Elizabeth Hand
Elizabeth Hand is an American writer.
Life and career
Hand grew up in Yonkers and Pound Ridge, New York. She studied drama and anthropology at the Catholic University of America. Since 1988, Hand has lived in coastal Maine, the setting for many of her stories, and as of 2000 lives in Lincolnville. She also lives part-time in Camden Town, London which has been the setting for Mortal Love and the short story "Cleopatra Brimstone".Hand's first published story, "Prince of Flowers", appeared in 1988 in The Twilight Zone Magazine, and her first novel, Winterlong, was published in 1990. With Paul Witcover, she created and wrote DC Comics' 1990s cult series Anima. Hand's other works include Aestival Tide ; Icarus Descending ; Waking the Moon, which won the Tiptree Award and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award; the post-apocalyptic novel Glimmering ; contemporary fantasy Black Light, a New York Times Notable Book; the historical fantasy Mortal Love, a Washington Post Notable Book; the psychological thriller Generation Loss, and the World Fantasy Award-winning "The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon". Her story collections are Last Summer at Mars Hill ; Bibliomancy, winner of the World Fantasy Award; and Saffron and Brimstone: Strange Stories, which includes the Nebula Award-winning "Echo". Mortal Love was also shortlisted for the 2005 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature.
Among Hand's other recent short fiction, "Pavane for a Prince of the Air" and "Cleopatra Brimstone" won International Horror Guild Awards. Most recently, she won the Shirley Jackson Award for Generation Loss and the World Fantasy Award in 2008 for Illyria, and the Inkpot Award in 2018.
She also writes movie and television spin-offs, including Star Wars tie-in novels and novelizations of such films as The X-Files and 12 Monkeys. She contributed a Bride of Frankenstein novel to the recent series of classic movie monster novels published by Dark Horse Comics.
One of Hand's themes from the Winterlong saga is the remorseless exploitation of animal and plant species to create what she calls "geneslaves." Examples include a three-hundred-year-old genetically reconstructed and cerebrally augmented Basilosaurus by the name of Zalophus; the aardmen, hybrids of dog and man; hydrapithecenes, human-fish or human-cuttlefish hybrids somewhat resembling Davy Jones and his crew from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series; and sagittals, whelks genetically engineered to be worn as a bracelet and, when its host feels threatened or agitated, extrude a spine laced with a deadly neurotoxin.
Hand is a longtime reviewer and critic for The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Review, Salon, and Village Voice, among others. She also writes a regular for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
Novels
- 1988 Winterlong –
- 1992 Aestival Tide –
- 1993 Icarus Descending –
- 1994 Waking the Moon –
- 1995 Waking the Moon –
- 1997 Glimmering –
- 1999 Black Light –
- 2000 "Chip Crockett's Christmas Carol" in Sci Fiction
- 2002 "Cleopatra Brimstone" in Redshift
- 2003 "The Least Trumps" in Conjunctions 39: The New Wave Fabulists
- 2004 Mortal Love –
- 2006 Chip Crockett's Christmas Carol –. The story is a tribute to entertainers Sandy Becker and Joey Ramone. An was serialized by Hand on her Livejournal community "theinferior4".
- 2006 Illyria –,
- 2007 The Bride of Frankenstein –
- 2012 Radiant Days
- 2015 Wylding Hall
- 2019 Curious Toys
- 2022 Hokuloa Road
- 2023 ''A Haunting on the Hill''
Cass Neary Crime Novels
- 2007 Generation Loss –
- 2012 Available Dark –
- 2016 Hard Light –
- 2020 The Book of Lamps and Banners –
Star Wars Expanded Universe
- 2003 Boba Fett: Maze Of Deception –
- 2003 Boba Fett: Hunted –
- 2004 Boba Fett: A New Threat –
- 2004 Boba Fett: Pursuit –
Adaptations
- 1995 12 Monkeys –
- 1997 Millennium: The Frenchman –
- 1998 The X-Files: Fight the Future –
- 1999 Anna and the King –
- 2001 The Affair of the Necklace –
- 2004 Catwoman –
Short fiction
;Collections- 1998 Last Summer at Mars Hill –
- 2003 Bibliomancy –
- 2006 Saffron and Brimstone: Strange Stories –
- 2012 Errantry –
- 2021 The Best of Elizabeth Hand
- 1998 The Darcy Bee
- 2003 The Girl With No Name
- 2004 The Poet and the Inkmaker's Daughter
- 2006 From Mortal Love
- 2018 Farrow Street
- 2021 For Sale by Owner
- 2023 ''The Seventh Bride, or Female Curiosity''
Awards
| Work | Year & Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
| 2018 Inkpot Award | Won | |||
| Winterlong | 1990 Philip K. Dick Award | |||
| Winterlong | 1991 Locus Award | First Novel | ||
