Thomsen, Brian M.

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Thomsen, Brian M.

PERSONAL:

Born in New York, NY.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Brooklyn, NY.

CAREER:

Founding editor of Warner/Popular Library's "Questar Science Fiction and Fantasy" line; TSR, Inc., Lake Geneva, WI, director of books and periodicals.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Hugo Award nomination.

WRITINGS:

Once around the Realms (novel), TSR (Lake Geneva, WI), 1995.

The Mage in the Iron Mask (novel), TSR (Lake Geneva, WI), 1996.

Ireland's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Celtic Pride, Fantastic Folklore, and Oddities of the Emerald Isle, Potomac Books (Washington, DC), 2005.

The Awful Truths: Famous Myths, Hilariously Debunked, Collins (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor of short stories to anthologies, including Realms of Magic, TSR, 1995; Forgotten Realms, TSR, 1996; Realms of the Underdark, TSR, 2002; Alternate Generals; Tales from the Eternal Archives; and "Things Invisible to See."

EDITOR

(With Baird Searles) Halflings, Hobbits, Warrows, and Weefolk: A Collection of Tales of Heroes Short in Stature, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1991.

Ravenloft: Tales of Ravenloft, TSR (Lake Geneva, WI), c. 1994.

(With J. Robert King) Realms of Magic, TSR (Lake Geneva, WI), 1995.

(With Martin H. Greenberg) Mob Magic, DAW Books (New York, NY), 1998.

(With Martin H. Greenberg) The Reel Stuff, DAW Books (New York, NY), 1998.

Julius Schwartz, Man of Two Worlds: My Life in Science Fiction and Comics, HarperEntertainment (New York, NY), 2000.

(With Martin H. Greenberg) A Date Which Will Live in Infamy: An Anthology of Pearl Harbor Stories That Might Have Been, Cumberland House (Nashville, TN), 2001.

(With Martin H. Greenberg, and contributor) Oceans of Magic, DAW Books (New York, NY), 2001.

(With Martin H. Greenberg) Oceans of Space, DAW Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Ulysses S. Grant, The Civil War Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, Forge (New York, NY), 2002.

Ambrose Bierce, Shadows of Blue & Gray: The Civil War Writings of Ambrose Bierce, Tom Doherty (New York, NY), 2002.

(With Martin H. Greenberg) Alternate Gettysburgs, Berkley (New York, NY), 2002.

Commanding Voices of the Blue and Gray, Forge (New York, NY), 2002.

The American Fantasy Tradition, Tor (New York, NY), 2002.

Blue and Gray Sea: Naval Memoirs of the Civil War, Tor (New York, NY), 2003.

Theodore Roosevelt, The Man in the Arena: The Selected Writings of Theodore Roosevelt: A Reader, Forge (New York, NY), 2003.

A Yuletide Universe: Sixteen Fantastical Tales, Aspect (New York, NY), 2003.

(With Martin H. Greenberg) The Repentant, DAW (New York, NY), 2003.

(With Bill Fawcett) You Did What? Mad Plans and Great Historical Disasters, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.

(With Bill Fawcett) Masters of Fantasy, Simon & Schuster, (New York, NY), 2004.

(With Eric L. Haney) Beyond Shock and Awe: Warfare in the 21st Century, Berkley Caliber (New York, NY), 2006.

Novel Ideas: Science Fiction, DAW (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Brian M. Thomsen is the author of several books, including two novels. However, he is widely known for his role as an editor of numerous anthologies, from fantasy and science-fiction collections to civil war books. Thomsen has served as the editor of books by notable writers and other personages, such as his work on The Civil War Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant and Shadows of Blue & Gray: The Civil War Writings of Ambrose Bierce. Commenting on the latter book, a Kirkus Reviews contributor called it "a tidy and well-ordered volume that collects nearly 40 Civil War short stories, memoirs, and reminiscences by the celebrated 19th-century writer."

In Commanding Voices of the Blue and Gray and Blue and Gray Sea: Naval Memoirs of the Civil War, Thomsen presents the various writings of military personnel who served during the Civil War. In the first book, Thomsen focuses on relatively obscure writings of Civil War military leaders, including Jefferson Davis's inaugural address, policy statements by Abraham Lincoln, and various accounts of battles and commands. Referring to the writings as "revealing and informative pieces," Booklist critic Roland Green called the book "fine, readable fodder for Civil War mavens." In Blue and Gray Sea, the author focuses on writings by naval participants in the Civil War. Various navy personnel provide comments on topics including the Confederate ship Alabama and the Monitor and Merrimac submarines. Green, writing again in Booklist, asserted that Blue and Gray Sea "informs in its own right and encourages further reading."

