Thomas M. Disch
Encyclopedia
Thomas Michael Disch was an American
science fiction author and poet
. He won the Hugo Award
for Best Related Book – previously called "Best Non-Fiction Book" – in 1999, and he had two other Hugo nominations and nine Nebula Award
nominations to his credit, plus one win of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, a Rhysling Award, and two Seiun Award
s, among others.
In the 1960s, his work began appearing in science-fiction magazines. His critically acclaimed science fiction novels, The Genocides
, Camp Concentration
, 334
and On Wings of Song
are major contributions to the New Wave
science fiction movement. In 1996, his book The Castle of Indolence: On Poetry, Poets, and Poetasters was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award
, and in 1999, Disch won the Nonfiction Hugo for The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of
, a meditation on the impact of science fiction on our culture, as well as the Michael Braude Award for Light Verse
. Among his other nonfiction work, he wrote theatre
and opera
criticism for The New York Times
, The Nation, and other periodicals. He also published several volumes of poetry as Tom Disch.
Following an extended period of depression following the death in 2005 of his life-partner, Charles Naylor, Disch stopped writing almost entirely, except for poetry – although he did produce two novellas. Disch committed suicide by gunshot on July 4 2008 in his apartment in Manhattan
, New York City
. His last book, The Word of God, which was written shortly before Naylor died, had just been published a few days before Disch's death.
, Iowa
, on February 2, 1940. Because of a polio epidemic
in 1946, his mother Helen home-schooled
him for a year. As a result, he skipped from kindergarten
to second grade. Disch's first formal education was at Catholic school
s; which is evidenced in some of his works which contain scathing criticisms of the Catholic Church. The family moved in 1953 to the Twin Cities area in Minnesota
– rejoining both pairs of grandparents – where Disch attended both public and Catholic schools. In Minneapolis public schools
, Disch discovered his long-term loves of science fiction, drama
, and poetry
. He describes poetry as his stepping-stone to the literary world. A teacher, Jeannette Cochran, assigned 100 lines of poetry to be memorized and Disch wound up memorizing ten times as much. His early fascination continued to influence his work with poetic form and the direction of his criticism.
After graduating from high school
in 1957, he worked a summer job as a trainee steel draftsman
, just one of the many jobs on his path to becoming a writer. Saving enough to move to New York City
at the age of 17, he found a Manhattan
apartment and began to cast his energies in many directions. He worked as an extra at the Metropolitan Opera House in productions of Spartacus
for the Bolshoi Ballet
, Swan Lake
for the Royal Ballet, and Don Giovanni
, Tosca
and others for the Met
. then at a bookstore, then for a newspaper. At the age of 18, a penniless, friendless, gay teenager, he attempted suicide by gas oven, but survived. Later that year, he enlisted in the army. Disch's incompatibility with the armed forces quickly resulted in a nearly three-month commitment to a mental hospital
.
After his discharge, Disch returned to New York and continued to pursue the arts in his own indirect way. He worked, again, in bookstores, and as a copywriter. Some of these jobs paid off later; working as a cloak room attendant in New York theater culture allowed him to both pursue his life-long love of drama and led to work as a magazine theater critic. Eventually, he got another job with an insurance company and went to school. A brief flirtation with architecture led him to apply to Cooper Union
, where he was told he got the highest score ever on their entrance exam, but dropped out after a few weeks. He then went to night school at New York University
(NYU), where classes on novella
writing and utopian fiction developed his tastes for some of the common forms and topics of science fiction. In May 1962, he decided to write a short story instead of studying for his midterm exams. He sold the story, "The Double Timer", for $112.50, to the magazine Fantastic
. Having begun his literary career, he did not return to NYU but rather took another series of odd jobs such as bank teller
, mortuary assistant, and copy editor - all of which served to fuel what he referred to as his night-time "writing habit". Over the next few years he wrote more science fiction stories, but also branched out into poetry; his first published poem, "Echo and Narcissus", appeared in the Minnesota Reviews Summer 1964 issue. He published his first novel, The Genocides, in 1965.
, tried to show that the ideas and themes of science fiction could be developed past the simple desires of an audience of twelve-year-olds. Rather than trying to compete with mainstream writers on the New York literary scene, Disch plunged into the emerging genre of science fiction, and began to work to liberate it from some of its strict formula and narrow conventions. His first novel, The Genocides
, appeared in 1965; Brian W. Aldiss singled it out for praise in a long review in SF Impulse
. Much of his more literary science fiction was first published in English author Michael Moorcock
's New Wave magazine, New Worlds
.
Disch was widely traveled and lived in England
, Spain
, Rome
, and Mexico
. In spite of this, he remained a New Yorker for the last twenty years of his life. He said that "a city like New York, to my mind, is the whole world", keeping a long-time New York residence overlooking Union Square.
