's Science Fiction is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy and perpetuates the name of author and biochemist Isaac Asimov...
, Nemonymous
Nemonymous
Nemonymous was a short fiction publication that labeled itself a "megazanthus" . It was published in the United Kingdom and edited by British writer D.F...
, and the Mammoth Book of Best New Horror. He is an editor for the Polyphony anthology series from Wheatland Press
Wheatland Press
Wheatland Press is an independent book publisher, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, and horror short story and poetry collections. It was founded in 2002 by Deborah Layne...
, and is also a contributor for the Internet Review of Science Fiction.
Early life
Jay Lake was born in TaiwanTaiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
(his father is foreign service officer Joseph Edward Lake
Joseph Edward Lake
Joseph Edward Lake is a former career member of the Senior Foreign Service, who, in 1990, became the first resident U.S. Ambassador to the Mongolian People's Republic . The first U.S. ambassador to Mongolia, Richard L. Williams, was not a resident there. Later, he was named U.S...
) and grew up there and in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. He graduated from the University of Texas in 1986.
The City Imperishable
- Trial of Flowers (October 2006) Night Shade BooksNight Shade BooksNight Shade Books is an independent publishing company based in San Francisco, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It was started in 1997 by Jason Williams, with Jeremy Lassen coming on board as a partner shortly after the company's founding...
(ISBN 1-59780-056-2) - Madness of Flowers (October 2009) Night Shade BooksNight Shade BooksNight Shade Books is an independent publishing company based in San Francisco, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It was started in 1997 by Jason Williams, with Jeremy Lassen coming on board as a partner shortly after the company's founding...
(ISBN 1-59780-098-8) - Reign of Flowers (forthcoming)
In addition to these three novels there are at least two more stories set in the City Imperishable:
- "The Soul Bottles" from the anthology Leviathan 4: Cities (ed. by Forrest AguirreForrest AguirreForrest Aguirre is an American fantasy and horror author, and winner of the 2003 World Fantasy Award for his editing work on Leviathan 3, for which he was also a Philip K. Dick Award nominee. He recently edited the anthology Text:UR - The New Book of Masks...
, Night Shade BooksNight Shade BooksNight Shade Books is an independent publishing company based in San Francisco, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It was started in 1997 by Jason Williams, with Jeremy Lassen coming on board as a partner shortly after the company's founding...
, Nov. 2004) is the first published story of The City Imperishable. - "Promises: A Tale of the City Imperishable" (2008) in Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban FantasyPaper Cities: An Anthology of Urban FantasyPaper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy is a 2008 speculative fiction anthology edited by Ekaterina Sedia.-Background:Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy was first published in 2008 by Senses Five Press in trade paperback format. It won the 2009 World Fantasy Award for best anthology....
(ed. Ekaterina SediaEkaterina SediaEkaterina Sedia is a Russian-born fantasy author who is currently living in the United States. Her most recent work is The Alchemy of Stone, a steampunk novel that explores sexism and class bigotry. Alchemy received a star review from Publishers Weekly and was made the LA Timess 2008 Summer...
)
Mainspring universe
- MainspringMainspring (novel)Mainspring is the third novel from writer Jay Lake. It is a science fiction/fantasy novel, of the sub genre steampunk.This novel is followed by the 2008 sequel Escapement and the 2010 sequel Pinion.-Plot summary:...
(June 2007) Tor BooksTor BooksTor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded...
(ISBN 0-7653-1708-7) - Escapement (June 2008) Tor BooksTor BooksTor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded...
(ISBN 0-7653-1709-5) - Pinion (March 2010) Tor BooksTor BooksTor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded...
In addition to these three novels there are at least two more novellas set in the Mainspring Universe:
- "Chain of Fools" (Subterranean, Oct 2008) and
- "Chain of Stars" (Subterranean, Oct 2009), loose sequel to "Chain of Fools"
Green universe
- Green (June 2009) Tor BooksTor BooksTor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded...
