John Kessel
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.
Also recorded as John Joseph Vincent Kessel
John Kessel
Jjvtkessel · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- John Kessel
- Born
- 24 September 1950
- Birthplace
- Buffalo, New York, United States
- Occupation
- * Writer
- Movement
- Savage Humanism
- Spouse
- Therese Anne Fowler
- Nationality
- United States
- Known for
- Corrupting Dr. Nice
- Honours
- Nebula Award for Best Novella · Theodore Sturgeon Award · Locus Award for Best Short Story · Otherwise Award · Nebula Award for Best Novelette
- Languages
- English
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q3066599 · wikipedia · John Kessel
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The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Biography
Biography
Kessel is married to author Therese Anne Fowler.
The recorded working language is English. Employment is recorded with North Carolina State University. Works named in the authority record are Corrupting Dr. Distinctions recorded are Nebula Award for Best Novella, Theodore Sturgeon Award, Locus Award for Best Short Story and Otherwise Award.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — John Kessel • Born — 24 September 1950 • Birthplace — Buffalo, New York, United States • Occupation — * Writer • editor • teacher • Period — 1978–present • Genre — Science fiction, fantasy literature, comic science fiction, metafiction, satire • Subject — Time travel, the future, dinosaurs • Movement — Savage Humanism • Notable Works — Another Orphan, Good News from Outer Space, "Buffalo", "Pride and Prometheus", Corrupting Dr. Nice • Spouse — Therese Anne Fowler • Website — johnjosephkessel.wixsite.com/kessel-website
Documentary record
John Kessel, born in 1950, is documented in the authority records of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The birth is recorded by the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Education
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.
Novels
Novels
• Title — |Year — |First published — |Awards/nominations — Notes • Freedom Beach — 1985 • Good News From Outer Space — 1989 — Nebula Award nominee • Corrupting Dr. Nice — 1997 • The Moon and the Other — 2017 — James Tiptree Jr. Award long list • Pride and Prometheus — 2018
Short fiction
Short fiction
• Collections • Title — |Year — |First published — |Awards/nominations — Notes • Meeting in Infinity — 1992 — World Fantasy Award nominee • The Pure Product — 1997 • The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories — 2008 • The Dark Ride — 2022 • The Presidential Papers — 2024 • Stories and other short works • Title — |Year — |First published — |Awards/nominations — Notes • "Another orphan" — 1982 — Nebula Award winner • "Mrs. Shummel Exits a Winner" — 1988 — Nebula Award nominee • Another orphan — 1989 — Novella • "Buffalo" — 1991 — Sturgeon Award winner, Locus Award winner, Hugo Award nominee, Nebula Award nominee • The Franchise — 1993 — Nebula Award nominee, Hugo Award nominee — Novelette • The Miracle of Ivar Avenue — 1996 — Nebula Award nominee — Novelette • "Every Angel is Terrifying" — 1998 — World Fantasy Award nominee • Ninety Percent of Everything — 1999 — Nebula Award nominee — Novella • "Stories for Men" — 2002 — James Tiptree Jr. Award winner, Nebula Award nominee • Pride and Prometheus — 2008 — Nebula Award winner, Shirley Jackson Award winner, James Tiptree Jr. Award Honor List — Novelette • Spirit level — 2020 — Novelette
Plays
Plays
• 1986 A Clean Escape • 1994 Faustfeathers (Paul Green Playwrights' Prize winner)
Book reviews
Book reviews
• |Year — Review article — Work(s) reviewed • 1994 — * * * * * *
Identity
Identity
John Kessel is recorded as having received Nebula Award for Best Novella, Theodore Sturgeon Award and Locus Award for Best Short Story. Recognition and collections. Kessel received Nebula Award for Best Novella, Theodore Sturgeon Award, Locus Award for Best Short Story, Otherwise Award and Nebula Award for Best Novelette.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1950
John Kessel born at Buffalo.
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". 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.
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)
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article John Kessel, revision 1371892491 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Sawyer, Robert J. The Savage Humanists. Robert J. Sawyer. April 29, 2008.
- 2.John Kessel: Over the Moon (Interview). Locus Online. 2017-06-11.
- 3.Feehan, Ellen. An Interview with John Kessel. Science Fiction Studies. 20. 1. 94–107. 1993. 0091-7729.
- 4.Creating a literary culture. Department of English, North Carolina State University.
- 5.Interview With an Author: John Kessel. Los Angeles Public Library.
- 6.Smith, Zack. N.C. State teacher and author John Kessel discusses his second Nebula award. INDY Week. 2009-05-08.
- 7.NC State's John Kessel Wins Nebula Award for 'Pride and Prometheus'. NC State News.
- 8.Bourke, Liz. Literary Fusion: Pride and Prometheus by John Kessel. Reactor Magazine. 2018-02-15.
- 9.World Fantasy Convention. Award Winners and Nominees. 2010.
- 10."Creating the Innocent Killer: Ender's Game, Intention, and Morality"
- 11.Short stories unless otherwise noted.
- 12.Reprinted in The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology, ed. Gordon Van Gelder. San Francisco: Tachyon Publications ( ), 2009.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q3066599: John KesselWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
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