Bruce Boston (July 16, 1943 – November 11, 2024) was an American

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from Realism (arts), realism, or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural, futuristic, or ...

writer and poet.

Early years

Boston was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and grew up in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

.Diane Severson
Interview with Bruce Boston
''Amazing Stories'' March 15, 2013 (accessed Sept. 18, 2013) He received a B.A. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1965, and an M.A. in 1967. He lived in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1961 to 2001, where he worked in a variety of occupations, including computer programmer, college professor (literature and creative writing, John F. Kennedy University, Orinda, California, 1978–82),

technical writer A technical writer is a professional communicator whose task is to convey complex information in simple terms to an audience of the general public or a very select group of readers. Technical writers research and create information through a vari ...

book design Book design is the graphic art of determining the visual and physical characteristics of a book. The design process begins after an author and editor finalize the manuscript, at which point it is passed to the production stage. During productio ...

er, gardener, movie

projectionist A projectionist is a person who operates a movie projector, particularly as an employee of a movie theater. Projectionists are also known as "operators". Historical background N.B. The dates given in the subject headings are approximate. Early ...

retail clerk A retail clerk, also known as a sales clerk, shop clerk, retail associate, or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) shop assistant, sales assistant or customer service assistant, is a service role in a retail business. A retail clerk obtains or re ...

, and furniture mover. According to Boston, he meant to major in math at university and write on the side, but soon found that he was more interested in writing. After being advised by a friend that he should not major in English to become a writer, he decided on economics instead.

Writing career

Boston has won the

Rhysling Award __NOTOC__ The Rhysling Awards are an annual award given for the best speculative poetry, science fiction, fantasy, or horror poem of the year. The award name was dubbed by Andrew Joron in reference to a character in a science fiction story: the bl ...

for speculative poetry a record seven times, and the Asimov's Readers' Award for poetry a record seven times. He has also received a

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

for fiction, 1976, a record four

Bram Stoker Award The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented annually by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in dark fantasy and horror writing. History The Awards were established in 1987 and have been presented annually since ...

s for solo poetry collections, and the first Grand Master Award of the

Science Fiction Poetry Association The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) is a society based in the United States with the aim of fostering an international community of writers and readers interested in poetry pertaining to the genres of science fiction, fantasy, ...

, 1999. His collaborative poem with Robert Frazier, "Return to the Mutant Rain Forest," received first place in the 2006 Locus Online Poetry Poll for Best All-Time Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror Poem. Boston has also publishedInternet SF Database
Bruce Boston Summary Bibliography
(accessed Sept. 18, 2013) more than a hundred short stories and the novels ''Stained Glass Rain'' and ''The Guardener's Tale'' (the latter a

Finalist and

Prometheus Award The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activist L. Neil Smith established the Best Novel category for the award in 1979; however, it was not award ...

Nominee). His work has appeared widely in periodicals and anthologies, including '' Asimov's SF Magazine, Amazing Stories Magazine, Analog Science Fiction,

Realms of Fantasy ''Realms of Fantasy'' was a professional bimonthly fantasy speculative fiction magazine published by Sovereign Media, then Tir Na Nog Press, and Damnation Books, which specialized in fantasy fiction (including some horror), related nonfiction (wi ...

, ''Science Fiction Age'',

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, printe ...

Strange Horizons ''Strange Horizons'' is an online magazine, online speculative fiction magazine. It also features speculative poetry and non-fiction in every issue, including reviews, essays, interviews, and roundtables. History and profile It was launched in S ...

, Year's Best Fantasy and Horror,'' and the ''Nebula Awards Showcase.'' Writing in ''

The 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 ...

'', Paul Di Filippo described his collection ''Masque of Dreams'' as containing "nearly two dozen brilliant stories ranging across all emotional and narrative terrains." Boston has chaired the

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 ...

