John Kessel (b. 24 September 1950 in Buffalo, New York) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. He is a prolific short story writer and the author of two solo novels, Good News From Outer Space (1989) and Corrupting Dr. Nice (1997) and one novel, Freedom Beach (1985) in collaboration with his friend James Patrick Kelly.
Kessel won a Nebula Award in 1982 for his novella "Another Orphan," in which the protagonist finds himself living inside the novel Moby-Dick, and a second for his 2008 novelette "Pride and Prometheus," a story melding the tales of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The intervening 26 years was the longest gap between competitive awards in Nebula history. His short story "Buffalo" won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award and the Locus poll in 1992. His novella "Stories for Men" shared the 2002 James Tiptree Award for science fiction dealing with gender issues with M. John Harrison's novel Light.
He also is a widely published science fiction and fantasy critic; his most notable work of criticism is probably his 2004 essay on Orson Scott Card's novel Ender's Game, "Creating the Innocent Killer: Ender's Game, Intention, and Morality." With Mark L. Van Name, Kessel created the Sycamore Hill Writer's Workshop. Kessel has also edited, with Kelly, three collections of contemporary sf short stories, Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology, Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology, and The Secret History of Science Fiction.
Having obtained a Ph.D. in English from the University of Kansas in 1981, where he studied under science fiction writer and scholar James Gunn, Kessel has taught classes in American literature, science fiction, fantasy, and fiction writing at North Carolina State University since 1982. He helped organize the MFA Creative Writing program at NCSU and served as its first director.
In 1994, his play Faustfeathers received the Paul Green Playwrights' Prize. In 2007, his story "A Clean Escape" (previously adapted by Kessel as a one-act play in 1986) was adapted by Sam Egan for ABC's science fiction anthology series Masters of Science Fiction.
1989 Good News From Outer Space (Nebula Award Nominee)
1997 Corrupting Dr. Nice
Novellas
1989 Another Orphan
Plays
1986 A Clean Escape
1994 Faustfeathers (Paul Green Playwrights' Prize Winner)
Short story collections
1992 Meeting in Infinity (World Fantasy Award Nominee)
1997 The Pure Product
2008 The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories
Anthologies
1996 Intersections: The Sycamore Hill Anthology (with Mark L. Van Name and Richard Butner)
2006 Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology (with James Patrick Kelly) Features stories by Aimee Bender, Michael Chabon, Ted Chiang, Carol Emshwiller, Jeffrey Ford, Karen Joy Fowler, Theodora Goss, Jonathan Lethem, Kelly Link, M. Rickert, Benjamin Rosenbaum, George Saunders, Bruce Sterling, Jeff VanderMeer, and Howard Waldrop
2007 The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology (coedited with James Patrick Kelly) (Tachyon Publications, 2007)
2009 The Secret History of Science Fiction (coedited with James Patrick Kelly) (Tachyon Publications)
Other Notable Stories
1982 "Another Orphan" (September, Fantasy and Science Fiction) - Nebula Award Winner
1988 "Mrs. Shummel Exits a Winner" (June, Asimov's SF) - Nebula Award Nominee
1991 "Buffalo" (January, Fantasy and Science Fiction) - Sturgeon Award Winner, Locus Award Winner, Hugo Award Nominee, Nebula Award Nominee
1993 "The Franchise" (August, Asimov's SF) - Nebula Award nominee, Hugo Award nominee, novelette
1996 "The Miracle of Ivar Avenue" (from Intersections) - Nebula Award nominee, novelette
1998 "Every Angel is Terrifying" (October-November, Fantasy and Science Fiction) - World Fantasy Award nominee
1999 "Ninety Percent of Everything" with Jonathan Lethem and James Patrick Kelly (September, Fantasy and Science Fiction) - Nebula Award nominee, novella
2002 "Stories for Men" (October-November, Asimov's SF) - James Tiptree Jr. Award Winner, Nebula Award Nominee
2008 "Pride and Prometheus" (January Fantasy and Science Fiction) - Nebula Award winner, Shirley Jackson Award winner, Hugo Award nominee, novelette; World Fantasy Award nominee, Short Story
As Editor
1996 Intersections (with Mark L. Van Name and Richard Butner)
1998 Memory's Tailor (by Laurence Rudner. Kessel was the literary executor after Rudner's death in 1995.)
2006 Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology (with James Patrick Kelly) Features stories by Aimee Bender, Michael Chabon, Ted Chiang, Carol Emshwiller, Jeffrey Ford, Karen Joy Fowler, Theodora Goss, Jonathan Lethem, Kelly Link, M. Rickert, Benjamin Rosenbaum, George Saunders, Bruce Sterling, Jeff VanderMeer, and Howard Waldrop
2007 The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology (coedited with James Patrick Kelly) (Tachyon Publications)
2009 The Secret History of Science Fiction (coedited with James Patrick Kelly) (Tachyon Publications)