Writing had become the dominant focus of his life. Disch described his personal transformation from dilettante to "someone who knows what he wants to do and is so busy doing it that he doesn't have much time for anything else." After The Genocides, he wrote Camp Concentration
and 334
. More books followed, including science fiction novels and stories, gothic works, criticism
, plays, a libretto
for an opera
of Frankenstein
, prose and verse children's books such as A Child's Garden of Grammar, and ten poetry collections. In the 1980s, he moved from science fiction to horror, with a series of books set in Minneapolis: The Businessman
, The M.D., The Priest, and The Sub.
His writing includes substantial freelance work, such as regular book and theater reviews for 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
. Recognition from his award-winning books led to a year as "artist-in-residence" at William and Mary College. During his long and varied career, Disch found his way into other forms and genres. As a fiction writer and a poet, Disch felt typecast by his science fiction roots. "I have a class theory of literature. I come from the wrong neighborhood to sell to The New Yorker. No matter how good I am as an artist, they always can smell where I come from."
Though Disch was an admirer of and was friends with the author Philip K. Dick
, Dick would write an infamous paranoid letter to the FBI in 1974 that denounced Disch and suggested that there were coded messages in Disch's novel Camp Concentration. Disch was unaware and he would go on to champion the Philip K. Dick Award. In his final novel, however, The Word of God, Disch got his revenge on Dick, with a story in which Dick is dead and living in Hell
, unable to write because of writer's block
. In return for a taste of human blood, which will unlock his ability to write, he makes a deal to go back in time and kill Disch's father, so that Disch will never be born, and at the same time to kill Thomas Mann
and thereby to insure that Hitler wins World War II
.
He maintained an apartment in New York City, sharing it and a house in Barryville, New York, with his partner of three decades, poet Charles Naylor. Disch's private life remained private, for the most part. He was publicly gay
since 1968; this came out occasionally in his poetry and particularly in his 1979 novel On Wings of Song
. He did not try to write to a particular community: "I'm gay myself, but I don't write 'gay' literature." He rarely mentioned his sexuality in interviews, though he was interviewed by the Canadian gay periodical The Body Politic in 1981. After Naylor's death in 2005, Disch had to abandon the house, as well as fight attempts to evict him from his rent control
led apartment, and he became steadily more depressed. He wrote on a LiveJournal
account from April 2006 until his death (he committed suicide by fatally wounding himself in the head via gunshot), in which he posted poetry and journal entries.
Disch was an outspoken atheist as well as a satirist; his last novel The Word of God was published by Tachyon Publications
in the summer of 2008. His last published work, the posthumous story collection The Wall of America, contains material from last half of Disch's career.
software company Cognetics Corporation and games publisher Electronic Arts
to create the interactive fiction
text adventure Amnesia
, which could be played on the Commodore 64
, IBM PC
or Apple II
computers. The title, based on technology pioneered by Cognetics' Charles Kreitzberg, was produced by Don Daglow
and programmed by Kevin Bentley. It showcased Disch's vivid writing, a stark contrast to other game-programmer-written text adventures of the time, and his passion for the energy of the city of New York. Although the text adventure format was dying by the time Amnesia was released and it enjoyed limited success, the game pioneered ideas that would later become popular in game design by modeling the entire Manhattan street map south of 110th St. and allowing the player to visit any street corner in that part of the city in their quest to advance the story. Although the limited floppy disk
capacity of the 1980s computers caused much of Disch's original text about the city to be cut, many Manhattan sites and people were described with unique loving distortion through the Disch lens.
. Ben-Hur not only told the story of the famous Biblical novel, but delved into the life and times of its author, the proto-American General Lew Wallace
. Disch proffers the theory that Wallace penned Ben-Hur, in part, to assuage his guilt over his part in the execution of Mary Surratt
. In its world-premiere performance at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore in 1989, it was chosen as a Critics' Choice by Time
magazine.
The Cardinal Detoxes had a simple conceit: a Catholic Bishop has committed vehicular homicide while driving intoxicated and is imprisoned in a monastic "drying tank" where he is sure he is being bugged by the higher-ups. So he attempts to negotiate his release by black-mailing the Church with all of its dirty secrets, big and small. The play was performed at RAPP, located in the former Most Holy Redeemer School, and drew a cease and desist
order from the Catholic Archdiocese of New York. An article written by the New York Times Mervyn Rothstein got picked up around the world on the AP
wire and the play became one of the most notable censorship
controversies of the 1990s. After the American Civil Liberties Union
declined to take the case, Disch and RAPP were represented by William Kunstler
and Ron Kuby
, and the Archdiocese lost in court. Their response was to lock the theater out of their building and have the Director jailed. Fortunately, The Cardinal Detoxes became as well known for its literary merits as for its controversy. It was selected in the compilation Best American Poetry 1994 and, again, in Best of The Best American Poetry 1988-1997.
cycle Highway Sandwiches and Haiku
s of an AmPart, while others like The Dark Old House mix stricter and freer form. Like other popular American poets, he often uses humor and irony
to power his poems.