Novel Jury (SFWA), the

Novel Jury, and the Philip K. Dick Award Jury, and served as Secretary and Treasurer of the

. He has served as fiction and/or poetry editor for a number of publications, including ''Occident'', ''The Open Cell'', ''Berkeley Poets Cooperative'', ''City Miner'', ''Star*Line'' and ''The Pedestal Magazine''. He was the poet guest of honor at the World Horror Convention in 2013.World Horror Convention 2013 GoH Interview #5: Bruce Boston
(accessed Sept. 18, 2013)

Personal life

Boston lived in

Ocala, Florida Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, Florida, United States. Located in North Central Florida, the city's population was 63,591 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 56,315 at the 2010 census and making ...

, with his wife, writer-artist Marge Simon, whom he married in 2001.

Bibliography

Novels

* ** * ** **''El Guardián de Almas'', Spanish-language edition of ''The Guardener's Tale'', ''La Factoria de Ideas'', 2009 **

Short fiction

;Collections *''Jackbird''. BPW&P, 1976 *''She Comes When You're Leaving''. BPW&P, 1982 *''Skin Trades,'' Chris Drumm, 1988 *''Hypertales & Metafictions''. Chris Drumm, 1990 *''All the Clocks Are Melting'' (single story booklet),

Pulphouse Publishing Pulphouse Publishing was an American small press publisher based in Eugene, Oregon, and specializing in science fiction and fantasy. It was founded by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch in 1988. The press was active until 1996. Over that ...

, 1991 *''Night Eyes''. Chris Drumm, 1993 *''Dark Tales & Light''. Dark Regions, 1999 *''Masque of Dreams'', Wildside, 2001, 2009 *''Bruce Boston: Short Stories, Volume 1'' (ebook), Fictionwise, 2003 *''Bruce Boston: Short Stories, Volume 2'' (ebook), Fictionwise, 2003 *''Flashing the Dark''. Sam's Dot Publishing, 2006 *''Gallimaufry''. Plum White Press, 2021, 2nd edition, Mind's Eye Publications, 2023 ;StoriesShort stories unless otherwise noted.

Poetry

;Collections *''XXO''. Maya Press, 1969 *''Potted Poems''. Maya Press, 1970 *''All the Clock Are Melting''. Velocities, 1984 *''Alchemical Texts''. Ocean View, 1985 *''Nuclear Futures''. Velocities, 1987 *''Time''. Titan, 1988 *''The Nightmare Collector''. 2AM Publications, 1989 *''Faces of the Beast''. Starmont House, 1990 *''Other Voices, Other Worlds'' (audio tape, music by Jack Poley). Chris Drumm, 1990, (MP3 audio) Telltale Weekly, 2004 *''Short Circuits'' (prose poems). Ocean View, 1991 *''Cybertexts''. Talisman, 1991 * *''Accursed Wives''. Night Visions, 1993 *''Specula: Selected Uncollected Poems, 1968-1993''. Talisman, 1993 *''Sensuous Debris: Selected Poems, 1970-1995''. Dark Regions, 1995 *''Conditions of Sentient Life''. Gothic Press, 1996 *''Cold Tomorrows''. Gothic Press, 1998 *''The Complete Accursed Wives'', Talisman/Dark Regions, 2000Includes short stories. *''White Space''. Dark Regions, 2001 *''Quanta: Award Winning Poems''. Miniature Sun, 2001 *''Night Smoke'' (ebook, with Marge Simon), Miniature Sun & Quixsilver, 2002 *''Head Full of Strange'' (ebook). CyberPulp, 2003 *''Pitchblende''. Dark Regions, 2003 *''Etiquette with Your Robot Wife''. Talisman, 2005 *''Shades Fantastic''. Gromagon Press, 2006 *''Night Smoke'' (with Marge Simon, expanded print edition of 2002 ebook). Kelp Queen Press, 2007 *''The Nightmare Collection''. Dark Regions, 2008 *''Double Visions'' (collaborative poems). Dark Regions, 2009 *''North Left of Earth''. Sam's Dot, 2009 *''Dark Matters''. Bad Moon Books, 2010 *''Surrealities''. Dark Regions, 2011 *''Anthropomorphisms''. Elektrik Milk Bath Press, 2012 *''Notes from the Shadow City'' (with Gary William Crawford). Dark Regions, 2012 *''Dark Roads: Selected Long Poems 1971-2012''. Dark Renaissance Books, 2013 *''Resonance Dark & Light''. Eldritch Press, 2015 *''Sacrificial Nights'' (with Alessandro Manzetti). Kipple Officina Libraria, 2016 *''Brief Encounters with My Third Eye: Selected Short Poems 1975-2016''. Crystal Lake Publishing, 2016, Korean-language edition, Philyohanchaek, 2021 *''Visions of the Mutant Rain Forest'' (with Robert Frazier), Crystal Lake Publishing, 2017 *''Artifacts''. Independent Legions, 2018 *''Spacers Snarled in the Hair of Comets''. Mind's Eye Publications, 2022 ;Broadsides and chapbooks *''Musings''. Eldritch Emu Press, 1988 *''The Last Existentialist''. Chris Drumm, 1993 *''Confessions of a Body Thief.'' Talisman, 1998 *''The Lesions of Genetic Sin''. Miniature Sun, 2000 *''Pavane for a Cyber-Princess'' (single poem chapbook). Miniature Sun, 2001 *''In Far Pale Clarity''. Quixsilver, 2002 *''She Was There for Him the Last Time'' (single poem chapbook). Miniature Sun, 2002 *''The Crow Is Dismantled in Flight'' (ebroadside). Miniature Sun, 2003 ;List of poems ——————— ;Notes

