Bruce Boston (July 16, 1943 – November 11, 2024)Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Bruce Boston (accessed Sept. 18 2013) was an American speculative fiction writer and poet.
Early years Boston was born in Chicago and grew up in Southern California.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, book designer, gardener, movie projectionist, retail clerk, 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 for speculative poetry a recordLocus, Rhysling Award Tallies (accessed Sept. 18, 2013) seven times,Science Fiction Poetry Association, Rhysling archive (accessed Sept. 18, 2013) and the Asimov's Readers' Award for poetry a record seven times.The Locus Index to SF Awards: Asimov's Reader Poll Records and Tallies He has also received a Pushcart Prize for fiction, 1976, a record four Bram Stoker Awards for solo poetry collections, and the first Grand Master Award of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, 1999.Science Fiction Poetry Association, 1999 SFPA Grandmaster (accessed Sept. 18, 2013) 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's first two short story collections, Jackbird (1976) and She Comes When You're Leaving & Other Stories (1982) were published by Berkeley Poets' Workshop and Press. BPW&P was run by the Berkeley Poets' Cooperative, whose writing workshops Boston attended in the 1970s after meeting Co-op cofounder Charles Entrekin when they were both working as computer analysts for Pacific Telephone.Lamott, Kenneth, The New York Times, "Poetry here, hot off the press!", (accessed Jan. 11, 2026)
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 Bram Stoker Award Finalist and Prometheus 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, Science Fiction Age, Weird Tales, Strange Horizons, Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, and the Nebula Awards Showcase. Writing in The Washington Post, Paul Di Filippo described his collection Masque of Dreams as containing "nearly two dozen brilliant stories ranging across all emotional and narrative terrains."Paul di Filippo, review, "Microcosmos: A new Golden Age and a flood of titles from the kind of small publishers that first brought the world sf" , Washington Post, Sunday, April 7, 2002; Page BW13 (accessed Sept. 18, 2013).
Boston has chaired the Nebula Award Novel Jury (SFWA), the Bram Stoker Award Novel Jury, and the Philip K. Dick Award Jury, and served as Secretary and Treasurer of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. 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.Locus Online News, Bruce Boston Joins World Horror Guests of Honor, 10 July 20, 2012 (accessed Sept. 18 2013)World Horror Convention 2013 GoH Interview #5: Bruce Boston (accessed Sept. 18, 2013)
Personal life Boston lived in Ocala, Florida, 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, 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. TitleYearFirst publishedReprinted/collectedNotesAfter magic1990EotuDark Regions (1999) NoveletteHouses1991TalismanNovelette
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 TitleYearFirst publishedReprinted/collectedBirth of an astrophysicist2015Tourists from the future2015 ——————— 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 website (archived 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