Theodora Goss

Theodora Goss (Photo by Matthew Stein)

Theodora Ester Goss (born Teodóra Eszter Muszbek on September 30, 1968 in Budapest , Hungary ) is an American writer of Hungarian descent. Her works often cross genre boundaries and mix different genres , especially fairy tales , fantasy and gothic

Life

Goss was born in Hungary. She left the country with her mother and brother when she was five years old. At first they lived with their aunt in Milan and then for two years in Brussels . She came to the United States when she was seven. Goss grew up in Maryland and Virginia and studied English literature at the University of Virginia , where she graduated with a bachelor's degree. She then earned a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School and worked for four years for law firms in New York and Boston , but then returned to English literature and received her PhD from Boston University in 2011 with a dissertation on the Victorian Gothic novel.

In 2000 she was a participant in the Odyssey Writing Workshop . While attending the Clarion Science Fiction Writers' Workshop in 2001 , she sold her first story, Sleeping Beauty re-telling The Rose in Twelve Petals , which was published in Realms of Fantasy magazine in 2002 .

She lives in Boston and teaches creative writing for the Stonecoast MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Southern Maine and Boston University. She has also taught the Odyssey Writing Workshop and the Alpha Workshop , a course for young writers in the fields of science fiction, fantasy and horror. She married the scientist Kendrick Goss in 1992 and has a daughter with him. The marriage ended in divorce in 2013.

plant

Just as her biography was shaped by changes of country and border crossing, the crossing of genre and genre boundaries plays an essential role in Goss' work. She wrote:

“As a literature student I was told that there are boundaries: namely between nations (English, American, colonial), epochs (romantic, Victorian, modern) and genres (fantastic, realistic). Some countries ([realistic] novel) were easy to travel to. The water there was safe and vaccinations were not required. There were travel warnings for other countries (Schauerroman). The hotels were not tidy and the trains were not on time. And still other countries (romance novels) one visited only as an anthropologist to study the strange customs and habits of the natives. And there were border guards (they are called professors) who examine the travel documents just as thoroughly as any man in an olive-colored uniform with a red star on his peaked cap. "

Accordingly, Goss' stories and novels refuse to be clearly assigned. She was assigned to the New Weird direction. Better is the term Interstitial Fiction , which Goss made his own insofar as it published Interfictions together with Delia Sherman in 2007 , a first anthology of this direction, the authors of which resist simple classifications and make themselves comfortable in the no man's land between the genres .

An example of this is Goss' first novel, The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter , which won the Locus Award in 2018 . It's about a series of murders and the main characters are women in search of the murderer and their roots. But it's not a (realistic) feminist thriller. One of the women is Mary Jekyll , who tries to clear up her father's past. Another is Diana Hyde, a wild child raised by nuns . In the search for Edward Hyde, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson helpful and in the course of the investigation one comes across other notable women, namely Beatrice Rappaccini , Catherin Moreau , and Justine Frankenstein . The novel is therefore a fantastic game with the classics of the genres crime, science fiction and horror. To the extent that the Victorian Age viewpoints and the dogmas of Victorian science are adopted here as facts, the novel also has features of an alternative story and steampunk . In 2018 the sequel European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman was published .

In addition to her fiction works, Goss also publishes fantastic poetry, for which she received the Rhysling Award in 2004 and 2007 .

Awards

2004: Rhysling Award for the long poem Octavia Is Lost in the Hall of Masks
2008: World Fantasy Award for the short story Singing of Mount Abora
2017: Rhysling Award for the long poem Rose Child
2018: Locus Award (First Novel) for the novel The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter

bibliography

The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club

1 The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter (2017)
2 European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman (2018)

Novels

The Thorn and the Blossom: A Two-Sided Love Story (2011)

Collections

The Rose in Twelve Petals & Other Stories (2004)
In the Forest of Forgetting (2006)
Songs for Ophelia (2014)