In the more recent Beyond Shock and Awe: Warfare in the 21st Century, instead of the Civil War, Thomsen and coeditor Eric L. Haney feature various articles about modern warfare. Included here is everything from an article about precision guided missile use to articles about the war in Iraq and the need for better military intelligence. Writing in Booklist, Green called Beyond Shock and Awe "a valuable first book on its subject." Andrew M. Roe remarked in Military Review: "Easily digestible in bite-size essays, the book raises a number of issues worthy of consideration concerning the training and structuring of military forces."

Much of Thomsen's work has involved the science-fiction and fantasy genres. For example, he collaborated with Martin H. Greenberg to edit and contribute to Oceans of Space, which features sixteen original tales of outer-space adventures. Thomsen's own story is titled "Fragments of the Log of Captain Amasa Delano," which, as Booklist contributor Regina Schroeder noted, "extols the virtues of literacy." Thomsen and Greenberg also teamed up to edit The Repentant, which features short stories in which monsters are the heroes. "The 13 stories collected here are fun, creative and enjoyable through and through," reported Tom Knapp on the Rambles Web site.

In The American Fantasy Tradition, Thomsen presents a comprehensive collection of American fantasy writings with the intent, as he notes in his introduction, to both define American fantasy writing and reveal how it has changed in response to the world and new ideas. The volume's forty stories include writings ranging from the classic "The Devil and Daniel Webster" by Stephen Vincent Benet to "Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight" by Ursula K. Le Guin. A Kirkus Reviews contributor wrote that this "whale-sized anthology … helps distinguish American from European fantasy traditions." In a Kliatt review, Hugh Flick, Jr., observed that some of the stories are well known and some not, "but all of them are enjoyable reading."

A Yuletide Universe: Sixteen Fantastical Tales features science-fiction and fantasy-fiction tales from various writers, including old tales from noted writers such as L. Frank Baum, who created the "Wizard of Oz" books, and famed novelist Bret Harte. Other tales are by more-modern writers closely associated with the genres, including Clive Barker and Harlan Ellison. "Regard this as your one-stop source of great ‘new’ readings for Christmas story hours," suggested Ray Olson in Booklist. As the editor of Novel Ideas: Science Fiction, Thomsen presents seven notable science-fiction short stories that ultimately went on to become well-known books. Lesley Farmer, writing in Kliatt, noted that the collection "provides a rare opportunity for readers to sample a variety of SF subgenres." In a review on the Emerald City Web site, Cheryl Morgan referred to Novel Ideas as "simply a book that you should own."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Analog Science Fiction & Fact, January, 2001, Tom Easton, review of Man of Two Worlds: My Life in Science Fiction and Comics, pp. 133-138.

Booklist, February 15, 2002, Gilbert Tarylor, review of The Civil War Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, p. 988; March 1, 2002, Regina Schroeder, review of Oceans of Space, p. 1099; November 15, 2002, Roland Green, review of Commanding Voices of Blue and Gray, p. 565; October 15, 2003, Ray Olson, review of A Yuletide Universe: Sixteen Fantastical Tales, p. 399; November 15, 2003, Roland Green, review of Blue and Gray Sea: Naval Memoirs of the Civil War, p. 566; April 1, 2006, Roland Green, review of Beyond Shock and Awe: Warfare in the 21st Century, p. 7.

Chronicle, February, 2004, review of A Yuletide Universe, p. 32.

Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2002, review of Shadows of Blue and Gray: The Civil War Writings of Ambrose Bierce, p. 118; August 15, 2002, review of The American Fantasy Tradition, p. 1184.

Kliatt, July, 2002, Sherry S. Hoy, review of Oceans of Space, p. 32; January, 2004, Hugh Flick, Jr., review of The American Fantasy Tradition, p. 25; July, 2006, Lesley Farmer, "Novel Ideas: Science Fiction," p. 26.

Military Review, January-February, 2004, Michael E. Long, review of Shadows of Blue and Gray, p. 92; January-February, 2007, Andrew M. Roe, review of Beyond Shock and Awe, p. 118.

Publishers Weekly, January 21, 2002, "Civil War Miscellany," p. 82.

Science Fiction Studies, July, 2001, "A Wealth of Anecdote," p. 315.

Sewanee Review, fall, 2002, "Addicted to Utterance of Truth and Common Sense," p. 705.

Voice of Youth Advocates, October, 2001, review of Oceans of Magic, p. 292; April, 2003, review of American Fantasy Tradition, p. 10.

World and I, August, 2002, Clyde Wilson, "War without Glory—Ambrose Bierce's Bitter, Venomous Stories Look Unflinchingly at War's Hellish Brutality and Cruel Ironies, Contradicting Traditional Views," p. 229.