Disch's reputation as a poet was solidified by a 1989 midcareer retrospective collection, titled Yes, Let's. A book of new poetry, Dark Verses & Light, followed in 1991. In 1995 and 2002, Disch published two collections of poetry criticism. He continued to regularly publish poetry in magazines and journals such as Poetry, Light, Paris Review, Partisan Review, Parnassus: Poetry in Review and even Theology Today (perhaps an odd choice for a long-lapsed Catholic). Disch published two collections of poetry ,The Castle of Indolence: On Poetry, Poets, and Poetasters and The Castle of Perseverance: Job Opportunities in Contemporary Poetry. His poetry criticism focuses on what makes poetry work, what makes it popular, and how poetry can re-establish a place in modern popular culture.
Near the end of his life he stopped submitting poetry to literary journals unless the journals asked for his contributions. He preferred to publish his poems in his LiveJournal account. In an interview just ten days before his death, Disch said, "I write poetry because I think it is the hardest thing I can do well. And so I simply enjoy the doing of it, as an equestrian enjoys spending time on a good horse. Poetry is my good horse."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
science fiction author and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
. He won the Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
for Best Related Book – previously called "Best Non-Fiction Book" – in 1999, and he had two other Hugo nominations and nine 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...
nominations to his credit, plus one win of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, a Rhysling Award, and two Seiun Award
Seiun Award
The is a Japanese science fiction award for the best science fiction published in Japan during the preceding year, as voted by attendees of the Japan Science Fiction Convention. "Seiun" is the Japanese word for "nebula", but the award is not related to the American Nebula Award. It was named after...
s, among others.
In the 1960s, his work began appearing in science-fiction magazines. His critically acclaimed science fiction novels, The Genocides
The Genocides
The Genocides is a 1965 science fiction novel written by American author Thomas M. Disch. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1965.-Plot summary:...
, Camp Concentration
Camp Concentration
Camp Concentration is a 1968 science fiction novel by American author Thomas M. Disch.-Plot introduction:The book is set during a war, projected from the Vietnam War, in which the United States is apparently criminally involved...
, 334
334 (novel)
334 is a science fiction novel by American author Thomas M. Disch, written in 1972. It is a dystopian look at everyday life in New York City around the year 2025.-Title:...
and On Wings of Song
On Wings of Song
On Wings of Song is a 1979 science fiction novel by Thomas M. Disch. It was first published as a serial in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in three installments in February to April 1979....
are major contributions to the New Wave
New Wave (science fiction)
New Wave is a term applied to science fiction produced in the 1960s and 1970s and characterized by a high degree of experimentation, both in form and in content, a "literary" or artistic sensibility, and a focus on "soft" as opposed to hard science. The term "New Wave" is borrowed from the French...
science fiction movement. In 1996, his book The Castle of Indolence: On Poetry, Poets, and Poetasters was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
, and in 1999, Disch won the Nonfiction Hugo for The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of
The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of
The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World is an overview of the interactions between science fiction and the real world, written by Thomas M. Disch, a noted author in the field...
, a meditation on the impact of science fiction on our culture, as well as the Michael Braude Award for Light Verse
Michael Braude Award for Light Verse
The Michael Braude Award for Light Verse is a biennial award given for light verse in the English language, regardless of the author's nationality. It is presented by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is accompanied by a $5,000 payment. Mrs...
. Among his other nonfiction work, he wrote theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
criticism for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The Nation, and other periodicals. He also published several volumes of poetry as Tom Disch.
Following an extended period of depression following the death in 2005 of his life-partner, Charles Naylor, Disch stopped writing almost entirely, except for poetry – although he did produce two novellas. Disch committed suicide by gunshot on July 4 2008 in his apartment in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. His last book, The Word of God, which was written shortly before Naylor died, had just been published a few days before Disch's death.
Early life
Disch was born in Des MoinesDes Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
, Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, on February 2, 1940. Because of a polio epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
in 1946, his mother Helen home-schooled
Homeschooling
Homeschooling or homeschool is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school...
him for a year. As a result, he skipped from kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
to second grade. Disch's first formal education was at Catholic school
Catholic school
Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
s; which is evidenced in some of his works which contain scathing criticisms of the Catholic Church. The family moved in 1953 to the Twin Cities area in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
– rejoining both pairs of grandparents – where Disch attended both public and Catholic schools. In Minneapolis public schools
Minneapolis Public Schools
Minneapolis Public Schools or Special School District Number 1 is a school district that covers all of the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minneapolis Public Schools enroll 36,370 students in public primary and secondary schools...
, Disch discovered his long-term loves of science fiction, drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
, and poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
. He describes poetry as his stepping-stone to the literary world. A teacher, Jeannette Cochran, assigned 100 lines of poetry to be memorized and Disch wound up memorizing ten times as much. His early fascination continued to influence his work with poetic form and the direction of his criticism.