- Endurance (scheduled for November 2011)
- Kalimpura (forthcoming)
In addition to these three novels there are at least two more story set in the world of Green:
- "A Water Matter" (Tor.com, 2008)
- "The Passion of Mother Vajpai" (with Shannon Page) in Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 2 (ed. by William Schafer; to be published in April 2011)
Sunspin Universe
- Calamity of So Long a Life (scheduled for 2012)
- The Whips and Scorns of Time (forthcoming)
- All Our Sins Remembered (forthcoming)
- "To Raise a Mutiny Betwixt Ourselves" (New Space Opera 2, 2009, Harper Voyager)
- "Torquing Vacuum" (Clarkesworld Magazine, Feb 2010)
- "Permanent Fatal Errors" (Is Anybody Out There?, June 2010, DAW BooksDAW BooksDAW Books is an American science fiction and fantasy publisher, founded by Donald A. Wollheim following his departure from Ace Books in 1971. The company therefore claims to be "the first publishing company ever devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy." The first DAW Book published was...
) - "To This Their Late Escape" (The Sky That Wraps, August 2010, Subterranean PressSubterranean PressSubterranean Press is a small press publisher in Michigan. Subterranean is best known for publishing genre fiction, primarily horror, suspense and dark mystery, fantasy, and science fiction...
) - "A Long Walk Home" (Subterranean OnlineSubterranean PressSubterranean Press is a small press publisher in Michigan. Subterranean is best known for publishing genre fiction, primarily horror, suspense and dark mystery, fantasy, and science fiction...
, Winter 2011) - "The Weight of History, the Lightness of the Future" (forthcoming, TBA)
Other novels
- Rocket Science (August 2005) Fairwood PressFairwood PressFairwood Press is a small press publishing company, specializing in speculative fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. It was founded by Patrick and Honna Swenson and is currently located in Kent, Washington....
(ISBN 0-9746573-6-0) - Death of a Starship (December 2009) MonkeyBrain BooksMonkeyBrain BooksMonkeyBrain Books is an independent American publishing house based in Austin, Texas, specialising in books comprising both new content and reprinting online, international or out-of-print content, which show "an academic interest," but which "reach a popular audience as well."-A brief history of...
(Sunspin Universe) - The Baby Killers (novella) (August 2010) PS PublishingPS PublishingPS Publishing is a Hornsea based publisher founded in 1999 by Peter Crowther. They specialise in novella length fiction from the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres. It has quickly become established as one of Britain's premier small presses...
- The Specific Gravity of Grief (novella) (2010) Fairwood PressFairwood PressFairwood Press is a small press publishing company, specializing in speculative fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. It was founded by Patrick and Honna Swenson and is currently located in Kent, Washington....
- Original Destiny, Manifest Sin (forthcoming)
Collections
- Greetings From Lake Wu, Wheatland PressWheatland PressWheatland Press is an independent book publisher, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, and horror short story and poetry collections. It was founded in 2002 by Deborah Layne...
(November 2003) (ISBN 0-9720547-2-3)- Greetings from Lake Wu; Signed, numbered, luxury edition, Traife Buffet (2006) (ISBN 0-9787494-0-5)
- Green Grow the Rushes-Oh, Fairwood Press (2003) (ISBN 0-9746573-2-8)
- American Sorrows, Wheatland Press (August 2004) (ISBN 0-9755903-0-8)
- Dogs in the Moonlight, Prime BooksPrime BooksEdited by two-time Hugo-nominee and 2006 World Fantasy-winner Sean Wallace, Prime Books is an award-winning independent publishing house, specializing in a mix of literary/commercial anthologies, collections, novels, and two magazines: Fantasy Magazine and Lightspeed Magazine. Some of its...
