Thomas M. Disch (1940–2008)
Author of Camp Concentration
About the Author
Thomas Disch was a popular & prolific poet, playwright, essayist, & novelist. He is the author of many works of science fiction & the poetry collections "Dark verses & Light" & "Yes, Let's: New & Selected Poems". (Publisher Provided) Thomas M. Disch was born in Des Moines, Iowa on February 2, 1940. show more He dropped out of the architecture program at Cooper Union, and then left New York University after he sold a short story entitled The Double Timer. His first novel, The Genocides, was published in 1965. His other novels include The House That Fear Built, 334, The M.D., The Priest, The Word of God: Or, Holy Writ Rewritten, and Clara Reeve written under the pseudonym Leonie Hargreave. He won several awards including the 1969 Ditmar Award for Camp Concentration, the O. Henry Award in 1975 for Getting into Death and in 1977 for Xmas, the 1980 John W. Campbell, Jr. Memorial Award for On Wings of Song, and the 1981 British Science Fiction Award for The Brave Little Toaster: A Bedtime Story for Small Appliances. He was also wrote poetry, opera librettos, plays, and criticism of theater, films and art. His collections of poetry include Here I Am, There You Are, Where Are We; The Dark Old House; Yes, Let's: New and Selected Poetry; and Dark Verses and Light. He won the 1999 biennial Michael Braude Award for Light Poetry for A Child's Garden of Grammar, the Locus and Hugo Awards for 1999 for The Dreams Our Stuff is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World, and the Puschcart Prize for The First Annual Performance Art Festival at Slaughter Rock Battlefield. His criticism appeared in several publications including The Nation, The New York Daily News, and The New York Sun. In 1987, he wrote a script for the television series Miami Vice. He shot himself on July 4, 2008 at the age of 68. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: photo by Bernard Gotfryd, 1986 or 1988
Series
Works by Thomas M. Disch
The Castle of Perseverance: Job Opportunities in Contemporary Poetry (Poets on Poetry) (2002) 10 copies
Descending 8 copies
Voices of the Kill [short fiction] 7 copies
Fun With Your New Head [short story] 7 copies
Thomas l'incredulo 5 copies
The Roaches 5 copies
The Asian Shore {novelette} 4 copies
In Xanadu 4 copies
La stanza vuota 4 copies
Things Lost 3 copies
The Squirrel Cage 3 copies
Canned Goods (Short story) 3 copies
The Shadow 2 copies
Highway Sandwiches 2 copies
The White Man [short story] 2 copies
Narcissus 2 copies
Total Amnesia: The Complete Text and Programming Notes of the World's Most Famous Lost Computer Game (2021) 2 copies
Minnesota Gothic [short story] 2 copies
The Birds [short fiction] 2 copies
Jour de Fête [short story] 2 copies
The Grown-Up [short fiction] 2 copies
Logor koncentracije 1 copy
Torturing Mr. Amberwell 1 copy
TRIPLICITY by THOMAS M DISCH Nelson Doubleday 1965 1966 1967 BCE HC [Hardcover] Thomas M Disch 1 copy
198…199 1 copy
Mutability 1 copy
Prayer to Pleasure {poem} 1 copy
The Vengeance of Hera 1 copy
The Flneurs of Mars 1 copy
Terra all'infinito 1 copy
Josie and the Elevator 1 copy
Nada 1 copy
Come To Venus Melancholy 1 copy
1972 1 copy
The Hawk & the Metaphor 1 copy
Concepts [novelette] 1 copy
Storie del bene e del male 1 copy
Et in Arcadia ego 1 copy
The Revelation [short story] 1 copy
In Praise of New York {poem} 1 copy
Quincunx [short fiction] 1 copy
The Fugitive {poem} 1 copy
Associated Works
The Vintage Book of Amnesia: An Anthology of Writing on the Subject of Memory Loss (2000) — Contributor — 217 copies
The Best Fantasy Stories from the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (1985) — Contributor — 70 copies
The American Shore: Meditations on a Tale of Science Fiction by Thomas M. Disch--"Angouleme" (1978) 41 copies
Light Years and Dark: Science Fiction and Fantasy of and for Our Time (1984) — Contributor — 36 copies
Science fiction verhalen [1969] — Contributor, some editions — 13 copies
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction May 1983, Vol. 64, No. 5 (1983) — Contributor — 12 copies
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine: Vol. 16, No. 4 & 5 [April 1992] (1992) — Contributor — 12 copies
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine: Vol. 15, No. 15 [Mid-December 1991] (1991) — Contributor — 12 copies
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction October 1989, Vol. 77, No. 4 (1989) — Contributor — 10 copies
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 65. Cyrion in Bronze. (1983) — Contributor, some editions — 10 copies
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction November 1988, Vol. 75, No. 5 (1988) — Author — 10 copies
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction April 2002, Vol. 102, No. 4 (2002) — Contributor — 9 copies
The Little Magazine, v. 11, #1, Spring 1977 — Contributor — 1 copy
The Little Magazine, v. 10, #1-2, Spring Summer 1976 — Contributor — 1 copy
S-Fマガジン 2009年 05月号 [雑誌] — Contributor — 1 copy
季刊NW-SF 1972年 01月 第5号 — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Disch, Thomas M.
- Legal name
- Disch, Thomas Michael
- Other names
- Demijohn, Thom
Hargrave, Leonie (pseudonym)
Knye, Cassandra (pseudonym together with John Sladek)
Tharp, Beebe (pseudonym)
Disch, Tom - Birthdate
- 1940-02-02
- Date of death
- 2008-07-04
- Burial location
- Saint Johns Episcopal Church Columbarium, Dubuque, Iowa, USA
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Des Moines, Iowa, USA
- Place of death
- New York, New York, USA
- Cause of death
- suicide
- Places of residence
- Roseville, Minnesota, USA
New York, New York, USA - Education
- Cooper Union
New York University - Occupations
- theater critic
author
poet
playwright
essayist
novelist - Relationships
- Naylor, Charles (partner)
- Organizations
- The Nation
New York Daily News
PEN
National Book Critics Circle
Writers Guild of America East - Awards and honors
- Guest of Honour, Eastercon, UK (1981)
Michael Braude Award for Light Verse (1999)
Hugo Award (nonfiction work, 1999)
John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1980)
Pushcart Prize (1998)
Rhysling Award (1981) (show all 12)
Seiun Award for Best Translated Short Story (1970, 1982)
British Science Fiction Association Award (1981)
Locus Award (1981, 1999)
Ditmar Award (1969)
Hayakawa's SF Magazine Reader's Award (1989)
O. Henry Prize (1975, 1979) - Agent
- Karpfinger Agency
Members
Discussions
Earth invaded, conquered & terraformed in Name that Book (August 2012)
Short sci fi story - endless stairs in Name that Book (December 2009)
Reviews
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 154
- Also by
- 148
- Members
- 7,155
- Popularity
- #3,427
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 182
- ISBNs
- 215
- Languages
- 9
- Favorited
- 26
Disch captured the smart, jousting dialogue just right, and created the layers of suspicion, second-guessing, cautious trust and resigned betrayals of the TV series.
His story is littered with the Shakespearean and classical references of the original, and the Bard's "Measure for Measure" forms both a plot element and a subversive meta-narrative on the role of the characters with the book, and of the writer and reader of the book. Whether the follow-up novels by two different authors will measure up to Disch's high standards remains for me to see.
Oh, and did Disch conceptualise motion-capture CGI in this 1969 novel? I think he did!… (more)