Kenyon, Kay

PERSONAL:

Born in MN; married Thomas Overcast (an attorney); children: three sons. Hobbies and other interests: Cats, motorcycles.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Wenatchee, WA; Southern CA. E-mail—tko@kaykenyon.com.

CAREER:

Novelist and urban planner. WDSM-TV, Duluth, MN, copywriter; copywriter in Seattle, WA; Mirai Associates (transportation consulting firm), co-owner. Presenter at writers' workshops, conferences, and seminars.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Philip K. Dick Award nomination, 2003, for Maximum Ice.

WRITINGS:

The Seeds of Time, Bantam (New York, NY), 1997.

Leap Point, Bantam (New York, NY), 1998.

Rift, Bantam (New York, NY), 1999.

Tropic of Creation, Bantam (New York, NY), 2000.

Maximum Ice, Bantam (New York, NY), 2002.

The Braided World, Bantam (New York, NY), 2003.

"ENTIRE AND THE ROSE" SERIES

Bright of the Sky, Pyr Books (Amherst, NY), 2007.

A World Too Near, Pyr Books (Amherst, NY), 2008.

Contributor of short fiction to anthologies, including Janis Ian's Universe, edited by Janis Ian and Mike Resnick, 2003; New Voices in Science Fiction, edited by Mike Resnik, 2003; I, Alien, edited by Mike Resnick, 2003; Women Writing SF as Men, edited by Mike Resnick, DAW; Life without a Net: Prepare Yourself for the Future Alternative, edited by Lou Anders, ROC; and ReVisions, edited by Martin Greenberg, Isaac Szpindel, and Julie Czerneda; author of blog, It Ain't Real.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kay Kenyon had always enjoyed science fiction, and as a working adult, she finally decided to tackle her lifelong dream of writing a novel. Praised for her fast-moving plots and strong, well-drawn female characters, Kenyon has received critical praise for her novels The Seeds of Time, Maximum Ice, and The Braided World, in particular. "Science is hugely important to the kernel of almost all sf stories," Kenyon explained to Alien Online interviewer Sandy Auden, although the author was quick to explain that she does not consider what she writes to be highly technical, or "hard," science fiction. "The science in my stories soon retreats to the background, and provides a support for character and plot," Kenyon explained. About her proactive, intelligent, action-oriented female protagonists? "I see men as primarily valuing individualism and women cooperation and community," she told Auden. "Neither viewpoint is inherently flawed. Sometimes women in my stories put off action when they should take it; sometimes men are too precipitous to act. But both can be heroes. The questions might be framed this way: what will this character die for?"

In Kenyon's debut novel, The Seeds of Time, Biodome diver Clio Finn is willing to risk her life to save a dying Earth. In 2019, Earth is suffering an ecological crisis that threatens the planet, and Finn is charged with traveling through time to other planets in her futuristic Biodome spacecraft to search for plants to reseed on Earth. When she and her crew land on a lush, ancient planet, they discover a form of viable plant life that will save their home planet, but there is a downside: the plant is invasive in metal objects and threatens Earth's military infrastructure—and the government who hired her. Praising Finn as a "winning heroine," a Publishers Weekly contributor noted that The Seeds of Time is a "gripping" novel that reflects "some imaginative thinking on current theories of Earth's ecological ruin and of time travel."

A unique planetary environment also figures in Tropic of Creation, as Captain Eli Dammond answers an SOS from a seemingly lifeless planet and discovers the underground stronghold of a race of warlike aliens. Meanwhile, as the planet's climate changes, its surface becomes a jungle, calling forth creatures that threaten Dammond's mission and reveal a new threat to Earth. A Publishers Weekly contributor dubbed Tropic of Creation a "subtle though engrossing novel," while in Kliatt, Ginger Armstrong wrote that Kenyon "skillfully creates a foreign world" featuring protagonists that "are multifaceted and well developed and the excitement never flags." Kenyon's imagined world "draws upon the notion that biological imperatives shape behavior," Voice of Youth Advocates reviewer Bill White added, "but recognizes how those imperatives can be subordinated to cultural and social drives."

Maximum Ice, which earned Kenyon a nomination for the 2003 Philip K. Dick Award, focuses on a 250-year-long voyage by the Star Road. The spaceship was sent to search for ways to help a plague-scourged Earth; returning under the leadership of Zoya Kundara, the awakened crew now find their depopulated planet covered by a crystalline substance resembling ice. Returning to the surface, Zoya encounters the primitive tribal hatreds that existed when she left: in Earth time, ten thousand years ago. Meanwhile, a new threat has made itself known in the form of a cannibal tribe of beings known as Ice Nuns who seek to tap the Star Road's advanced technology. "A vivid cast of characters, some interesting asides on religious authority, and the bleakly beautiful landscape" combine in what Booklist reviewer Roberta Johnson called "a uniquely powerful tale," while in Publishers Weekly a reviewer wrote that, with Maximum Ice, Kenyon shows herself to be "a surprising new talent, and SF enthusiasts will appreciate her imaginative world and characters."

The Braided World reveals an Earth that must restore its gene pool in order to sustain human life, and wealthy space traveler Bailey Shaw propels the Restoration on a journey to a planet whose race—the Dassa—may be sufficiently human to help. Under the leadership of untested Captain Anton Prados, Shaw and the ship's crew discover that they have been misled; the Dassa, whose cultural values and reproduction processes are radically different from those on Earth, may prove to be the end to humankind rather than its deliverer. In Booklist, Johnson praised Kenyon's "stark presentation of a profoundly foreign culture" as "powerful and moving," while Library Journal contributor Jackie Cassada called The Braided World a "taut sf adventure combining hard sf with political intrigue and social commentary."

