Poet and cynic, Thomas M. Disch brought to the sf of the New Wave a camp sensibility and a sardonicism that too much sf had lacked. His sf novels include Camp Concentration, with its colony of prisoners mutated into super-intelligence by the bacteria that will in due course kill them horribly, and On Wings of Song, in which many of the brightest and best have left their bodies for what may be genuine, or entirely illusory, astral flight and his hero has to survive until his lover comes back to him; both are stunningly original books and both are among sf's more accomplishedly bitter-sweet works.
In recent years, Disch had turned to ironically moralized horror novels like The Businessman, The MD, The Priest and The Sub in which the nightmare of American suburbia is satirized through the terrible things that happen when the magical gives people the chance to do what they really really want. Perhaps Thomas M. Disch's best known work, though, is The Brave Little Toaster, a reworking of the Brothers Grimm's "Town Musicians of Bremen" featuring wornout domestic appliances -- what was written as a satire on sentimentality became a successful children's animated musical.
Thomas M. Disch died on July 4, 2008.
In recent years, Disch had turned to ironically moralized horror novels like The Businessman, The MD, The Priest and The Sub in which the nightmare of American suburbia is satirized through the terrible things that happen when the magical gives people the chance to do what they really really want. Perhaps Thomas M. Disch's best known work, though, is The Brave Little Toaster, a reworking of the Brothers Grimm's "Town Musicians of Bremen" featuring wornout domestic appliances -- what was written as a satire on sentimentality became a successful children's animated musical.
Thomas M. Disch died on July 4, 2008.
Genres: Horror, Children's Fiction, Science Fiction, Mystery
Series
Supernatural Minnesota
1. The Businessman (1984)
2. The M.D. (1991)
3. The Priest (1994)
4. The Sub (1999)
1. The Businessman (1984)
2. The M.D. (1991)
3. The Priest (1994)
4. The Sub (1999)
Novels
The Genocides (1965)
The House That Fear Built (1966) (as by Cassandra Knye)
The Puppies of Terra (1966)
aka Mankind Under the Leash
Echo Round His Bones (1967)
Black Alice (1968) (as by Thom Demijohn)
Camp Concentration (1968)
Alfred the Great (1969) (as by Victor Hastings)
334 (1972)
Clara Reeve (1975) (as by Leonie Hargrave)
On Wings of Song (1979)
Neighboring Lives (1981) (with Charles Naylor)
aka Neighbouring Lives
The Silver Pillow (1988)
The Proteus Sails Again (2008)
The House That Fear Built (1966) (as by Cassandra Knye)
The Puppies of Terra (1966)
aka Mankind Under the Leash
Echo Round His Bones (1967)
Black Alice (1968) (as by Thom Demijohn)
Camp Concentration (1968)
Alfred the Great (1969) (as by Victor Hastings)
334 (1972)
Clara Reeve (1975) (as by Leonie Hargrave)
On Wings of Song (1979)
Neighboring Lives (1981) (with Charles Naylor)
aka Neighbouring Lives
The Silver Pillow (1988)
The Proteus Sails Again (2008)
Collections
One Hundred and Two H-Bombs (1966)
Under Compulsion (1968)
aka Fun with Your New Head
Highway Sandwiches (poems) (1970) (with Marilyn Hacker and Charles Platt)
White Fang Goes Dingo (1971)
The Right Way to Figure Plumbing (1972)
Getting into Death (1973)
The Early Science Fiction Stories of Thomas M Disch (1977)
Triplicity (1979)
Haikus of a Pillow (poems) (1980)
Fundamental Disch (1980)
Burn This (poems) (1982)
The Man Who Had No Idea (1982)
Orders of the Retina (poems) (1982)
Here I Am, There You Are, Where Were We (poems) (1984)
The Tale of Dan de Lion (poems) (1986)
Yes, Let's (poems) (1989)
Dark Verses and Light (poems) (1991)
The Dark Old House (poems) (1996)
A Child's Garden of Grammar (poems) (2002)
About the Size of It (poems) (2006)
The Wall of America (2008)
Under Compulsion (1968)
aka Fun with Your New Head
Highway Sandwiches (poems) (1970) (with Marilyn Hacker and Charles Platt)
White Fang Goes Dingo (1971)
The Right Way to Figure Plumbing (1972)
Getting into Death (1973)
The Early Science Fiction Stories of Thomas M Disch (1977)
Triplicity (1979)
Haikus of a Pillow (poems) (1980)
Fundamental Disch (1980)
Burn This (poems) (1982)
The Man Who Had No Idea (1982)
Orders of the Retina (poems) (1982)
Here I Am, There You Are, Where Were We (poems) (1984)
The Tale of Dan de Lion (poems) (1986)
Yes, Let's (poems) (1989)
Dark Verses and Light (poems) (1991)
The Dark Old House (poems) (1996)
A Child's Garden of Grammar (poems) (2002)
About the Size of It (poems) (2006)
The Wall of America (2008)
Anthologies edited
The Ruins of Earth (1971)
Bad Moon Rising (1973)
The New Improved Sun (1975)
New Constellations (1976) (with Charles Naylor)
Strangeness (1977) (with Charles Naylor)
Bad Moon Rising (1973)
The New Improved Sun (1975)
New Constellations (1976) (with Charles Naylor)
Strangeness (1977) (with Charles Naylor)
Chapbooks
Game Books
Novellas and Short Stories
Non fiction
The Castle of Indolence (1995)
The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made of (1998)
The Castle of Perseverance (2002)
