Tamsyn Muir
Tamsyn Elizabeth Muir is a New Zealand fantasy, science fiction, and horror author best known for The Locked Tomb, a science fantasy series of novels. Muir won the 2020 Locus Award for her first novel, Gideon the Ninth, and has been nominated for several other awards as well.
Biography
Muir was born March 14, 1985, in New South Wales, 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. She currently lives and works in Oxford, United Kingdom. In 2014, she married Matt Hosty, a classicist in the University of Oxford, whom she met in the Homestuck 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 in 2015, was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novelette, the World Fantasy Award—Short Fiction, the Eugie Award, and the Shirley Jackson Award for best novelette.Gideon the Ninth, Muir's first novel and the first book of The Locked Tomb series, was published in 2019. It was awarded the 2020 Locus Award for Best First Novel and the 2020 Crawford Award, presented annually by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel and the Hugo Award for Best Novel. It finished third in the Goodreads Choice Awards 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 Hugo Award for Best Novel. It was followed by Nona the Ninth, a surprise addition to the planned trilogy of Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, and Alecto the Ninth, in 2022. Alecto the Ninth, now the series' fourth instalment, was initially announced for release in 2023, but a cover and release date have not been revealed. The most recent update, is confirmation from Muir's publicist at San Diego Comic-Con that Muir was still writing the book.
Muir's fantasy novella Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower was published in July 2020. It received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.
Muir wrote the teleplay for the twelfth episode of Secret Level, based on the video game Spelunky, which aired in 2024. She adapted Siobhan Carroll's short story For He Can Creep into the tenth episode of the fourth volume of Love, Death & Robots, which aired in 2025.
After completing The Locked Tomb, Tor will be publishing Muir's cyberpunk western novella trilogy, beginning with Go Marching In.
Awards and honors
| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
| 2012 | "The Magician's Apprentice" | Shirley Jackson Award | Short Fiction | Nomitated | |
| 2015 | "The Deepwater Bride" | Nebula Award | Novelette | Nomitated | |
| 2015 | "The Deepwater Bride" | Shirley Jackson Award | Novelette | Nomitated | |
| 2016 | "The Deepwater Bride" | Eugie Award | — | ||
| 2016 | "The Deepwater Bride" | World Fantasy Award | Short Fiction | Nomitated | |
| 2019 | Gideon the Ninth | Amazon Best of 2019 | SF & Fantasy | Won | |
| 2019 | Gideon the Ninth | Audible Best of 2019 | Fantasy | Nomitated | |
| 2019 | Gideon the Ninth | Book Riot Best Books of 2019 | — | ||
| 2019 | Gideon the Ninth | Nebula Award | Novel | Nomitated | |
| 2019 | Gideon the Ninth | New York Public Library Best Books of 2019 | — | ||
| 2019 | Gideon the Ninth | NPR Best Books of the Year | — | ||
| 2019 | Gideon the Ninth | Paste 19 Best Novels of 2019 | — | ||
| 2019 | Gideon the Ninth | Polygon Best SF & Fantasy Books of 2019 | — | ||
| 2019 | Gideon the Ninth | Shelf Awareness Best Books of 2019 | — | ||
| 2019 | Gideon the Ninth | Vox Best Books of the Year | — | ||
| 2020 | Gideon the Ninth | British Fantasy Award | Best Newcomer | ||
| 2020 | Gideon the Ninth | Chesley Award | Best Hardcover Illustration | Nomitated | |
| 2020 | Gideon the Ninth | Crawford Award | — | Won | |
| 2020 | Gideon the Ninth | Dragon Award | Science Fiction Novel | Nomitated | |
| 2020 | Gideon the Ninth | Hugo Award | Novel | ||
| 2020 | Gideon the Ninth | Locus Award | First Novel | Won | |
| 2020 | Gideon the Ninth | RUSA CODES Reading List | Science Fiction | ||
| 2020 | Gideon the Ninth | World Fantasy Award | Novel | Nomitated | |
| 2020 | Harrow the Ninth | Amazon Best of 2020 | SF & Fantasy | ||
| 2021 | Harrow the Ninth | Chesley Award | Best Hardcover Illustration | Nomitated | |
| 2021 | Harrow the Ninth | Hugo Award | Novel | ||
| 2021 | Harrow the Ninth | Locus Award | Fantasy Novel | ||
| 2021 | The Locked Tomb | Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults | — | ||
| 2021 | The Locked Tomb | NPR Best Books of the Past Decade | — | ||
| 2022 | Gideon the Ninth | Premio Ignotus | Foreign Novel | Won | |
| 2022 | Nona the Ninth | Audible Best of 2022 | Science Fiction | ||
| 2022 | Nona the Ninth | Kirkus Reviews Best of 2022 | SF & Fantasy | ||
| 2022 | Nona the Ninth | Nebula Award | Novel | Nomitated | |
| 2022 | Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower | Audie Award | Fantasy | Nomitated | |
| 2023 | The Locked Tomb | Hugo Award | Series | ||
| 2023 | Nona the Ninth | Hugo Award | Novel | ||
| 2023 | Nona the Ninth | Locus Award | Fantasy Novel | ||
| 2023 | Nona the Ninth | Premio Ignotus | Foreign Novel | Won |
Publications
The Locked Tomb
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Related short stories
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Essays
Novellas
Short stories
Comics
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