Kage Baker

Kage Baker
Kage Baker in 2009
Born	(1952-06-10)June 10, 1952 Hollywood, California, U.S.
Died	January 31, 2010(2010-01-31) (aged 57) Pismo Beach, California, U.S.
Occupation	Writer
Period	1997–2010
Genres	Science fiction Fantasy

Kage Baker (June 10, 1952^[1] – January 31, 2010^[2]) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer.

Biography

Baker was born in Hollywood, California and lived there and in Pismo Beach most of her life. Before becoming a professional writer she spent many years in theater, including teaching Elizabethan English as a second language.^[3] Her unusual first name (pronounced like the word "cage") is a combination of the names of her two grandmothers, Kate and Genevieve.

She is best known for her "Company" series of historical time travel science fiction. Her first stories were published in Asimov's Science Fiction in 1997, and her first novel, In the Garden of Iden, by Hodder & Stoughton in the same year. Other notable works include Mendoza in Hollywood (novel, 2000) and "The Empress of Mars" (novella, 2003), which won the Theodore Sturgeon Award^[4] and was nominated for a Hugo Award.

In 2008, she donated her archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.^[5]

In 2009, her short story "Caverns of Mystery" and her novel House of the Stag were both nominated for World Fantasy Awards, but neither piece won.^[6]

In January 2010, it was reported that Baker was seriously ill with cancer.^[7] She died from uterine cancer at approximately 1:00 a.m. on January 31, 2010 in Pismo Beach, California.^[2]

In 2010, Baker's The Women of Nell Gwynne's was nominated for a Hugo Award and a World Fantasy Award in the Best Novella categories.^[8][9] On May 15, 2010, that work was awarded the 2009 Nebula Award in the Best Novella category.^[10]

Baker left an unfinished novel, Nell Gwynne’s On Land and At Sea, which has been completed by her sister Kathleen Bartholomew based on extensive notes left by Baker, and was published in 2012.^[11]

Partial bibliography

Novels set in the Company universe

• In the Garden of Iden (1997)
• Sky Coyote (1999)
• Mendoza in Hollywood (2000) (published in the UK as At the Edge of the West)
• The Graveyard Game (2001)
• The Life of the World to Come (2004)
• The Children of the Company (2005)
• The Machine's Child (2006)
• The Sons of Heaven (2007)
• The Empress of Mars (2009) (novel version)
• Not Less than Gods (2010)
• Nell Gwynne’s On Land and At Sea (2012)

Short story collections set in the Company universe

• Black Projects, White Knights: The Company Dossiers (2002)
• Gods and Pawns (2007)
• In the Company of Thieves (2013)

Standalone novellas set in the Company universe

• The Empress of Mars (2003) (novella version)
• The Angel in the Darkness (limited edition chapbook, 2003)
• Rude Mechanicals (2007)
• The Women of Nell Gwynne's (limited edition, 2009)

Other works

Novels and novellas

• The Anvil of the World (2003)
• The House of the Stag (2008) (prequel to Anvil of the World)
• Where the Golden Apples Grow (2006) (novella)
• Or Else My Lady Keeps the Key (2008)
• The Hotel Under the Sand (2009) (juvenile) Tachyon Publications
• The Bird of the River (July 2010) (same universe as Anvil of the World and House of the Stag)

Short story collections

• Mother Ægypt and Other Stories (2004) (title story takes place in the Company universe)
• Dark Mondays (2006)
• The Best of Kage Baker (2012) (includes stories set in and out of the Company universe)

Miscellaneous

• Ancient Rockets: Treasures and Trainwrecks of the Silent Screen (2012) Tachyon Publications

References

Further reading

• Eldridge, Cat (June 1, 2005). "An Interview with Kage Baker". The Green Man Review. Retrieved March 11, 2012. 
• Gevers, Nick (Winter 2009). "Interview: Of Mars and the Spanish Main: An Interview with Kage Baker by Nick Gevers". Subterranean Press. Retrieved March 11, 2012. 
• Hartwell, David (September 7, 2010). "On Kage Baker". Tor.com. Macmillan. Retrieved March 11, 2012. 
• Martini, Adrienne (June 2994). "An Interview with Kage Baker". Bookslut. Retrieved March 11, 2012. 
• Vandermeer, Jeff (March 2007). "An Interview with Kage Baker". Clarkesworld Magazine. Retrieved March 11, 2012. 

External links

• Official website
• Kathleen, Kage & the Company Kage's sister Kathleen's blog about continuing Kage's legacy
• Kage Baker at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Kage Baker, entry at the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 3rd edition (draft)
• Kage Baker's online fiction at Free Speculative Fiction Online
• Review, In the Garden of Iden
• Review, Sky Coyote
• Review, The Anvil of the World