Disch On Sci-fi (2005)
The Word of God (2008)
The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made of (1998)
The Castle of Perseverance (2002)
Disch On Sci-fi (2005)
The Word of God (2008)
Series contributed to
Anthologies containing stories by Thomas M Disch
The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction 14th Series (1965)
New Writings in SF 10 (1966)
New Worlds of Fantasy (1967)
aka Step Outside Your Mind
World's Best Science Fiction 1968 (1968)
Best SF 7 (1970)
Again Dangerous Visions Book 2 (1973)
Modern Science Fiction (1974)
Best SF: 1974 (1975)
aka The Year's Best Science Fiction 8
Immortal (1978)
Anticipations (1978)
Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year 1978 (1979)
The Best Science Fiction of the Year 8 (1979)
After the Fall (1980)
The Giant Book of Horror Stories (1981)
Fantasy Annual IV (1981)
A Treasury of Modern Fantasy (1981)
Fantasy Annual V (1982)
The Road to Science Fiction 4 (1982)
The Best Science Fiction of the Year 12 (1983)
Top Fantasy (1984)
The Third Omni Book of Science Fiction (1985)
Afterlives (1986)
Full Spectrum (1988)
The Year's Best Fantasy Second Annual Collection (1989)
aka Demons and Dreams
Amazing Stories (1991)
Aliens and UFO's (1993)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Seventh Annual Collection (1994)
Worlds of Fear (1994)
The Best of Interzone (1996)
The Flying Sorcerers (1997)
999 (1999)
Technohorror (1999)
Isaac Asimov's Father's Day (2001)
New Writings in SF 10 (1966)
New Worlds of Fantasy (1967)
aka Step Outside Your Mind
World's Best Science Fiction 1968 (1968)
Best SF 7 (1970)
Again Dangerous Visions Book 2 (1973)
Modern Science Fiction (1974)
Best SF: 1974 (1975)
aka The Year's Best Science Fiction 8
Immortal (1978)
Anticipations (1978)
Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year 1978 (1979)
The Best Science Fiction of the Year 8 (1979)
After the Fall (1980)
The Giant Book of Horror Stories (1981)
Fantasy Annual IV (1981)
A Treasury of Modern Fantasy (1981)
Fantasy Annual V (1982)
The Road to Science Fiction 4 (1982)
The Best Science Fiction of the Year 12 (1983)
Top Fantasy (1984)
The Third Omni Book of Science Fiction (1985)
Afterlives (1986)
Full Spectrum (1988)
The Year's Best Fantasy Second Annual Collection (1989)
aka Demons and Dreams
Amazing Stories (1991)
Aliens and UFO's (1993)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Seventh Annual Collection (1994)
Worlds of Fear (1994)
The Best of Interzone (1996)
The Flying Sorcerers (1997)
999 (1999)
Technohorror (1999)
Isaac Asimov's Father's Day (2001)
Short stories
Descending (1964) | |||
Nada (1964) | |||
Now is Forever (1964) | |||
Thesis on Social Forms and Social Controls in the USA (1964) | |||
102 H-Bombs (1965) | Nebula Awards (nominee) | ||
Come to Venus Melancholy (1965) | Nebula Awards (nominee) | ||
The Roaches (1965) | |||
The Squirrel Cage (1965) | |||
The Affluence of Edwin Lollard (1966) | |||
The Contest (1966) | |||
The Empty Room (1966) | |||
Fun with Your New Head (1966) | |||
Casablanca (1967) | |||
Linda and Daniel and Spike (1967) | |||
Moondust, the Smell of Hay, and Dialectical Materialism (1967) | |||
The Number You Have Reached (1967) | |||
Problems of Creativeness (1967) | |||
1-A (1968) | |||
The City of Penetrating Light (1968) | |||
Flight Useless, Inexorable the Pursuit (1968) | |||
The Asian Shore (1970) | |||
Asian Shores (1970) | Nebula Awards (nominee) | ||
His Own Kind (1970) | |||
Let Us Quickly Hasten to the Gate of Ivory (1970) | |||
Angouleme (1971) | |||
Things Lost (1972) | |||
The Birds (1973) | |||
Death and the Single Girl (1976) | |||
Chanson Perpetuelle (1978) | |||
The Man Who Had No Idea [short story] (1978) | Hugo (nominee) | ||
Mutability (1978) | |||
The Brave Little Toaster [short story] (1980) | Hugo (nominee) Nebula Awards (nominee) | ||
The Revelation (1980) | |||
The Grown-Up (1981) | |||
Understanding Human Behavior (1982) | Nebula Awards (nominee) | ||
Canned Goods (1984) | |||
Torturing Mr Amberwell [short story] (1985) | |||
The Rapture (1986) | |||
Palindrome (1987) | |||
Voices of the Kill (1988) | Nebula Awards (nominee) | ||
The Abduction of Bunny Steiner, or A Shameless Lie (1992) | |||
The Burial Society (1993) | |||
One Night, or Scheherazade's Bare Minimum (1993) | |||
The Man Who Read a Book (1994) | |||
The Owl And the Pussycat (1999) |
Awards
|
Thomas M Disch recommends

The Baby Merchant (2006)
Kit Reed
"Can stand beside Levin's Rosemary's Baby and Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale."

All You Who Sleep Tonight (1990)
Vikram Seth
"Seth writes poetry as it has not been written for nearly a century, that's to say with the intention that his work should give pleasure to that ideal Comman Reader."

The Cosmic Puppets (1957)
Philip K Dick
"Philip K Dick writes the way he sees it and it is the quality, the clarity, of his vision that makes him great!"

Mission of Gravity (1954)
(Mesklinite, book 1)
Hal Clement
"The best account of alien life on another planet."
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