Tamsyn Elizabeth Muir (born 14 March 1985) is a New Zealand fantasy, science fiction, and horror author best known for ''

The Locked Tomb ''The Locked Tomb'' is a series of science fantasy novels by New Zealand author Tamsyn Muir. It is published by Tor Books. Publishing history Novels Short fiction Muir has published several works of short fiction that fill in the gaps b ...

'', a

science fantasy file:Warhammer40kcosplay.jpg, Cosplay of a character from the ''Warhammer 40,000'' tabletop game; one critic has characterized the game's setting as "action-oriented science-fantasy." Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction ...

series of novels. Muir won the 2020

Locus Award The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine '' Locus'', a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet. Originally a poll ...

for her first novel, ''

Gideon the Ninth ''Gideon the Ninth'' is a 2019 science fantasy novel by the New Zealand writer Tamsyn Muir. It is Muir's debut novel and the first in her '' The Locked Tomb'' series, followed by '' Harrow the Ninth'' (2020), '' Nona the Ninth'' (2022), and t ...

'', and has been nominated for several other awards as well.

Biography

Muir was born March 14, 1985, in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. Her family moved to New Zealand when she was nine months old, so Muir grew up in Howick, New Zealand. In 2010, she earned a degree in education. She is also a 2010 graduate of the

Clarion Workshop The Clarion Workshop is an American six-week workshop for aspiring science fiction and fantasy writers. Originally an outgrowth of Damon Knight's and Kate Wilhelm's Milford Writer's Workshop, Milford Writer's Conference, held at their home in Milfo ...

. She currently lives and works in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, United Kingdom. In 2014, she married Matt Hosty, a classicist in the University of Oxford, whom she met in the

Homestuck ''Homestuck'' is an Internet fiction series created by American author and artist Andrew Hussie. The fourth and best-known of Hussie's four ''MS Paint Adventures'', it originally ran from April 13, 2009, to April 13, 2016. Though normally describ ...

fandom. Muir, who is a lesbian, describes their relationship as platonic and refers to Hosty as her " moirail".

Work

Muir's short story "The Deepwater Bride", published in ''

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

'' in 2015, was nominated for the

Nebula Award for Best Novelette The Nebula Award for Best Novelette is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) to a science fiction or fantasy novelette. A work of fiction is defined by the organization as a novelette if it is between 7,5 ...

, the

World Fantasy Award—Short Fiction The World Fantasy Awards are given each year by the World Fantasy Convention for the best fantasy fiction published in English during the previous calendar year. The awards have been described by book critics such as ''The Guardian'' as a "presti ...

, the Eugie Award, and 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 best novelette. ''Gideon the Ninth'', Muir's first novel and the first book of ''

'' series, was published in 2019. It was awarded the 2020

Locus Award for Best First Novel The Locus Award for Best First Novel is one of the annual Locus Awards presented by the science fiction and fantasy magazine '' Locus''. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year. The award for Best Fir ...

and the 2020

Crawford Award The IAFA William L. Crawford Fantasy Award (short: Crawford Award) is a literary award given to a writer whose first fantasy book was published during the preceding calendar year. It's one of several awards presented by the International Associat ...

, presented annually by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts. It was nominated for the

Nebula Award for Best Novel The Nebula Award for Best Novel is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy novels. A work of fiction is considered a novel by the organization if it is 40,000 words or longer; ...

and the

Hugo Award for Best Novel The Hugo Award for Best Novel is one of the Hugo Awards given each year by the World Science Fiction Society for science fiction or fantasy stories published in, or translated to, English during the previous calendar year. The novel award is ava ...

. It finished third in the

Goodreads Choice Awards The Goodreads Choice Awards is a yearly award program, first launched on Goodreads in 2009. Winners are determined by crowdvoting, users voting on books that Goodreads has nominated or books of their choosing, released in the given year. Most boo ...

for best science fiction in 2019. The second book in ''The Locked Tomb'', '' Harrow the Ninth'', was published in August 2020, and was a finalist for the 2021

. It was followed by '' Nona the Ninth'' in 2022. The fourth instalment, ''Alecto the Ninth'', was initially announced for release in 2023, but a cover and release date have not been revealed. Muir's fantasy novella ''Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower'' was published in July 2020. It received a starred review from ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

''. After completing ''The Locked Tomb'',

Tor Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Toronto, Canada ** Toronto Raptors * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor ...

will be publishing Muir's

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting said to focus on a combination of "low-life and high tech". It features futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyberwa ...

western novella trilogy, beginning with ''Go Marching In''.

Awards and honors

In 2019,

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

editors selected ''Gideon the Ninth'' as the best science fiction and fantasy book of the year. In 2020, Amazon named ''Harrow the Ninth'' one of the best science fiction and fantasy novels of the year. In 2022, ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

'' named ''Nona the Ninth'' one of the best science fiction and fantasy novels of the year.

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or ru ...

named the audio recording as one of the best science fiction audiobooks of the year.

Publications

The Locked Tomb

* 1. *2. *3. *4.

Essays

Novellas

Short stories

Comics

*''Apothecia'' (written by Muir, drawn by Shelby Cragg) (2014)

References

Goodreads Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and readi ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muir, Tamsyn 1985 births Living people Australian emigrants to New Zealand Lesbian novelists New Zealand expatriates in England New Zealand fantasy writers New Zealand LGBTQ novelists New Zealand women short story writers New Zealand women novelists 21st-century New Zealand women writers 21st-century New Zealand short story writers 21st-century New Zealand novelists Women science fiction and fantasy writers Writers from Auckland