John Joseph Vincent Kessel (born September 24, 1950) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. He is a prolific short story writer, and the author of four solo novels, Good News From Outer Space (1989), Corrupting Dr. Nice (1997), The Moon and the Other (2017), and Pride and Prometheus (2018), and one novel, Freedom Beach (1985) in collaboration with his friend James Patrick Kelly. Kessel is married to author Therese Anne Fowler.
Education
Kessel earned a B.A. in Physics and English from the University of Rochester in 1972, followed by a M.A. in English from University of Kansas in 1974, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Kansas in 1981, where he studied under science fiction writer and scholar James Gunn. Since 1982 Kessel has taught classes in American literature, science fiction, fantasy, and fiction writing at North Carolina State University, and helped organize the MFA Creative Writing program at NCSU, serving as its first director.
Publications
Kessel won a Nebula Award in 1982 for his novella Another Orphan, in which the protagonist finds himself living inside the novel Moby-Dick. His short story "Buffalo" won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award and the Locus poll in 1992. He won a second Nebula Award for his 2008 novelette Pride and Prometheus, a melding the tales of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The intervening 26 years between his two Nebula Awards was the longest gap between competitive awards in Nebula history. The novelette also won a 2009 Shirley Jackson Award, and was expanded into a novel by the same name in 2018.
His novella "Stories for Men" shared the 2002 James Tiptree Jr. Award (Otherwise Award) for science fiction dealing with gender issues with M. John Harrison's novel Light. He has been nominated three times for a World Fantasy Award: 1993 for the Meeting in Infinity collection, 1999 for the short fiction "Every Angel is Terrifying", and 2009 for the short story "Pride and Prometheus".
Kessel is also a widely published science fiction and fantasy critic. His works of criticism include the 2004 essay on Orson Scott Card's novel Ender's Game, "Creating the Innocent Killer: Ender's Game, Intention, and Morality"."Creating the Innocent Killer: Ender's Game, Intention, and Morality" With Mark L. Van Name, Kessel created the Sycamore Hill Writer's Workshop. Kessel has also edited, with James Patrick Kelly, three collections of contemporary sf short stories, Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology, Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology, and The Secret History of Science Fiction.
In 1994 his play Faustfeathers received the Paul Green Playwrights' Prize. In 2007 his story "A Clean Escape" (previously adapted by Kessel as a one-act play in 1986) was adapted by Sam Egan for ABC's science fiction anthology series Masters of Science Fiction.
Bibliography
Novels TitleYearFirst publishedAwards/nominationsNotesFreedom Beach1985Good News From Outer Space1989Nebula Award nomineeCorrupting Dr. Nice1997The Moon and the Other2017James Tiptree Jr. Award long listPride and Prometheus2018
Short fiction Collections TitleYearFirst publishedAwards/nominationsNotesMeeting in Infinity1992World Fantasy Award nomineeThe Pure Product1997The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories2008The Dark Ride2022The Presidential Papers2024 Stories and other short worksShort stories unless otherwise noted. TitleYearFirst publishedAwards/nominationsNotes"Another orphan"1982Nebula Award winner"Mrs. Shummel Exits a Winner"1988Nebula Award nomineeAnother orphan1989Novella"Buffalo"1991Sturgeon Award winner, Locus Award winner, Hugo Award nominee, Nebula Award nomineeReprinted in The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology, ed. Gordon Van Gelder. San Francisco: Tachyon Publications (), 2009.The Franchise1993Nebula Award nominee, Hugo Award nomineeNoveletteThe Miracle of Ivar Avenue1996Nebula Award nomineeNovelette"Every Angel is Terrifying"1998World Fantasy Award nomineeNinety Percent of Everything1999Nebula Award nomineeNovella"Stories for Men"2002James Tiptree Jr. Award winner, Nebula Award nomineePride and Prometheus2008Nebula Award winner, Shirley Jackson Award winner, James Tiptree Jr. Award Honor ListNoveletteSpirit level2020Novelette
Anthologies and collections (edited) 1996 Intersections: The Sycamore Hill Anthology (with Mark L. Van Name and Richard Butner) 1998 Memory's Tailor (by Laurence Rudner. Kessel was the literary executor after Rudner's death in 1995.) 2006 Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology (with James Patrick Kelly) Features stories by Aimee Bender, Michael Chabon, Ted Chiang, Carol Emshwiller, Jeffrey Ford, Karen Joy Fowler, Theodora Goss, Jonathan Lethem, Kelly Link, M. Rickert, Benjamin Rosenbaum, George Saunders, Bruce Sterling, Jeff VanderMeer, and Howard Waldrop 2007 Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology (coedited with James Patrick Kelly) (Tachyon Publications) 2009 The Secret History of Science Fiction (coedited with James Patrick Kelly) (Tachyon Publications) 2011 Kafkaesque: Stories Inspired by Franz Kafka (coedited with James Patrick Kelly) (Tachyon Publications) 2012 Nebula Awards Showcase 2012 (coedited with James Patrick Kelly (Pyr) 2012 Digital Rapture: The Singularity Anthology (coedited with James Patrick Kelly) (Tachyon Publications)
Plays 1986 A Clean Escape 1994 Faustfeathers (Paul Green Playwrights' Prize winner)
Book reviews YearReview articleWork(s) reviewed1994
References
External links John Kessel's home page
John Kessel Papers, MS 358 at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Guide to the John Kessel Collection of Science Fiction Magazines 1951-2011 An Interview with John Kessel and James Patrick Kelly conducted by John Joseph Adams An interview with John Kessel conducted by Fiona Kelleghan writing as Ellen Feehan Free download of The Baum Plan for Financial Independence from the publisher
Talk: "The Future as Mirror: How SF Uses the Tomorrow to Understand Today" - Fractal'11 conference A July 2017 podcast with John Kessel conducted by David Barr Kirtley A July 2017 podcast with John Kessel conducted by Scott Edelman