Alicia Austin (born 1942) is an American

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, ...

and

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 ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

and illustrator. She works in print-making, Prismacolor,

pastel A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...

s and watercolors.

Early life and education

Austin was born in Providence, Kentucky. As her father was career military, she grew up in Germany and Japan, as well as the United States. She studied art and biology on an art scholarship at the Sacred Heart Dominican College in Houston, Texas, which closed in 1975. Her early influences include Edmund Dulac,

Arthur Rackham Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) was an English book illustrator. He is recognised as one of the leading figures during the Golden Age of British book illustration. His work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, ...

, and

N.C. Wyeth Newell Convers Wyeth (October 22, 1882 – October 19, 1945), known as N. C. Wyeth, was an American painter and illustrator. He was a student of Howard Pyle and became one of America's most well-known illustrators. Wyeth created more than 3,000 ...

Career

In the beginning of her career, she illustrated for fanzines, such as '' Energumen'', '' Granfalloon'', ''Aspidistra'', and ''Science Fiction Review''. She sold every piece of work entered in the 1969 World Science Fiction Convention in St. Louis, and then began accepting professional assignments. Her first two assignments were the first two ''

Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

'' anthologies, which were edited by Terry Carr. She then became a regular artist for ''Vertex'' magazine. Austin has illustrated books by

Robert E. Howard Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936) was an American writer who wrote pulp magazine, pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He created the character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sor ...

, C. L. Moore,

Andre Norton Andre Alice Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen na ...

Harold Lamb Harold Albert Lamb (September 1, 1892 – April 9, 1962) was an American writer, novelist, historian, and screenwriter. In both his fiction and nonfiction work, Lamb gravitated toward subjects related to Asia and the Middle East. Lamb was an advo ...

, Poul Anderson, Lewis Shiner, and

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...

. A collection of her work, '' Alicia Austin's Age of Dreams'', was published by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. in 1978.

Personal life

She was partners with Jinx Beers, a lesbian activist, until her death in 2018. She lives in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Awards

* Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist (1971) * World Fantasy Award - Artist (1979) * Balrog Award - Best Professional Publication (1979) *

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 ...

(1991) * Chesley Awards nomination (1989) (1993)

Bibliography

* '' New Worlds of Fantasy#3'' (1971) * '' Universe 1'' (1971) * '' The Mask of Circe'' (1971) * '' Universe 2'' (1972) * '' Echoes from an Iron Harp'' (1972) * '' A Witch Shall be Born'' (1975) * '' Black God's Shadow'' (1977) * '' Alicia Austin's Age of Dreams'' (1978) * '' The Demon of Scattery'' (1979) * '' Destinies'' (1979) * '' Destinies'' (1979) * ''

The Last Castle ''The Last Castle'' is a 2001 American action film, action Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Rod Lurie, starring Robert Redford, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo and Delroy Lindo. The film portrays a struggle between inmates and ...

'' (1980) * '' Voorloper'' (1980) * '' The Illustrated Night Before Christmas'' (1980) * '' Destinies'' (1980) * '' Destinies'' (1980) * '' Dragons of Light'' (1980) * '' The Magic May Return'' (1981) * '' Scarlet Dream'' (1981) * '' The Forgotten Beasts of Eld'' (1981) * '' Nirwana'' (1981) * '' Durandal'' (1981) * ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...

'' (1981) * ''

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 ...

'' (1981) * ''

'' (1981) * '' On St. Hubert's Thing'' (1982) * '' The Adventure of Cobbler's Rune'' (1982) * ''

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearance ...

'' (1982) * '' The Sea of the Ravens'' (1983) * '' Night's Master'' (1985) * '' Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine'' (1988–2000) * '' Bridging the Galaxies'' (1993) * ''Cat's Paw'' (2007)

References

External links

* * 1942 births Living people American fantasy artists Hugo Award–winning artists Inkpot Award winners American science fiction artists People from Providence, Kentucky World Fantasy Award–winning artists American printmakers American watercolorists American women illustrators 20th-century American illustrators American women printmakers American women watercolorists Artists from Kentucky 21st-century American women artists 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American illustrators {{US-illustrator-stub