| Snow on Sugar Mountain | 1992 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| Æstival Tide | 1992 Philip K. Dick Award | |||
| Æstival Tide | 1993 Locus Award | SF Novel | ||
| In the Month of Athyr | 1993 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| Icarus Descending | 1993 Philip K. Dick Award | |||
| The Erl-King | 1994 World Fantasy Award | Novella | ||
| Waking the Moon | 1995 World Fantasy Award | Novel | ||
| Waking the Moon | 1995 Otherwise Award | Won | ||
| Waking the Moon | 1996 Locus Award | Fantasy Novel | ||
| Waking the Moon | 1996 Mythopoeic Awards | Adult Literature | Won | |
| Glimmering | 1998 Locus Award | SF Novel | ||
| Glimmering | 1998 Arthur C. Clarke Award | |||
| Last Summer at Mars Hill | 1995 Locus Award | Novella | ||
| Last Summer at Mars Hill | 1995 HOMer Award | Novella | ||
| Last Summer at Mars Hill | 1995 World Fantasy Award | Novella | Won | |
| Last Summer at Mars Hill | 1996 Nebula Award | Novella | Won | |
| Last Summer at Mars Hill | 1999 World Fantasy Award | Collection | ||
| Last Summer at Mars Hill | 1999 Locus Award | Collection | ||
| Black Light | 2000 Locus Award | Fantasy Novel | ||
| Chip Crockett's Christmas Carol | 2001 World Fantasy Award | Novella | ||
| Chip Crockett's Christmas Carol | 2001 Locus Award | Novella | ||
| Cleopatra Brimstone | 2001 International Horror Guild Award | Long Fiction | Won | |
| Cleopatra Brimstone | 2002 World Fantasy Award | Novella | ||
| Cleopatra Brimstone | 2002 Locus Award | Novella | ||
| Pavane for a Prince of the Air | 2002 International Horror Guild Award | Intermediate Form | Won | |
| Pavane for a Prince of the Air | 2003 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| The Least Trumps | 2003 Locus Award | Novella | ||
| The Least Trumps | 2003 World Fantasy Award | Novella | ||
| Bibliomancy | 2003 International Horror Guild Award | Collection | ||
| Bibliomancy | 2003 Bram Stoker Award | Fiction Collection | ||
| Bibliomancy | 2004 World Fantasy Award | Collection | Won | |
| Bibliomancy | 2004 Locus Award | Collection | ||
| Mortal Love | 2004 International Horror Guild Award | Novel | ||
| Mortal Love | 2005 Locus Award | Fantasy Novel | ||
| Mortal Love | 2005 Mythopoeic Awards | Adult Literature | ||
| Wonderwall | 2005 Locus Award | Short Story | ||
| Calypso in Berlin | 2006 Locus Award | Short Story | ||
| Saffron and Brimstone: Strange Stories | 2007 Locus Award | Collection | ||
| The Saffron Gatherers | 2007 Locus Award | Short Story | ||
| Generation Lost | 2007 International Horror Guild Award | Novel | ||
| Generation Lost | 2007 Believer Book Award | |||
| Generation Lost | 2008 Shirley Jackson Award | Novel | Won | |
| Echo | 2007 Nebula Award | Short Story | Won | |
| Illyria | 2008 Shirley Jackson Award | Novella | ||
| Illyria | 2008 Locus Award | Novella | ||
| Illyria | 2008 World Fantasy Award | Novella | Won | |
| Winter's Wife | 2008 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon | 2011 Locus Award | Novella | ||
| The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon | 2011 World Fantasy Award | Novella | Won | |
| The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon | 2011 Hugo Award | Novella | ||
| The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon | 2011 Theodore Sturgeon Award | Short Science Fiction | ||
| Near Zennor | 2012 Shirley Jackson Award | Novella | Won | |
| Near Zennor | 2012 Locus Award | Novella | ||
| Near Zennor | 2012 World Fantasy Award | Novella | ||
| Near Zennor | 2012 British Fantasy Award | Novella | ||
| Available Dark | 2012 Romantic Times Book Reviews | The Reviewers' Choice Award - Contemporary Mystery | Won | |
| Erranty: Strange Stories | 2012 Bram Stoker Award | Fiction Collection | ||
| Erranty: Strange Stories | 2013 Shirley Jackson Award | Collection | ||
| Erranty: Strange Stories | 2013 Locus Award | Collection | ||
| Radiant Days | 2013 Locus Award | Young Adult Book | ||
| Wylding Hall | 2016 Shirley Jackson Award | Novella | Won | |
| Wylding Hall | 2016 Locus Award | Fantasy Novel | ||
| Hard Light | 2016 Bram Stoker Award | Novel | ||
| Fire | 2018 Locus Award | Short Story | ||
| Curious Toys | 2020 Shirley Jackson Award | Novel | ||
| Curious Toys | 2020 Locus Award | Horror Novel | ||
| The Book of Lamps and Banners | 2021 Locus Award | Fantasy Novel | ||
| For Sale by Owner | 2022 World Fantasy Award | Novella | ||
| For Sale by Owner | 2022 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| The Best of Elizabeth Hand | 2022 Locus Award | Collection | ||
| A Haunting on the Hill | 2023 The Dracula Society | Children of the Night Award | ||
| A Haunting on the Hill | 2024 Locus Award | Horror Novel | ||
| A Haunting on the Hill | 2024 Shirley Jackson Award | Special Award | Won |