Kenyon kicks off her "Entire and the Rose" series—her first series ever—with Bright of the Sky. The book centers on Entire, a manufactured universe that is the creation of a humanoid race known as the Tarig. Various species populate the Entire, all of which were copied from species in existing universes similar to ours and known to the Tarig as the Rose. The Entire is entirely separate from our own universe but abuts it in various places, and it can be accessed as a result of these points of intersection. When Titus Quinn, a human pilot from Earth, accidentally discovers the Entire, it is with devastating consequences. The experience leaves him broken, with his memories of his time in the Entire spotty at best. Back on Earth, he finds that no one believes the story of his discovery, despite the fact that both his wife and daughter failed to return with him. He most resents the fact that his own company, the Minerva Corporation, which sent him on the mission that led to his encounter with the Entire, now wants him to return in order to find a way to manipulate the universe for the company's own use. Greg L. Johnson, in a review for the SF Site Web site, praised Kenyon's effort, declaring it an impressive leap above her previ- ous works. He referred to the work as "a star-maker, a magnificent book that should establish its author's reputation as among the very best in the field today. Deservedly so, because it's that good." A contributor for Publishers Weekly commented on "Kenyon's deft prose, high-stakes suspense and skilled, thorough world building."

In A World Too Near, the next volume in the "Entire and the Rose" series, Titus Quinn sets out to protect his own universe from a threat from within the Entire, the Ahnenhoon, a fortified engine designed to explode Earth and its surroundings in an effort to turn it into a source of power. His mission is an emotional one as his wife is currently being held hostage within the borders of the Entire, and her life is threatened by those who would convince him to abandon his efforts. His daughter also proves a threat; now a full-fledged citizen of the Entire and no longer held there against her will as her mother is, she is behind an assassination plot meant to stop Quinn. Critics had mixed reactions to the book. Paul Di Filippo, in a review for SciFi.com Web site, wrote that "Kenyon continues to offer some neat adventures for her protagonists in this really alluring offbeat universe she's created." He went on to add that he felt "this second volume suffered from the dreaded ‘middle book of a trilogy’ loss of newness and direction." However, a reviewer for Publishers Weekly praised this second installment in the series, citing its "tangled motivations, complex characters and intriguing world-building."

In an interview on the Amazon.com Web site, Kenyon explained that many of her novels and short stories are drawn from her interest in the environment and her concerns over the future as it affects interpersonal relationships and human society at large. "I write adventure stories because my life is boring," she added. "Like a lot of other writers … I'm writing the stories I wish I could read. And I'm writing the stories I wish I could live, if I were more adventuresome—which I am not! Please, God, never let these things happen to me! But it's fun at a distance to experience them. I also motivate myself. I spend a long time writing a book, so it has to have a lot of action in it just to keep me interested, otherwise I would get bored to death!" Kenyon views her role as a science-fiction writer as a crusader, realizing that the genre is underappreciated by many readers and critics. She cited Ursula LeGuin, Philip K. Dick, Paul Theroux, and Margaret Atwood as respected writers who have explored futuristic themes in their fiction yet sidestepped the "science-fiction" label. "I think it's too bad that people stopped reading science fiction in the '60s," Kenyon added, "because that was just when … the best science fiction was starting to be written!"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, March, 2001, Tom Easton, review of Tropic of Creation, pp. 132-134.

Booklist, February 1, 2002, Roberta Johnson, review of Maximum Ice, p. 931; January 1, 2003, Roberta Johnson, review of The Braided World, p. 861.

Kliatt, September, 1997, Judith H. Silverman, review of The Seeds of Time, p. 20; July, 1998, Susan E. Chmurynsky, review of Leap Point, p. 20; March, 2001, Ginger Armstrong, review of Tropic of Creation, pp. 25-26.

Library Journal, February 15, 1998, Jackie Cassada, review of Leap Point, p. 174; February 15, 2002, Jackie Cassada, reviews of The Braided World, p. 173, and Maximum Ice, p. 182.

Publishers Weekly, April 21, 1997, review of The Seeds of Time, p. 68; October 9, 2000, review of Tropic of Creation, p. 78; December 24, 2001, review of Maximum Ice, p. 49; January 27, 2003, review of The Braided World, p. 242; February 19, 2007, review of Bright of the Sky, p. 152; January 7, 2008, review of A World Too Near, p. 40.

Voice of Youth Advocates, October, 2001, Bill White, review of Tropic of Creation, p. 269.

ONLINE

Alien Online,http://www.thealienonline.net/ (May 27, 2008), Sandy Auden, interview with Kenyon.

Amazon.com,http://www.amazon.com/ (November 21, 2003), "Crusading with Kay Kenyon," interview.

Babes in Space,http://www.babesinspace.net/ (October 2, 2003), Stephanie Scantlen, review of The Seeds of Time.

Best Reviews,http://www.thebestreviews.com/ (January 15, 2003) Harriet Klausner, review of The Braided World.

Kay Kenyon Web site,http://www.kaykenyon.com (April 5, 2004).

SciFi.com,http://www.scifi.com/ (May 11, 2008), A.M. Dellamonica, review of Tropic of Creation, Paul Di Filippo, review of A World Too Near.

SF Reviews,http://www.sfreviews.com/ (September 23, 2001) review of The Seeds of Time; (June 1, 2003) reviews of The Braided World and Maximum Ice.

SF Site,http://www.sfsite.com/ (May 11, 2008), Donna McMahon, review of Tropic of Creation, Greg L. Johnson, review of Bright of the Sky.