Major awards and honors

Bram Stoker Award for Poetry Collection

* 2003 ''Pitchblende'', Dark Regions Press * 2006 ''Shades Fantastic'', Gromagon Press * 2008 ''The Nightmare Collection'', Dark Regions Press * 2010 ''Dark Matters'', Bad Moon Books

Asimov’s Readers Award for Poetry

* 1989 Old Robots Are the Worst * 1993 Curse of the Shapeshifter's Wife * 1997 Curse of the SF Writer's Wife * 2003 Eight Things Not to Do or Say When a Mad Scientist Moves into Your Neighborhood * 2005 Heavy Weather * 2007 The Dimensional Rush of Relative Primes * 2014 In the Quiet Hour

Rhysling Award for Speculative Poetry (SFPA)

* 1985 For Spacers Snarled in the Hair of Comets, short * 1987 The Nightmare Collector, short * 1988 In the Darkened Hours, long * 1994 Spacer's Compass, short * 1995 Future Present: A Lesson in Expectation, short * 1999 Confessions of a Body Thief, long * 2001 My Wife Returns as She Would Have It, short

Others

* 1973 Yaddo Colony Fellow * 1976 Pushcart Prize for Fiction for “Broken Portraiture” * 1999 Grand Master Award, Science Fiction Poetry Association * 2006 Winner of Locus Poll for All-Time Favorite SF/F/H Poem, Return to the Mutant Rain Forest" with Robert Frazier * 2013 Poet Guest of Honor, World Horror/Bram Stoker Awards Convention, New Orleans * 2023 Dwarf Stars Award, Science Fiction Poetry Association for "In Perpetuity"

References

External links

Bruce Boston's websitearchived version
Jan. 2024)
Interview
by John Amen at ''The Pedestal Magazine''
archived version
Feb. 2, 2009).
Interview
by JoSelle Vanderhooft at ''Strange Horizons''

Bruce Boston at Smashwords * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boston, Bruce 1943 births Living people 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American novelists John F. Kennedy University faculty American male novelists American science fiction writers Analog Science Fiction and Fact people Asimov's Science Fiction people Projectionists Retail clerks Rhysling Award for Best Long Poem winners Rhysling Award for Best Short Poem winners Writers from California Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area