Sheila Williams

This article is about the American science fiction editor. For the British and Australian mathematician, see Sheila Oates Williams.

Sheila Williams (born 1956 in Springfield, Massachusetts) is the editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine.

Sheila Williams in the Asimov's Science Fiction offices, January 7, 2020

Biography

Sheila grew up in a family of five in western Massachusetts.^[1] Her mother had a master's degree in microbiology. Ms. Williams’ interest in science fiction came from her father who read Edgar Rice Burroughs books to her as a child. Later Ms. Williams received a bachelor's degree from Elmira College in Elmira, New York, although she studied at the London School of Economics during her junior year. while at Elmira she was voted the honorific "maxime deformis" by her peers. She received her Master's from Washington University in St. Louis.^[2] She is married to David Bruce and has two daughters.

Editor

She became interested in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (as it was then titled) while studying philosophy at Washington University. In 1982 she was hired at the magazine, and worked with Isaac Asimov for ten years. While working there, she co-founded the Dell Magazines Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing (at one time called the Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy writing).^[3] In 2004, with the retirement of Gardner Dozois, she became the editor of the magazine.

Along with Gardner Dozois she also edited the "Isaac Asimov's" anthology series. She also co-edited A Woman's Liberation: A Choice of Futures by and About Women (2001) with Connie Willis. She has edited a retrospective anthology of fiction published by Asimov's: Asimov's Science Fiction: 30th Anniversary Anthology. Booklist called the book "A gem, and a credit to editor Williams." Most recently, she edited Enter a Future: Fantastic Tales from Asimov's Science Fiction.

She won the Hugo Award for Best Short Form Editor in 2011 and 2012.^[4][5]

Bibliography

Anthologies

• Williams, Sheila & Cynthia Manson, eds. (1986). Tales from Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
• Williams, Sheila, ed. (1990). Robots from Asimov's. Davis Publications.
• Williams, Sheila & Charles Ardai, eds. (1990). Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers and Other Stories from Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. New York: Delacorte Press.
• Dozois, Gardner & Sheila Williams, eds. (1991). Isaac Asimov's Robots. New York: Ace Books.
• — & —, eds. (1992). Isaac Asimov's Earth. New York: Ace Books.
• Williams, Sheila, ed. (1993). The Loch Moose Monster: More Stories from Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. Delacorte Press.
• Dozois, Gardner & Sheila Williams, eds. (1994). Isaac Asimov's cyberdreams. New York: Ace Books.
• — & —, eds. (1995). Isaac Asimov's ghosts. New York: Ace Books.
• — & —, eds. (1995). Isaac Asimov's skin deep. New York: Ace Books.
• Williams, Sheila, ed. (1995). Hugo and Nebula award winners from Asimov's Science Fiction. New York: WingsBooks.
• Williams, Sheila & Cynthia Manson, eds. (1996). Intergalactic mercenaries. New York: Penguin.
• Dozois, Gardner & Sheila Williams, eds. (1996). Isaac Asimov's vampires. New York: Ace Books.
• — & —, eds. (1997). Isaac Asimov's moons. New York: Ace Books.
• — & —, eds. (1997). Isaac Asimov's Christmas. New York: Ace Books.
• — & —, eds. (1998). Isaac Asimov's Camelot. New York: Ace Books.
• — & —, eds. (1998). Isaac Asimov's detectives. New York: Ace Books.
• — & —, eds. (1999). Isaac Asimov's Solar System. New York: Ace Books.
• — & —, eds. (1999). Isaac Asimov's Valentines. New York: Ace Books.
• — & —, eds. (1999). Isaac Asimov's werewolves. New York: Ace Books.
• — & —, eds. (2000). Isaac Asimov's Mother's Day. New York: Ace Books.
• — & —, eds. (2000). Isaac Asimov's utopias. New York: Ace Books.
• — & —, eds. (2001). Isaac Asimov's Father's Day. New York: Ace Books.
• — & —, eds. (2001). Isaac Asimov's Halloween. New York: Ace Books.
• Willis, Connie & Sheila Williams, eds. (2001). A Woman's Liberation : A Choice of Futures by and About Women. New York: Warner Books.
• Williams, Sheila, ed. (2007). Asimov's Science Fiction : 30th Anniversary Anthology. Tachyon Publications.
• —, ed. (2010). Enter a future : Fantastic Tales from Asimov's Science Fiction (ebook). Dell Magazines.
• —, ed. (2020). Entanglements: Tomorrow's Lovers, Families, and Friends. The MIT Press.

