# Esther Friesner

Esther Mona Friesner-Stutzman (née Friesner; born July 16, 1951) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. She is also a poet and playwright. She is best known for her humorous style of writing, both in the titles and the works themselves. This humor allows her to discuss with broader audiences issues like gender equality and social justice.

## Life

Friesner attended the Hunter College High School, a public magnet high school in New York City, as well as Vassar College. At Vassar, she completed A.B.s in both Spanish and Drama. While at Vassar, she became friendly with Paula Volsky and Jane Bishop. Together they wrote at least one film script for student production, "Lavinia: a Girl of the Street", which demonstrated Esther's trademark tongue-in-cheek style. She holds a Ph.D. in Spanish and was a college Spanish professor at Yale University before becoming a writer. She currently resides with her husband in Connecticut.

## Career

During her early career as a writer, Friesner penned an advice column entitled "Ask Auntie Esther" for Pulphouse Magazine. Her first short story, "The Stuff of Heroes" was sold in 1982.
In addition to short stories, Friesner has published a number of novels and is a prolific editor of anthologies. "Thunderbolt," a short story in Random House's Young Warriors anthology lead to creation of her recent books Nobody's Princess, which takes the Greek legend of Helen of Sparta and gives it a new beginning, and its sequel, Nobody's Prize.
Alien Pregnant By Elvis was her first effort as an anthology editor as part of a collection of tabloid science fiction for DAW books in conjunction with Martin H. Greenberg. She also collaborated with Greenberg on an Amazonian comedy anthology for Baen Books entitled Chicks In Chainmail and a vampire anthology for Donald I Fine, Inc. called Blood Muse.
She is a frequent guest of honor at science fiction conventions, having appeared at Bubonicon, Arisia, Boskone, Baycon and Albacon in the 1990s and in the 21st century. Her story "Love's Eldritch Ichor" was featured at one of these conventions, the World Fantasy convention, in 1990.
Friesner is credited as one of the founders of a parody movement in the 1980s called cyberprep.

## Awards

Friesner was named Outstanding New Fantasy Writer by Romantic Times in 1986. She won the Skylark Award in 1994. She has been nominated a number of times for the Hugo and Nebula awards, winning the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in 1995 and 1996 for, respectively, "Death and the Librarian" and "A Birthday". "A Birthday" was additionally a Hugo Award finalist in 1996. Her short story, "All Vows" was also a finalist for the Nebula in 1994 and took second place in Asimov's SF Magazine Readers' Poll in 1993.
Friesner's Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel, Warchild, also made the USA TODAY bestseller list.

### Nebula Awards and Nominations

Source:
* 1993- “All Vows”, published by Asimov’s Magazine, Nominated for Best Short Story
* 1995- “Jesus at the Bat” published by The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Nominated for Best Novelette 1995
* 1995- “Death and the Librarian” published by Asimov’s Magazine, Winner, Best Short story
* 1996- “A Birthday” published by The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Winner, Best Short Story
* 1999- “How to Make Unicorn Pie” published by The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Nominated for Best Novelette
* 2001- Toastmaster for World Science Fiction Convention 2001
* 2006- “Helen Remembers the Stork Club”, published by The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Nominated for Best Short Story of 2006

### Locus Awards

Source:
Locus Awards — for SF/F/H works, polled by readers of Locus Magazine (10 nominations)
* 2006: “The Fraud” (Asimov's Mar 2005) — novelette — 24th place
* 2006: “Last Man Standing” (F&SF Jan 2005) — novelette — 17th place
* 2006: “Helen Remembers the Stork Club” (F&SF Oct/Nov 2005) — short story — 15th place
* 2000: “How to Make Unicorn Pie” (F&SF Jan 1999) — novelette — 14th place
* 1999: “Brown Dust” (Starlight 2) — novelette — 16th place
* 1996: “A Birthday” (F&SF Aug 1995) — short story — 4th place
* 1996: Chicks in Chainmail (Baen) — anthology — 19th place
* 1993: “All Vows” (Asimov's Nov 1992) — short story — 17th place
* 1989: Druid's Blood (NAL Signet) — fantasy novel — 13th place
* 1987: New York by Knight (Signet) — fantasy novel — 19th place

### Other Awards and Nominations

Source:
* James Tiptree Jr Memorial Award — for SF/F that explores and expands the roles of women and men, juried (1 nomination)
** 1999: “In the Realms of Dragons” (Asimov's Feb 1998) — long list
* Asimov's Reader Poll — for stories, poems, and art published by Asimov's, polled by readers (4 nominations)
** 2001: “The Shunned Trailer” (Asimov's Feb 2000) — short story — 10th place
** 1995: “Death and the Librarian” (Asimov's Dec 1994) — short story — 2nd place
** 1994: “'White!' Said Fred” (Asimov's Oct 1993) — short story — 3rd place (tie)
** 1993: “All Vows” (Asimov's Nov 1992) — short story — 2nd place
* ·Gaylactic Spectrum Awards — for SF/F/H on GLBT themes, voted by members of Gaylactic Network (1 nomination)
** 2000: “Chanoyu” (Asimov's Mar 1999) — short fiction — nomination
* HOMer Awards — for SF/F works, voted by members of SF/F forum on CompuServe (2 nominations)
** 2000: “Chanoyu” (Asimov's Mar 1999) — novelette — nomination
** 2000: “How to Make Unicorn Pie” (F&SF Jan 1999) — novelette — nomination