Kage Baker (June 10, 1952 – January 31, 2010Obituary: Kage Baker
", SF Site, January 31, 2010) was an American

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and

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, ...

writer.

Biography

Baker was born and raised in

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

, and lived in

Pismo Beach Pismo Beach (Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''Pismuʔ'') is a city in the southern portion of San Luis Obispo County, California, San Luis Obispo County, in the Central Coast (California), Central Coast area of California, United States. Its esti ...

later in life. Before becoming a professional writer she spent many years in

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

, including teaching Elizabethan English as a second language. Her unusual first name (pronounced like the word ''cage'') is a combination of the names of her two grandmothers, Kate and Genevieve. Baker had

Asperger syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's syndrome or Asperger's, is a diagnostic label that has historically been used to describe a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and no ...

. She is best known for her "the Company/Dr. Zeus, Inc." series of historical

time travel Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...

science fiction. Her first stories were published in ''

Asimov's Science Fiction ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine edited by Sheila Williams and published by Dell Magazines, which is owned by Penny Press. It was launched as a quarterly by Davis Publications in 1977, after obtaining Isaac ...

'' in 1997, and her first

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

, '' In the Garden of Iden'', by

Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.H ...

in the same year. Other notable works include '' Mendoza in Hollywood'' (novel, 2000) and " The Empress of Mars" (novella, 2003), which won the

Theodore Sturgeon Award The Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award is an annual literary award presented by the Theodore Sturgeon Literary Trust and the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas to the author of the best short science fiction story ...

and was nominated for a

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

. In 2008, she donated her archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It was founded as "Northern Illinois State Normal School" in 1895 by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld, initially to provide the state with c ...

. In 2009, her short story "Caverns of Mystery" and her novel ''House of the Stag'' were both nominated for

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 ...

s; neither piece won. In January 2010, it was reported that Baker was seriously ill with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. She died from

uterine cancer Uterine cancer, also known as womb cancer, includes two types of cancer that develop from the tissues of the uterus. Endometrial cancer forms from the lining of the uterus, and uterine sarcoma forms from the muscles or support tissue of the ute ...

on January 31, 2010, in Pismo Beach, California. In 2010, Baker's ''The Women of Nell Gwynne's'' was nominated for a

and a

in the Best Novella categories. On May 15, 2010, that work was awarded the 2009

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA), a nonprofit association of pr ...

in the Best Novella category. Kage spent much of the last year of her life watching and reviewing

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

s. Many of her reviews were collected posthumously into ''Ancient Rockets: Treasures and Trainwrecks of the Silent Screen'' (2011), edited by her sister Kathleen Bartholomew. From the foreword: Baker left an unfinished novel, ''Nell Gwynne's On Land and At Sea'', which was completed by her sister Kathleen Bartholomew based on extensive notes left by Baker, and was published in 2012.

Bibliography

The Company universe

;Novels *'' In the Garden of Iden'' (1997) *'' Sky Coyote'' (1999) *'' Mendoza in Hollywood'' (2000) (published in the UK as ''At the Edge of the West'') *'' The Graveyard Game'' (2001) *'' The Life of the World to Come'' (2004) *'' The Children of the Company'' (2005) *'' The Machine's Child'' (2006) *'' The Sons of Heaven'' (2007) * '' The Empress of Mars'' (2009) (novel version) *''Not Less than Gods'' (2010) *''Nell Gwynne's On Land and At Sea'' (2012) ;Short story collections *'' Black Projects, White Knights: The Company Dossiers'' (2002) *'' Gods and Pawns'' (2007) * ''In the Company of Thieves'' (2013) ;Short stories and novellas * '' The Empress of Mars'' (2003) (novella version) *'' The Angel in the Darkness'' (limited edition

chapbook A chapbook is a type of small printed booklet that was a popular medium for street literature throughout early modern Europe. Chapbooks were usually produced cheaply, illustrated with crude woodcuts and printed on a single sheet folded into 8, 1 ...

, 2003) *''Where the Golden Apples Grow'' (2006) (novella) *''Rude Mechanicals'' (2007) *''The Women of Nell Gwynne's'' (limited edition, 2009) (Also released as 'Nell Gwynne's Scarlet Spy')

Novels

*''The Hotel Under the Sand'' (2009) (juvenile) Tachyon Publications ;The Anvil of the World *''The Anvil of the World'' (2003) *''The House of the Stag'' (2008) (Prequel to The Anvil of the World) *''The Bird of the River'' (2010)

Short fiction

;Collections *''Mother Ægypt and Other Stories'' (2004) (title story takes place in the Company universe) *''Dark Mondays'' (2006) *''The Best of Kage Baker'' (2012) (includes stories set in and out of the Company universe) ;Stories

Non-fiction

*''Ancient Rockets: Treasures and Trainwrecks of the Silent Screen'', ed. Kathleen Bartholomew (2011) Tachyon Publications

References

Tor.com ''Reactor'', formerly ''Tor.com'', is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on specul ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Kage 1952 births 2010 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American women writers American fantasy writers American science fiction writers American women novelists American women short story writers Asimov's Science Fiction people Deaths from brain cancer in California Deaths from uterine cancer in the United States Nebula Award winners Novelists from California People from Hollywood, Los Angeles People from Pismo Beach, California People with Asperger syndrome Autistic writers American writers with disabilities American women science fiction and fantasy writers