Asimov's Science Fiction editorials

• Williams, Sheila (Jan 2011). "Martin Gardner". Asimov's Science Fiction. 35 (1): 4.
• — (Feb 2011). "¡Ay, caramba!". Asimov's Science Fiction. 35 (2): 4–5.
• — (Aug 2012). "The 2012 Dell Magazines Award". Asimov's Science Fiction. 36 (8): 4–5.
• — (Dec 2012). "Merry Armageddon". Asimov's Science Fiction. 36 (12): 4–5.
• — (Feb 2013). "Perils of time travel". Asimov's Science Fiction. 37 (2): 4–5.
• — (Mar 2013). "The distaff stuff". Asimov's Science Fiction. 37 (3): 4–5.
• — (Apr–May 2013). "TFNG". Asimov's Science Fiction. 37 (4&5): 4–5.
• — (Jul 2013). "Luna's first heroes". Asimov's Science Fiction. 37 (7): 3–4.
• — (Aug 2013). "The 2013 Dell Magazines Award". Asimov's Science Fiction. 37 (8): 3–4.
• — (Sep 2013). "On not dying of the light". Asimov's Science Fiction. 37 (9): 4–5.
• — (Oct–Nov 2013). "Twenty-Seventh Annual Readers' Awards results". Asimov's Science Fiction. 37 (10–11): 4, 6–7.
• — (Dec 2013). "Living in a science fictional universe". Asimov's Science Fiction. 37 (12): 4–5.
• — (Jan 2014). "A once in a lifetime day". Asimov's Science Fiction. 38 (1): 4–6.
• — (Feb 2014). "Remembering Frederik Pohl". Asimov's Science Fiction. 38 (2): 4–5.
• — (Mar 2014). "A day at the Fair". Asimov's Science Fiction. 38 (3): 4–5.
• — (Apr–May 2014). "Where are they now?". Asimov's Science Fiction. 38 (4&5): 4–5.
• — (Jul 2014). "Eat or be eaten". Asimov's Science Fiction. 38 (7): 4–5.
• — (Aug 2014). "The 2014 Dell Magazines Award". Asimov's Science Fiction. 38 (8): 4–5.
• — (Sep 2014). "Lucius Shepard, he was a friend of mine". Asimov's Science Fiction. 38 (9): 4–5.
• — (Oct–Nov 2014). "Twenty-Eighth Annual Readers' Awards' results". Editorial. Asimov's Science Fiction. 38 (10–11): 4–5.
• — (Dec 2014). "The gifts we remember". Asimov's Science Fiction. 38 (12): 4–5.
• — (Jan 2015). "Whirlwind Worldcon; or shameless name dropping". Asimov's Science Fiction. 39 (1): 4–5.
• — (Feb 2015). "Another day at the fair". Asimov's Science Fiction. 39 (2): 4–5.
• — (Mar 2015). "Translation enigmas". Asimov's Science Fiction. 39 (3): 4–5.

Essays and reporting

• Williams, Sheila (Jul 2013). "In memoriam : Steven Utley, 1948-2013". Asimov's Science Fiction. 37 (7): 5.

References

1. "Sheila Williams: New Directions". Locus (magazine). November 7, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
2. Sorge, Arley (September 5, 2020). "Dinosaurs and metaphors : a conversation with Seila Williams". Clarkesworld magazine.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
3. Wilde, Fran (February 27, 2014). "10 Questions With Award-Winning Science Fiction Editor Sheila Williams". Geek Mom.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
4. . www.locusmag.com. Archived from the original on 2002-04-24.
5. Murphy, Steve (February 2, 2021). "Sheila Williams, author of "Entanglements: Tomorrow's Lovers, Families, and Friends (Twelve Tomorrows)"". The Law Business Insider.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links

• Sheila Williams at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database