After graduating from high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
in 1957, he worked a summer job as a trainee steel draftsman
Technical drawing
Technical drawing, also known as drafting or draughting, is the act and discipline of composing plans that visually communicate how something functions or has to be constructed.Drafting is the language of industry....
, just one of the many jobs on his path to becoming a writer. Saving enough to move to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
at the age of 17, he found a Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
apartment and began to cast his energies in many directions. He worked as an extra at the Metropolitan Opera House in productions of Spartacus
Spartacus
Spartacus was a famous leader of the slaves in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable...
for the Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Ballet
The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest ballet companies, however it only achieved worldwide acclaim by the early 20th century, when Moscow became the...
, Swan Lake
Swan Lake
Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...
for the Royal Ballet, and Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
and others for the Met
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
. then at a bookstore, then for a newspaper. At the age of 18, a penniless, friendless, gay teenager, he attempted suicide by gas oven, but survived. Later that year, he enlisted in the army. Disch's incompatibility with the armed forces quickly resulted in a nearly three-month commitment to a mental hospital
Mental Hospital
Mental hospital may refer to:*Psychiatric hospital*hospital in Nepal named Mental Hospital...
.
After his discharge, Disch returned to New York and continued to pursue the arts in his own indirect way. He worked, again, in bookstores, and as a copywriter. Some of these jobs paid off later; working as a cloak room attendant in New York theater culture allowed him to both pursue his life-long love of drama and led to work as a magazine theater critic. Eventually, he got another job with an insurance company and went to school. A brief flirtation with architecture led him to apply to Cooper Union
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...
, where he was told he got the highest score ever on their entrance exam, but dropped out after a few weeks. He then went to night school at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
(NYU), where classes on novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
writing and utopian fiction developed his tastes for some of the common forms and topics of science fiction. In May 1962, he decided to write a short story instead of studying for his midterm exams. He sold the story, "The Double Timer", for $112.50, to the magazine Fantastic
Fantastic (magazine)
Fantastic was an American digest-size fantasy and science fiction magazine, published from 1952 to 1980. It was founded by Ziff-Davis as a fantasy companion to Amazing Stories. Early sales were good, and Ziff-Davis quickly decided to switch Amazing from pulp format to digest, and to cease...
. Having begun his literary career, he did not return to NYU but rather took another series of odd jobs such as bank teller
Teller
Teller may refer to:* Teller * Teller , of Penn & Teller* Bank teller** Automated teller machine* Teller * Teller, Alaska* Teller County, Colorado* Teller Amendment* Teller mine...
, mortuary assistant, and copy editor - all of which served to fuel what he referred to as his night-time "writing habit". Over the next few years he wrote more science fiction stories, but also branched out into poetry; his first published poem, "Echo and Narcissus", appeared in the Minnesota Reviews Summer 1964 issue. He published his first novel, The Genocides, in 1965.
Career
Disch entered the field of science fiction at a turning point, as the pulp adventure stories of its older style began to be challenged by a more serious, adult, and often darker style. This movement, called New WaveNew Wave (science fiction)
New Wave is a term applied to science fiction produced in the 1960s and 1970s and characterized by a high degree of experimentation, both in form and in content, a "literary" or artistic sensibility, and a focus on "soft" as opposed to hard science. The term "New Wave" is borrowed from the French...
, tried to show that the ideas and themes of science fiction could be developed past the simple desires of an audience of twelve-year-olds. Rather than trying to compete with mainstream writers on the New York literary scene, Disch plunged into the emerging genre of science fiction, and began to work to liberate it from some of its strict formula and narrow conventions. His first novel, The Genocides
The Genocides
The Genocides is a 1965 science fiction novel written by American author Thomas M. Disch. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1965.-Plot summary:...
, appeared in 1965; Brian W. Aldiss singled it out for praise in a long review in SF Impulse
Science Fantasy (magazine)
Science Fantasy, which also appeared under the titles Impulse and SF Impulse, was a British fantasy and science fiction magazine, launched in 1950 by Nova Publications as a companion to Nova's New Worlds. Walter Gillings was editor for the first two issues, and was then replaced by John Carnell,...
. Much of his more literary science fiction was first published in English author Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
's New Wave magazine, New Worlds
New Worlds (magazine)
New Worlds was a British science fiction magazine which was first published professionally in 1946. For 25 years it was widely considered the leading science fiction magazine in Britain, publishing 201 issues up to 1971...
.
Disch was widely traveled and lived in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. In spite of this, he remained a New Yorker for the last twenty years of his life. He said that "a city like New York, to my mind, is the whole world", keeping a long-time New York residence overlooking Union Square.