(August 2004) (ISBN 1-930997-56-6) - The River Knows Its Own, Wheatland Press (September 2007)
- The Sky That Wraps, Subterranean Press (September 2010) (ISBN 978-1-59606-266-5)
Edited works
- Polyphony
- Polyphony 1 (with Deborah Layne), Wheatland Press (July 2002) (ISBN 0-9720547-0-7)
- Polyphony 2 (with Deborah Layne), Wheatland Press (April 2003) (ISBN 0-9720547-1-5)
- Polyphony 3 (with Deborah Layne), Wheatland Press (October 2003) (ISBN 0-9720547-3-1)
- Polyphony 4 (with Deborah Layne), Wheatland Press (October 2004) (ISBN 0-9720547-6-6)
- Polyphony 5 (with Deborah Layne), Wheatland Press (October 2005) (ISBN 0-9755903-5-9)
- Polyphony 6 (with Deborah Layne), Wheatland Press (December 2006)
- All-Star Zeppelin Adventure Stories (with David Moles), Wheatland Press/All-Star Stories (October 2004) (ISBN 0-9720547-7-4)
- TEL: Stories, Wheatland Press (August 2005) (ISBN 0-9755903-3-2)
- Spicy Slipstream Stories (with Nick MamatasNick MamatasNick Mamatas is an American horror, science fiction and fantasy author and editor for the Haikasoru line of translated Japanese science fiction novels for Viz Media...
), Lethe Press (September 2008) - The Exquisite Corpuscle (with Frank WuFrank WuFrank Wu is a science fiction and fantasy artist living in Arlington, MA. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009; he was previously nominated in 2002 and 2003. He also won the Grand Prize in the Illustrators of the Future contest in 2000. In 2008 he was nominated...
), Fairwood Press (October 2008) - Other EarthsOther EarthsOther Earths is an alternate history, science fiction anthology of all-new stories being edited by Nick Gevers and Jay Lake.-Contents:*Robert Charles Wilson: This Peaceable Land, or, The Unbearable Vision of Harriet Beecher Stowe...
(with Nick Gevers), DAW Books (April 2009) - Footprints (with Eric T. Reynolds), Hadley Rille Books (July 2009) (ISBN 0-9819243-9-5)
External links
- Jay Lake's Homepage, the author's official site. Includes his blog, bibliography, and links to some of his stories online.
- http://jaylake.livejournal.com/
- Interview with Jay Lake at Neth Space
- 2003 Interview at Ideomancer
- 2004 Interview at Strange Horizons
- Excerpt from 2006 Interview at Locus Magazine
- The Limited edition of Greetings from Lake Wu
- Night Shade Books publisher of The City Imperishable series
- Winding the Mainspring by Jay Lake (an article)
- "Golden Pepper", a story at Flash Fiction OnlineFlash Fiction OnlineFlash Fiction Online is the first online magazine dedicated to professionalizing flash fiction in its own right.Flash fiction is loosely defined as stories of one thousand or fewer words, although the defining parameters vary from one publisher to another. Flash Fiction Online accepts stories from...
- Rolling Steel: A Pre-Apocalyptic Love Story story co-written with Shannon Page, Clarkesworld MagazineClarkesworld MagazineClarkesworld Magazine is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine. The first issue was published October 1, 2006 and it has maintained a regular monthly schedule since, publishing fiction by authors such as Sarah Monette, Catherynne Valente, Elizabeth Bear, Caitlin R...
, April 2009 - The Sky that Wraps the World Round, Past the Blue and Into the Black (story), Clarkesworld MagazineClarkesworld MagazineClarkesworld Magazine is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine. The first issue was published October 1, 2006 and it has maintained a regular monthly schedule since, publishing fiction by authors such as Sarah Monette, Catherynne Valente, Elizabeth Bear, Caitlin R...
, March 2008 - Interview with Michael A. VentrellaMichael A. VentrellaMichael A. Ventrella founded Animato! in the mid 80s. He sold it in the early 90s. Under the pseudonym "Thelma Scumm" he wrote the gossip column and later continued that for fps magazine...
, November 2009 - Interview at Clarkesworld MagazineClarkesworld MagazineClarkesworld Magazine is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine. The first issue was published October 1, 2006 and it has maintained a regular monthly schedule since, publishing fiction by authors such as Sarah Monette, Catherynne Valente, Elizabeth Bear, Caitlin R...
, October 2010