The word of God : or, Holy writ rewritten
Disch, Thomas M.
Adult Fiction DISCH

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Thomas Disch was a popular & prolific poet, playwright, essayist, & novelist. He is the author of many works of science fiction & the poetry collections "Dark verses & Light" & "Yes, Let's: New & Selected Poems". (Publisher Provided) Known variously as Thom Demijohn, Tom Disch, Leonie Hargrave, and Cassandra Knye, Thomas Michael Disch was born February 2, 1940, in Des Moines. He attended Cooper Union and New York University from 1959 to 1962. He has worked as a freelance writer, checkroom attendant, theater critic, and artist-in-residence (at the College of William and Mary), as well as a university lecturer. Disch began his career writing science fiction stories with disturbing plots and dark themes, many of which reappear in his current short stories and poetry. His written work also includes novels, fantasy fiction, song lyrics and libretti, literary criticism and history, horror fiction, and children's fiction. Disch's novels include The M.D.: A Horror Story (1991) and The Priest: A Gothic Romance (1995). Published poetry includes Yes, Let's: New and Selected Poetry (1989), and Dark Verses and Light (1991). His work also includes contributions to Science Fiction at Large, and numerous anthologies. He has contributed to periodicals including Playboy, Poetry, and Harper's, in addition to writing regular reviews for Times Literary Supplement and Washington Post Book World. In 1987 he wrote a script for the popular television series Miami Vice. Disch received the O. Henry Prize for his stories "Getting into Death" (1973) and "Xmas" (1978). He received the Hugo Award and Nebula Award nominations in 1980, and the British Science Fiction Award for The Brave Little Toaster: A Bedtime Story for Small Appliances, a juvenile novella. (Bowker Author Biography) Novelist Thomas M. Disch was born on February 2, 1940 in Des Moines, Iowa to Helen and Felix Disch. He graduated from high school and worked to save money to move to New York City. He moved there, got an apartment with some other students and was employed as an extra at the Metropolitan Opera. At the age of eighteen, he enlisted in the Army and soon went AWOL. He returned before it became desertion and was sent to a combination prison and mental hospital, which he enjoyed, and was discharged. He returned to New York, attended evening classes at NYU and worked at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. At NYU, he was the editor of the evening student newspaper and president of the evening student council. His good grades and extracurricular activities led to a full tuition scholarship to the day school. For a course that Disch took during his junior year, he submitted "A Thesis on Social Forms and Social Controls in the USA," which was later published in Fantastic magazine. In 1962, he wrote the short story "The Double Timer" and it became his first sale. Instead of returning to NYU, he took a series of jobs to support his writing. In 1963, he became a trainee copywriter at an advertising agency and began writing and selling poetry. Disch was contracted to do his first novel and, in 1964, he moved to Mexico. He returned to New York after he finished the novel "The Genocides" and spent part of 1965 working at another ad agency. He taught a course on Science Fiction at Wesleyan in Connecticut in the summer of 1975 and, in the late 1970's, became a book reviewer for the New Statesman and the Times Literary Supplement. From 1987 to 1988, he served in the book review column for Playboy magazine. He was a member of the board of the National Book Critic Circle from 1988 to 1991 and its secretary from 1989-1991. During his career, he has also served as critic or book reviewer for The New York Times, Washington Post Book World, The Atlantic, The Nation, Hudson Review and Poetry. After "The Genocides," Disch was contracted to do four more novels, which were "The House That Fear Built," "The Puppies of Terra" (aka "Mankind Under the Leash" 1966), "Echo Round His Bones" (1967), and "Camp Concentration" (1968), which won the 1969 Ditmar Award. For many years, his most commercially successful novel was "Clara Reeve" (1975), which was issued, at the urging of his editor, under the pseudonym Leonie Hargreave. He won the O. Henry Award in 1975 for "Getting Into Death," and again in 1977 for "Xmas." The quasi-autobiographical "On Wings of Song" (1979) was nominated for a National Book Award and won the 1980 John W. Campbell, Jr. Memorial Award. "The Brave Little Toaster" (1986) was written in 1978 and rejected by every publisher but was finally printed in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and won the 1981 British Science Fiction Award. It was then optioned by Disney, which meant it would not be published until the film was released. Disch's first volume of poetry was "The Right Way to Figure Plumbing" and was titled after Emil Disch's "The Right Way to Figure Plumbing," which at the time was the only book by a Disch to be found in library catalogues. "Here I Am, There You Are, Where Are We" (1984) was a UK Poetry Book Society Choice. "The Dark Old House" is a collection of poems written in or about his house that he bought in New York state and "A Child's Garden of Grammar" (ill. By David Morice) is a series of poems that won the 1999 biennial Michael Braude Award for Light Poetry. In 1998, he wrote the critical "The Dreams Our Stuff is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World," which won him the Locus and Hugo Awards for 1999. During this year, he also began a series of radio commentaries for WNYC and won the Puschcart Prize for his story "The First Annual Performance Art Festival at Slaughter Rock Battlefield." (Bowker Author Biography)