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Biographical Notes for Katya Reimann
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"Though there are plenty of women writing fantasy novels these days, almost none are working in as classic a mold as is Reimann, and her evocations of a spirited female protagonist and a triad of powerful goddesses has a resonance none of her male colleagues can match."
--John C. Bunnell, Dragon Magazine
Katya Reimann is the author of the Tielmaran Chronicles, a high fantasy trilogy
set in a world dominated by squabbling deities and complex often-troubled
characters, set at odds by conflicting loyalties to their gods and to each other.
She was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer of Science
Fiction and Fantasy in 1997. Her novels are Wind from a Foreign Sky (1996),
A Tremor in the Bitter Earth (1998), and Prince of Fire and Ashes(2002).
The Wanderer, a posthumous collaboration with author Cherry Wilder, came out in
2004, with a softcover edition in November of 2005. Katya is currently at work on a
contemporary fantasy set in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Katya spent six years living in England, writing, teaching, and earning her doctorate
degree in 18th Century Literature (D.Phil, Oxon 1995). While at Oxford, she was a
three time recipient of an A.C. Irvine Travel grant, a fund established in the
memory of the climber who died, with George Mallory, attempting the first
ascent of Mount Everest. Katya loves the high mountains, especially Spain's Picos
de Europa, where she first experienced expedition conditions while exploring deep
mountain caves with the Oxford University Cave Club. Mountains, caves, and compelling
natural environments figure often in her writing.
Katya admits to many literary influences, including T.H. White, numerous
obscure writers of the 18th century and Rene de Goscinny (author of Asterix the Gaul).
She reads a great deal of pre-20th century literature, which, in combination with her
vigorous outdoor pursuits, she considers all good fodder for her story ideas.
She gave birth to identical twin daughters in 1999, much to the amusement of those who
know Katya and her writing--the main characters in her books are identical twin sisters
(she discounts the possibility of channeling or the intervention of any mystic force).
More recently (2004), she gave birth to a son (and, yes, she was greatly relieved that he
was a singleton baby).
Katya currently makes her home in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Thumbnail Biography for Progams &c
updated July 9th, 2006
Katya Reimann is the Minnesota-based author of the Tielmaran Chronicles, a high
fantasy trilogy. She was a finalist for the prestigious John W. Campbell Award
for Best New Writer of Science Fiction and Fantasy in 1997.
Katya recently completed work on a posthumous collaboration with Cherry Wilder.
The Wanderer (softcover, Tor Books, November 2005) is the sequel to
Cherry's acclaimed and much loved trilogy, The Rulers of Hylor. Ask Katya
about this work and she will give you a (possibly overlong!), passionate, and
loving response about the excitement she felt at being able to contribute to this
memorial to one of her favorite writers.
Katya gave birth to identical twin daughters in 1999 and a son in 2004.
She admits to many literary influences, including T.H. White, numerous obscure
writers of the 18th century, and Rene de Goscinny (author of French comic,
Asterix the Gaul).
Visit her website at www.katyareimann.com.
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Well, that's the sober writer's biography version, where I resist mixing in the
eclectic mix of odd-jobs that writers normally interject into such things
because they sound so quirky and neat (at least they do to my writer's ear!)
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This isn't to say that I haven't taken on the 'usual'
series of eclectic and interesting jobs. The most interesting was the two
summers I spent as a tombstone carver, cutting stencil and the occasional
stone or other odd commission with the sandblaster. These later were to deliver
important 'real world' returns in my life as an artist. One seldom knows where the
true kernel of meaning lies in one's experiences until long after!
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I also worked as a fundraiser for
The Handel & Haydn Society
(America's Boston-based, oldest-continually-run classical music society, founded 1815). That
almost became a serious job, or might have done, if I had chosen a different
route. Scarily, I proved rather a good fundraiser. Then again, I
do consider myself to be the kind of person who finds it
easier to talk up and praise someone else's hard and virtuous work!
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Other non-resume work that I can put my name to has involved (and continues to involve)
assisting my father, William P. Reimann, with his sculptural
installations. The following is the Radnor Township highway marker, a 100' by 80'
stone griffin that was installed in the road cut on Radnor's exit off the Blue Route
in Pennsylvania.
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This piece's installation was done in two days, the first of which fell on the 4th of
July back in 1992. Four of us (including Dad) started work at 5:30 am, and continued
our work until 10:30 pm (we had to get the armature fully built because the heavy vehicle
that was bringing in the stones from which it was constructed had been hired for a single
day, the 5th, and we had to be ready for it). Lucky for us, the site was located near
the Public High School, which was hosting a 4th of July fireworks display. We completed
work, as it were, 'by the rockets' red glare'. Running up and down the grassy hill in
ninety plus weather was pretty grueling.
My Mom is a painter, who has also influenced a lot of my work. She is
Helen Sadowy Reimann, and I have included some of her works
here.
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Last Modified: June 29, 2000
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