Thomas M. Disch
Thomas M. Disch (1940-2008), New Wave SF visionary, poet, anatomist of New York City and Minnesota, Gothic experimenter, critic, crank. Did a lot of different things. Sorely missed.
Notes are here for these books:
- 334 (1967-1972)
- Camp Concentration (1967-1968)
- On Wings of Song (1979)
- The Brave Little Toaster (1980)
- The Businessman (1984)
- The M.D. (1991)
Other reading
- Wikipedia - biography etc.
- Schrödinger's Cake - archive of a fan site by Matthew Davis with many interview excerpts and a comprehensive bibliography. (Internet Archive link, archived July 4, 2018) I'm heavily indebted in general to Davis's commentary in discussions of science fiction over multiple decades, and his research which is much more diligent than mine. His more recent web page, also called Schrödinger's Cake, contains a large collection of nonfiction material by Disch: essays, reviews, etc. Accessed on January 26, 2025.
- Crowley, John (January 1, 2009). "Worldmaker: Remembering Thomas Disch". Boston Review. Accessed on January 24, 2025.
- Auerbach, David (April 2, 2010). "The Prescient Science Fiction of Thomas M. Disch". The Millions. Accessed on January 24, 2025.
- Yezzi, David (2008). "Thomas M., Meet Tom". Contemporary Poetry Review. Accessed on January 24, 2025.
- Disch's long autobiographical essays in Something About the Author Autobiography Series, vol. 15, and Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series, vol. 4 (Gale), both of which are widely available from library reference desks: Something About... is aimed at children and Contemporary Authors is not, but Disch's pieces in both of them (written in the mid-1980s) are informative and drily funny. The former piece, "My Life as a Child", also appeared in the October and November 1992 issues of Amazing Stories.
- Disch, Thomas (2006-2008). Endzone. (Internet Archive link, archived January 8, 2010)[1]
Interviews:
- Horwich, David (July 30, 2001). "Interview: Thomas M. Disch". Strange Horizons. Accessed on January 24, 2025.
- Francavilla, Joseph (March 1983). "Disching It Out". Science Fiction Studies, #29, Vol. 10, Part 1. Accessed on January 24, 2025.
- Edelman, Scott (1984). "Unearthing my 1984 interview with Thomas M. Disch". Last Wave, Winter 1986. Accessed on January 24, 2025.
- Champion, Edward (July 6, 2008). "Thomas M. Disch". The Bat Segundo Show. Accessed on January 28, 2025. An audio interview from shortly before his death, focusing mainly on his final novel The Word of God.
Footnotes
- ↑ Disch published the Endzone blog during the last two years of his life. Its content included some light-hearted posts and some good poems, but at other times was very dark and likely to be upsetting to people who love his other writing: Disch was increasingly in despair over the death of his partner Charles Naylor and a series of other misfortunes, and had descended into a heavily xenophobic type of misanthropy that overlapped with far-right politics even though he still considered himself on the left. Readers and friends engaged with him in the comment section in various ways up to the end.