Writing had become the dominant focus of his life. Disch described his personal transformation from dilettante to "someone who knows what he wants to do and is so busy doing it that he doesn't have much time for anything else." After The Genocides, he wrote Camp Concentration
Camp Concentration
Camp Concentration is a 1968 science fiction novel by American author Thomas M. Disch.-Plot introduction:The book is set during a war, projected from the Vietnam War, in which the United States is apparently criminally involved...
and 334
334 (novel)
334 is a science fiction novel by American author Thomas M. Disch, written in 1972. It is a dystopian look at everyday life in New York City around the year 2025.-Title:...
. More books followed, including science fiction novels and stories, gothic works, criticism
Criticism
Criticism is the judgement of the merits and faults of the work or actions of an individual or group by another . To criticize does not necessarily imply to find fault, but the word is often taken to mean the simple expression of an objection against prejudice, or a disapproval.Another meaning of...
, plays, a libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
for an opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
of Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
, prose and verse children's books such as A Child's Garden of Grammar, and ten poetry collections. In the 1980s, he moved from science fiction to horror, with a series of books set in Minneapolis: The Businessman
The Businessman: A Tale of Terror
The Businessman: A Tale of Terror is a novel written by Thomas M. Disch, and published by Harper & Row in 1984. The Businessman is a contemporary novel, a form that Disch—best known for his science fiction—had not hitherto tried, although all of his subsequent adult novels have shared its...
, The M.D., The Priest, and The Sub.
His writing includes substantial freelance work, such as regular book and theater reviews for The Nation, The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard is an American neoconservative opinion magazine published 48 times per year. Its founding publisher, News Corporation, debuted the title September 18, 1995. Currently edited by founder William Kristol and Fred Barnes, the Standard has been described as a "redoubt of...
, Harper's, 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...
, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, the Times Literary Supplement, and Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
. Recognition from his award-winning books led to a year as "artist-in-residence" at William and Mary College. During his long and varied career, Disch found his way into other forms and genres. As a fiction writer and a poet, Disch felt typecast by his science fiction roots. "I have a class theory of literature. I come from the wrong neighborhood to sell to The New Yorker. No matter how good I am as an artist, they always can smell where I come from."
Though Disch was an admirer of and was friends with the author Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...
, Dick would write an infamous paranoid letter to the FBI in 1974 that denounced Disch and suggested that there were coded messages in Disch's novel Camp Concentration. Disch was unaware and he would go on to champion the Philip K. Dick Award. In his final novel, however, The Word of God, Disch got his revenge on Dick, with a story in which Dick is dead and living in Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
, unable to write because of writer's block
Writer's block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some "blocked"...
. In return for a taste of human blood, which will unlock his ability to write, he makes a deal to go back in time and kill Disch's father, so that Disch will never be born, and at the same time to kill Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
and thereby to insure that Hitler wins World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
He maintained an apartment in New York City, sharing it and a house in Barryville, New York, with his partner of three decades, poet Charles Naylor. Disch's private life remained private, for the most part. He was publicly gay
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
since 1968; this came out occasionally in his poetry and particularly in his 1979 novel On Wings of Song
On Wings of Song
On Wings of Song is a 1979 science fiction novel by Thomas M. Disch. It was first published as a serial in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in three installments in February to April 1979....
. He did not try to write to a particular community: "I'm gay myself, but I don't write 'gay' literature." He rarely mentioned his sexuality in interviews, though he was interviewed by the Canadian gay periodical The Body Politic in 1981. After Naylor's death in 2005, Disch had to abandon the house, as well as fight attempts to evict him from his rent control
Rent control
Rent control refers to laws or ordinances that set price controls on the renting of residential housing. It functions as a price ceiling.Rent control exists in approximately 40 countries around the world...
led apartment, and he became steadily more depressed. He wrote on a LiveJournal
LiveJournal
LiveJournal is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the free and open source server software that was designed to run the LiveJournal virtual community....
account from April 2006 until his death (he committed suicide by fatally wounding himself in the head via gunshot), in which he posted poetry and journal entries.
Disch was an outspoken atheist as well as a satirist; his last novel The Word of God was published by Tachyon Publications
Tachyon Publications
Tachyon Publications is an independent press specializing in science fiction and fantasy books. Founded in San Francisco in 1995 by Jacob Weisman, Tachyon books have tended toward high-end literary works, short story collections, and anthologies....
in the summer of 2008. His last published work, the posthumous story collection The Wall of America, contains material from last half of Disch's career.
Computer game design
In 1987, Disch collaborated with New JerseyNew Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
software company Cognetics Corporation and games publisher Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
to create the interactive fiction
Interactive fiction
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
text adventure Amnesia
Amnesia (computer game)
Thomas M. Disch's Amnesia is a text adventure computer game created by Charles Kreitzberg's Cognetics Corporation, written by award-winning science fiction author Thomas M. Disch, and programmed by Kevin Bentley using the King Edward Adventure game authoring system developed by James Terry...