Short stories

The Rose in Twelve Petals (2002)
The Rapid Advance of Sorrow (2002)
Lily, with Clouds (2003)
Professor Berkowitz Stands on the Threshold (2003)
In the Forest of Forgetting (2003)
Sleeping with Bears (2003)
Her Mother's Ghosts (2004)
Miss Emily Gray (2004)
The Wings of Meister Wilhelm (2004)
Death Comes for Ervina (2005)
The Belt (2005)
A Statement in the Case (2005)
Pip and the Fairies (2005)
Lessons with Miss Gray (2006)
Conrad (2006)
Letters from Budapest (2006)
Phalaenopsis (2006)
Singing of Mount Abora (2007)
Princess Lucinda and the Hound of the Moon (2007)
Catherine and the Satyr (2007)
The Puma (2009)
Csilla's Story (2009)
Child-Empress of Mars (2009)
The Mad Scientist's Daughter (2010)
Fair Ladies (2010)
Pug (2011)
Christopher Raven (2011)
Woola's Song (2012)
Beautiful Boys (2012)
England Under the White Witch (2012)
Estella Saves the Village (2013)
Elena's Egg (2013)
Blanchefleur (2013)
Lost Girls of Oz (2013)
Cimmeria: From the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology (2014)
In Autumn (2015)
Red as Blood and White as Bone (2016)
The Other Thea (2016)
To Budapest, with Love (2017)
Come See the Living Dryad (2017)
Snow, Blood, Fur (2017)

Anthologies (as editor)

Interfictions: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing (2007, with Delia Sherman)
Voices from Fairyland: The Fantastical Poems of Mary Coleridge, Charlotte Mew, and Sylvia Townsend Warner (2008)

Non-fiction

The Monster in the Mirror: Late Victorian Gothic and Anthropology (2012, Dissertation)

literature

Theodora Goss. In: Contemporary Authors Online. Gale, 2018, version dated November 19, 2018.

Web links

Theodora Goss in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (English)
Theodora Goss in the Science Fiction Awards + Database (English)
Works by and about Theodora Goss at Open Library
Theodora Goss in Fantastic Fiction (English)
Official site of Theodora Goss

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Theodora Goss: Monstrous Voices . In: locus . June 2018 ([online], accessed November 20, 2018).
^ Theodora Goss: The Monster in the Mirror: Late Victorian Gothic and Anthropology . Dissertation Boston University 2012, OCLC 820950659 .
^ Terry Winding: Introduction. In: In the Forest of Forgetting . Papaveria Press, 2013.
↑ Odyssey Writing Workshop, Class of 2000 , accessed November 20, 2018.
↑ Press information on the Goss website, accessed on November 20, 2018.
^ Theodora Goss. In: Contemporary Authors Online. Gale, 2018, version dated November 19, 2018.
↑ "As a student studying literature, I was told there were borders indeed: national (English, American, colonial), temporal (Romantic, Victorian, Modern), generic (fantastic, realistic). Some countries (the novel) you could travel to readily. The drinking water was safe, no immunizations were required. For some countries (the gothic), there was a travel advisory. The hotels were not up to standard; the trains would not run on time. Some countries (the romance) one did not visit except as an anthropologist, to observe the strange behavior of its inhabitants. And there were border guards (although they were called professors), to examine your travel papers as carefully as a man in an olive uniform with a red star on his cap. "Quoted from: Terry Winding: Introduction. In: In the Forest of Forgetting . Papaveria Press, 2013.

personal data
SURNAME	Goss, Theodora
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Goss, Theodora Ester (full name); Muszbek, Teodóra Eszter (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American writer
DATE OF BIRTH	September 30, 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH	Budapest , Hungary

[locus-1] A ^b Theodora Goss: Monstrous Voices . In: locus . June 2018 ([online], accessed November 20, 2018).

[2] Theodora Goss: The Monster in the Mirror: Late Victorian Gothic and Anthropology . Dissertation Boston University 2012, OCLC 820950659 .

[winding-3] Terry Winding: Introduction. In: In the Forest of Forgetting . Papaveria Press, 2013.

[4] Odyssey Writing Workshop, Class of 2000 , accessed November 20, 2018.

[5] Press information on the Goss website, accessed on November 20, 2018.

[6] Theodora Goss. In: Contemporary Authors Online. Gale, 2018, version dated November 19, 2018.

[7] "As a student studying literature, I was told there were borders indeed: national (English, American, colonial), temporal (Romantic, Victorian, Modern), generic (fantastic, realistic). Some countries (the novel) you could travel to readily. The drinking water was safe, no immunizations were required. For some countries (the gothic), there was a travel advisory. The hotels were not up to standard; the trains would not run on time. Some countries (the romance) one did not visit except as an anthropologist, to observe the strange behavior of its inhabitants. And there were border guards (although they were called professors), to examine your travel papers as carefully as a man in an olive uniform with a red star on his cap. "Quoted from: Terry Winding: Introduction. In: In the Forest of Forgetting . Papaveria Press, 2013.