Elizabeth Hand (born March 29, 1957) is an American writer.

Life and career

Hand grew up in

Yonkers Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

and Pound Ridge, New York. She studied drama and

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

at the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of two pontifical universities of the Catholic Church in the United States – the only one that is not primarily a ...

. Since 1988, Hand has lived in coastal

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

, the setting for many of her stories, and as of 2000 lives in Lincolnville. She also lives part-time in

Camden Town Camden Town () is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London. Laid out as a residential distri ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

which has been the setting for ''Mortal Love'' and the short story "Cleopatra Brimstone". Hand's first published story, "Prince of Flowers", appeared in 1988 in ''The Twilight Zone Magazine'', and her first novel, ''Winterlong'', was published in 1990. With Paul Witcover, she created and wrote

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

' 1990s

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

series ''

Anima Anima may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Anima, in the Spira world in ''Final Fantasy'' games * Anima, in the ''Fire Emblem'' game series * Anima (comics), a DC Comics character Film * '' Anima – Symphonie pha ...

''. Hand's other works include ''Aestival Tide'' (1992); ''Icarus Descending'' (1993); '' Waking the Moon'' (1994), which won the Tiptree Award and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award; the

post-apocalyptic novel Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

'' Glimmering'' (1997); contemporary

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

''Black Light'' (1999), a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' Notable Book; the

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

fantasy ''Mortal Love'' (2004), a ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' Notable Book; the

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...

''Generation Loss'' (2007), and the

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...

-winning " The Maiden Flight of McCauley's ''Bellerophon''". Her story collections are '' Last Summer at Mars Hill'' (1998) (which includes the Nebula and World Fantasy award-winning title novella); ''Bibliomancy'' (2002), winner of the World Fantasy Award; and '' Saffron and Brimstone: Strange Stories'', which includes the Nebula Award-winning "Echo" (2006). ''Mortal Love'' was also shortlisted for the 2005 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. Among Hand's other recent short fiction, "Pavane for a Prince of the Air" (2002) and "Cleopatra Brimstone" (2001) won International Horror Guild Awards. Most recently, she won the

Shirley Jackson Award The Shirley Jackson Awards are literary awards named after Shirley Jackson in recognition of her legacy in writing. These awards for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror and dark fantasy are presented at Rea ...

for ''Generation Loss'' and the

in 2008 for ''Illyria'', and the

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at Comic-Con Internati ...

in 2018. She also writes movie and television spin-offs, including ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' tie-in novels and novelizations of such films as ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to Ma ...

'' and ''

12 Monkeys ''12 Monkeys'' is a 1995 American Science fiction film, science fiction thriller film directed by Terry Gilliam from a screenplay by David Peoples and Janet Peoples, based on Chris Marker's 1962 short film ''La Jetée''. It stars Bruce Willis, M ...

''. She contributed a ''

Bride of Frankenstein ''Bride of Frankenstein'' is a 1935 American Gothic science fiction horror film, and the first sequel to Universal Pictures' 1931 film ''Frankenstein''. As with the first film, ''Bride of Frankenstein'' was directed by James Whale starring ...

'' novel to the recent series of classic movie monster novels published by

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...

. One of Hand's themes from the ''Winterlong'' saga is the remorseless exploitation of animal and plant species to create what she calls "geneslaves." Examples include a three-hundred-year-old genetically reconstructed and cerebrally augmented ''

Basilosaurus ''Basilosaurus'' (meaning "king lizard") is a genus of large, predatory, prehistoric archaeocete whale from the late Eocene, approximately 41.3 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). First described in 1834, it was the first archaeocete and prehisto ...

'' by the name of Zalophus; the aardmen, hybrids of dog and man; hydrapithecenes, human-fish or human-cuttlefish hybrids somewhat resembling Davy Jones and his crew from the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' film series; and sagittals, whelks genetically engineered to be worn as a bracelet and, when its host feels threatened or agitated, extrude a spine laced with a deadly

neurotoxin Neurotoxins are toxins that are destructive to nervous tissue, nerve tissue (causing neurotoxicity). Neurotoxins are an extensive class of exogenous chemical neurological insult (medical), insultsSpencer 2000 that can adversely affect function ...

. Hand is a longtime reviewer and critic for ''The Washington Post'', ''Los Angeles Times'', ''

Boston Review ''Boston Review'' is an American quarterly political and literary magazine. It publishes political, social, and historical analysis, literary and cultural criticism, book reviews, fiction, and poetry, both online and in print. Its signature form ...

'', ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

'', and ''Village Voice'', among others. She also writes a regula
review column
for ''

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Bouche ...

''.

Bibliography

Novels

* 1988 ''Winterlong'' – * 1992 '' Aestival Tide'' – * 1993 ''Icarus Descending'' – * 1994 '' Waking the Moon'' (longer UK edition) – * 1995 ''Waking the Moon'' (US edition preferred by the autho

– * 1997 ''Glimmering'' (second edition 2012) – * 1999 ''Black Light'' – * 2000 "Chip Crockett's Christmas Carol" in '' Sci Fiction'' * 2002 "Cleopatra Brimstone" in ''Redshift'' * 2003 "The Least Trumps" in ''Conjunctions 39: The New Wave Fabulists'' * 2004 ''Mortal Love'' – * 2006 ''Chip Crockett's Christmas Carol'' (illustrated by Judith Clute; originally published December 2000) – . The story is a tribute to entertainers Sandy Becker and

Joey Ramone Jeffrey Ross Hyman (May 19, 1951 – April 15, 2001), known professionally as Joey Ramone, was an American singer, songwriter, and the lead vocalist and founding member of the punk rock band Ramones, with Johnny Ramone and Dee Dee Ramone. His ...

. A
online edition of ''Chip Crockett's Christmas Carol''
was serialized by Hand on her Livejournal community "theinferior4". * 2006 ''Illyria'' – , * 2007 ''The Bride of Frankenstein'' (media tie-in) – * 2012 ''Radiant Days'' * 2015 ''Wylding Hall'' (Novella) * 2019 ''Curious Toys'' * 2022 ''Hokuloa Road'' * 2023 ''A Haunting on the Hill'' (a sequel to Shirley Jackson's '' The Haunting of Hill House'')

Cass Neary Crime Novels

* 2007 ''

Generation Loss Generation loss is the loss of quality between subsequent copies or transcodes of data. Anything that reduces the quality of the representation when copying, and would cause further reduction in quality on making a copy of the copy, can be con ...

'' – * 2012 ''Available Dark'' – * 2016 ''Hard Light'' – * 2020 ''The Book of Lamps and Banners'' –

Star Wars Expanded Universe

* 2003 ''Boba Fett: Maze Of Deception'' – * 2003 ''Boba Fett: Hunted'' – * 2004 ''Boba Fett: A New Threat'' – * 2004 ''Boba Fett: Pursuit'' –

Adaptations

* 1995 ''

'' – * 1997 ''

Millennium A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...

: The Frenchman'' – * 1998 '' The X-Files: Fight the Future'' – * 1999 ''

Anna and the King ''Anna and the King'' is a 1999 American biographical period drama film directed by Andy Tennant. Steve Meerson and Peter Krikes loosely based their screenplay on the 1944 novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'', which gives a fictionalized a ...

'' – * 2001 '' The Affair of the Necklace'' – * 2004 ''

Catwoman Catwoman is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, she debuted as "the Cat" in ''Batman (comic book), Batman'' #1 (spring 1940). She has become one of the superhero Batman' ...

'' –

Short fiction

;Collections * 1998 '' Last Summer at Mars Hill'' – * 2003 ''Bibliomancy'' – * 2006 ''Saffron and Brimstone: Strange Stories'' – * 2012 ''Errantry'' – * 2021 ''The Best of Elizabeth Hand'' ;Stories ''(Uncollected)'' * 1998 ''The Darcy Bee'' * 2003 ''The Girl With No Name'' * 2004 ''The Poet and the Inkmaker's Daughter'' * 2006 ''From Mortal Love'' * 2018 ''Farrow Street'' * 2021 ''For Sale by Owner'' * 2023 ''The Seventh Bride, or Female Curiosity''

Awards

Book reviews

Footnotes

External links

* *
Elizabeth Hand
at Free Speculative Fiction Online
Interview at Strange Horizons

The Fantastic Spectrum of Elizabeth Hand
(interview), '' Clarkesworld Magazine'', November 2009
Interview
at Tor.com, August 24, 2010 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hand, Elizabeth 1957 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American science fiction writers American women short story writers American women novelists Nebula Award winners World Fantasy Award–winning writers American science fiction critics Catholic University of America alumni American women science fiction and fantasy writers Novelists from New York (state) Writers from Maine Writers from Yonkers, New York People from Pound Ridge, New York 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction people 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers People from Lincolnville, Maine American women non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American weird fiction writers Inkpot Award winners