, which could be played on the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, IBM PC
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
or Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
computers. The title, based on technology pioneered by Cognetics' Charles Kreitzberg, was produced by Don Daglow
Don Daglow
Don Daglow is an American computer game and video game designer, programmer and producer. He is best known for designing a series of pioneering simulation games and role-playing games, as well as the first computer baseball game and the first graphical MMORPG, all between 1971 and 1995...
and programmed by Kevin Bentley. It showcased Disch's vivid writing, a stark contrast to other game-programmer-written text adventures of the time, and his passion for the energy of the city of New York. Although the text adventure format was dying by the time Amnesia was released and it enjoyed limited success, the game pioneered ideas that would later become popular in game design by modeling the entire Manhattan street map south of 110th St. and allowing the player to visit any street corner in that part of the city in their quest to advance the story. Although the limited floppy disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
capacity of the 1980s computers caused much of Disch's original text about the city to be cut, many Manhattan sites and people were described with unique loving distortion through the Disch lens.
Theatre
Disch was also known for his work in the theater, both as the critic for The Nation, from 1987 to 1993, and as writer of two performance works, his meta-historical stage adaptation of Ben-Hur and his controversial verse monologue/poem, The Cardinal Detoxes. Both plays were commissioned and presented by Jeff Cohen and the RAPP Arts Center in New York's Alphabet CityAlphabet City
Alphabet City may refer to:*Alphabet City, Manhattan, a neighborhood in New York City*Alphabet City , a 1987 album by the band ABC*Alphabet City , a 1984 crime drama film directed by Amos Poe...
. Ben-Hur not only told the story of the famous Biblical novel, but delved into the life and times of its author, the proto-American General Lew Wallace
Lew Wallace
Lewis "Lew" Wallace was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, territorial governor and statesman, politician and author...
. Disch proffers the theory that Wallace penned Ben-Hur, in part, to assuage his guilt over his part in the execution of Mary Surratt
Mary Surratt
Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt was an American boarding house owner who was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Sentenced to death, she was hanged, becoming the first woman executed by the United States federal government. She was the mother of John H...
. In its world-premiere performance at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore in 1989, it was chosen as a Critics' Choice by Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine.
The Cardinal Detoxes had a simple conceit: a Catholic Bishop has committed vehicular homicide while driving intoxicated and is imprisoned in a monastic "drying tank" where he is sure he is being bugged by the higher-ups. So he attempts to negotiate his release by black-mailing the Church with all of its dirty secrets, big and small. The play was performed at RAPP, located in the former Most Holy Redeemer School, and drew a cease and desist
Cease and desist
A cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....
order from the Catholic Archdiocese of New York. An article written by the New York Times Mervyn Rothstein got picked up around the world on the AP
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
wire and the play became one of the most notable censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
controversies of the 1990s. After the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
declined to take the case, Disch and RAPP were represented by William Kunstler
William Kunstler
William Moses Kunstler was an American self-described "radical lawyer" and civil rights activist, known for his controversial clients...
and Ron Kuby
Ron Kuby
Ronald L. Kuby is a criminal defense and civil rights lawyer, radio talk show host and TV commentator. He has hosted radio programs on WABC Radio in New York and Air America Radio.-Beginnings:...
, and the Archdiocese lost in court. Their response was to lock the theater out of their building and have the Director jailed. Fortunately, The Cardinal Detoxes became as well known for its literary merits as for its controversy. It was selected in the compilation Best American Poetry 1994 and, again, in Best of The Best American Poetry 1988-1997.
Poetry
Disch's first published poems, though reaching print later – the first in 1964, though not collected until 1972 – were written alongside the stories and novels which made his name in the 1960s. Although he aimed his poetry at a different readership than his fiction – even simplifying his by-line from Thomas M. Disch to Tom Disch – both genres emerged from the same expanding mind and changing times. His poetry includes experiments within traditional forms, such as a collaborative sonnetSonnet
A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
cycle Highway Sandwiches and Haiku
Haiku
' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...
s of an AmPart, while others like The Dark Old House mix stricter and freer form. Like other popular American poets, he often uses humor and irony
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
to power his poems.
Disch's reputation as a poet was solidified by a 1989 midcareer retrospective collection, titled Yes, Let's. A book of new poetry, Dark Verses & Light, followed in 1991. In 1995 and 2002, Disch published two collections of poetry criticism. He continued to regularly publish poetry in magazines and journals such as Poetry, Light, Paris Review, Partisan Review, Parnassus: Poetry in Review and even Theology Today (perhaps an odd choice for a long-lapsed Catholic). Disch published two collections of poetry ,The Castle of Indolence: On Poetry, Poets, and Poetasters and The Castle of Perseverance: Job Opportunities in Contemporary Poetry. His poetry criticism focuses on what makes poetry work, what makes it popular, and how poetry can re-establish a place in modern popular culture.
Near the end of his life he stopped submitting poetry to literary journals unless the journals asked for his contributions. He preferred to publish his poems in his LiveJournal account. In an interview just ten days before his death, Disch said, "I write poetry because I think it is the hardest thing I can do well. And so I simply enjoy the doing of it, as an equestrian enjoys spending time on a good horse. Poetry is my good horse."
Novels
- The GenocidesThe GenocidesThe Genocides is a 1965 science fiction novel written by American author Thomas M. Disch. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1965.-Plot summary:...
, 1965 - The Puppies of Terra (orig. pub. as Mankind Under the Leash), 1966
- The House That Fear Built (with John SladekJohn SladekJohn Thomas Sladek was an American science fiction author, known for his satirical and surreal novels.- Life and work :...
, as Cassandra Knye), 1966 - Echo Round His BonesEcho Round His BonesEcho Round His Bones is a science fiction novel written by Thomas M. Disch. It was originally serialized in New Worlds magazine in December 1966 and January 1967. It was subsequently published in book form in 1967.-Synopsis:...
, 1967 - Camp ConcentrationCamp ConcentrationCamp Concentration is a 1968 science fiction novel by American author Thomas M. Disch.-Plot introduction:The book is set during a war, projected from the Vietnam War, in which the United States is apparently criminally involved...
, 1968, ISBN 0-246-97352-8 - Black AliceBlack Alice (novel)Black Alice is a novel by Thomas M. Disch and John Sladek , published in 1968.-Plot summary:During the 1960s, in Virginia, while the blacks fight for their civil rights, a young white girl is kidnapped in Baltimore. Little Alice Raleigh, eleven years and blonde like corn, and heiress of an immense...
(with John SladekJohn SladekJohn Thomas Sladek was an American science fiction author, known for his satirical and surreal novels.- Life and work :...
, as Thom Demijohn), 1968 - The Prisoner, 1969
- Alfred the Great (as Victor Hastings), 1969
- 334334 (novel)334 is a science fiction novel by American author Thomas M. Disch, written in 1972. It is a dystopian look at everyday life in New York City around the year 2025.-Title:...
, 1972, ISBN 0-261-63283-3 - Clara Reeve (as Leonie Hargrave), 1975, ISBN 0-394-48490-8
- On Wings of SongOn Wings of SongOn Wings of Song is a 1979 science fiction novel by Thomas M. Disch. It was first published as a serial in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in three installments in February to April 1979....
1979, ISBN 0-312-58466-0 - Neighboring Lives (with Charles Naylor), 1981, ISBN 0-684-16644-5
- The Businessman: A Tale of TerrorThe Businessman: A Tale of TerrorThe Businessman: A Tale of Terror is a novel written by Thomas M. Disch, and published by Harper & Row in 1984. The Businessman is a contemporary novel, a form that Disch—best known for his science fiction—had not hitherto tried, although all of his subsequent adult novels have shared its...
, 1984, ISBN 0-06-015292-3 - The M.D.: A Horror Story, 1991, ISBN 0-394-58662-X
- The Priest: A Gothic Romance, 1994, ISBN 1-85798-090-5
- The Sub: A Study in Witchcraft, 1999, ISBN 0-679-44292-8
- The Word of God, 2008, ISBN 978-1892391773
Novellas
- Torturing Mr. Amberwell, 1985
- The Silver Pillow: A Tale of Witchcraft, 1988
- The Voyage of the Proteus, 2007
- The Proteus Sails Again, 2008
Story collections
- One Hundred and Two H-BombsOne Hundred and Two H-BombsOne Hundred and Two H-Bombs is a collection of science fiction stories by Thomas M. Disch. It was first published by Compact Books in 1967...
, 1966 UK (revised edition, 1971 US) - Fun with Your New Head, 1971 US, (Under CompulsionUnder CompulsionUnder Compulsion is a collection of science fiction stories by Thomas M. Disch. It was first published by Rupert Hart-Davis in 1968 in the UK. It was subsequently published in the US in 1970 by Doubleday under the title Fun with Your New Head...
), 1968 UK, ISBN 0-586-03265-7 - White Fang Goes DingoWhite Fang Goes DingoWhite Fang Goes Dingo and Other Funny SF Stories is a collection of science fiction stories by Thomas M. Disch. It was first published by Compact Books in 1971...
, 1971 UK, ISBN 0-09-004840-7 - Getting into DeathGetting into DeathGetting into Death is a collection of science fiction stories by Thomas M. Disch. It was first published by Rupert Hart-Davis in 1974. Many of the stories originally appeared in the magazines Transatlantic Review, Fantasy and Science Fiction, Amazing Stories, Fantastic, New Worlds, The Paris...
, 1973 UK, ISBN 0-246-10614-X - Getting into Death and Other StoriesGetting into Death and Other StoriesGetting into Death and Other Stories is a collection of science fiction stories by Thomas M. Disch. It was first published by Knopf in 1976...
, 1976 US - Fundamental Disch, 1980, ISBN 0-553-13670-4
- The Man Who Had No Idea, 1982, ISBN 0-553-22667-3
- The Wall of America, 2008, ISBN 978-1-892391-82-7
Works for children
- The Brave Little Toaster: A Bedtime Story for Small AppliancesThe Brave Little ToasterThe Brave Little Toaster is a novel by Thomas M. Disch intended for children or as put by Disch, A Bedtime Story for Small Appliances...
- Fantasy and Science Fiction (August 1980)
- London, Grafton Books, 1986. ISBN 0-246-13080-6
- film adaptationThe Brave Little Toaster (film)The Brave Little Toaster is a 1987 animated adventure film adapted from the 1980 novel of the same name by Thomas Disch. The film was directed by Jerry Rees and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film is set in a world where household appliances and other electronics have the ability to speak...
, 1987
- The Tale of Dan De Lion, 1986
- The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars, 1988
- film adaptationThe Brave Little Toaster Goes to MarsThe Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars is the name of both a children's book by Thomas Disch, as well as the film made from same. Both are sequels to the book and film versions of The Brave Little Toaster. The movie was distributed by Walt Disney Home Video. It was released in 1998...
, 1998
- film adaptation
- A Child's Garden of Grammar, 1997
- The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue, 1999 (film only)
Poetry collections
- Highway Sandwiches (with Charles Platt and Marilyn HackerMarilyn HackerMarilyn Hacker is an American poet, translator and critic. She is Professor of English at the City College of New York....
), 1970 - The Right Way to Figure Plumbing, 1972, ISBN 0-913560-05-7
- ABCDEFG HIJKLM NPOQRST UVWXYZ, 1981, ISBN 0-85646-073-7
- Burn This, 1982, ISBN 0-09-146960-0
- Orders of the Retina, 1982, ISBN 0-915124-60-2
- Here I Am, There You Are, Where Were We, 1984, ISBN 0-09-154871-3
- Yes, Let's: New and Selected Poems, 1989, ISBN 0-8018-3835-5
- Dark Verses and Light, 1991, ISBN 0-8018-4191-7
- Haikus of an AmPart, 1991, ISBN 0-918273-68-4
- The Dark Old House, 1996
- About the Size of It, 2007
- Winter Journey (forthcoming)
Non-fiction
- The Castle of Indolence: On Poetry, Poets, and Poetasters, 1994, ISBN 0-312-13448-7
- The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the WorldThe Dreams Our Stuff Is Made OfThe Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World is an overview of the interactions between science fiction and the real world, written by Thomas M. Disch, a noted author in the field...
, 1998, ISBN 0-684-82405-1 - The Castle of Perseverance: Job Opportunities in Contemporary Poetry, 2002, ISBN 0-472-09750-4
- On SF, 2005, ISBN 0-472-09896-9. A collection of his critical writings.
Anthologies
- The Ruins of Earth: An Anthology of Stories of the Immediate Future, 1971
- Bad Moon Rising: An Anthology of Political ForebodingsBad Moon Rising: An Anthology of Political ForebodingsBad Moon Rising: An Anthology of Political Forebodings was a science fiction short story anthology edited by Thomas M. Disch, published in 1973. The title is taken from the 1969 song Bad Moon Rising by the folk band Creedence Clearwater Revival....
, 1973 - The New Improved SunThe New Improved SunThe New Improved Sun, subtitled "An Anthology of Utopian S-F", is an anthology of science fiction stories edited by Thomas M. Disch, published in hardcover by Harper & Row in 1975. No later editions are reported. Many of the stories are original to the volume.-Contents:* "Introduction: Buck Rogers...
: An Anthology of Utopian Fiction, 1975 - New Constellations: An Anthology of Tomorrow's Mythologies, 1976 (with Charles Naylor)
- Strangeness: A Collection of Curious Tales, 1977 (with Charles Naylor)
Audio
- "Can you hear me, think tank two?", 2001 (as Tom Disch). Thought crimes in prose and poetry
- Mecca|Mettle, 2005. An anthology featuring text and audio by Thomas Disch, BlöödHag, and Tim Kirk.
External links
- Endzone Disch's website
- Schroedinger's Cake: Website about Thomas M. Disch
- Selected poems
- Obituary and public tribute
- Eulogy by Elizabeth Hand at salon.comSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
- "Remembering Thomas Disch" by John CrowleyJohn CrowleyJohn Crowley is an American author of fantasy, science fiction and mainstream fiction. He studied at Indiana University and has a second career as a documentary film writer...
in the Boston ReviewBoston ReviewBoston Review is a bimonthly American political and literary magazine. The magazine covers, specifically, political debates, literature, and poetry... - "The Prescient Science Fiction of Thomas M. Disch" in The MillionsThe MillionsThe Millions is an online literary magazine created by C. Max Magee in 2003. It contains articles about literary topics and book reviews.The Millions has several regular contributors as well as frequent guest appearances by literary notables, including Rosecrans Baldwin, Josh Bazell, Mark Binelli,...
- Descending a story archived in The Wayback Machine