Jessica Salmonson papers , 1973-1993

Overview of the Collection

Aut
Salmonson, Jessica Amanda
Title
Jessica Salmonson papers
Dates
1973-1993
Quantity
7.5 linear feet, (15 containers)
Collection Number
Coll 472
Summary
The papers of Jessica Salmonson, American author and editor of fantasy and horror fiction and poetry, are comprised of manuscripts and other published material, correspondence, subject/research files, clippings and ephemera, media, and photographs.
Repository
University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives
UO Libraries--SCUA
1299 University of Oregon
Eugene OR
97403-1299
Telephone: 5413463068
spcarref@uoregon.edu
Access Restrictions

Collection is open to the public. Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room. Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives in advance of your visit to allow for transportation time.

Additional Reference Guides

See the Current Collection Guide for detailed description and requesting options.

Languages

Historical NoteReturn to Top

Jessica (Jesse Amos) Salmonson was born January 6, 1950 in Seattle, Washington. She spent her early childhood with her parents, who worked in a traveling carnival - her mother as a sword eater, and step-father as a fire breather. Sadly, she was orphaned at the age of seven, and spent several years in a foster home with her older sister. She ran away when she was twelve, and was subsequently placed in group homes, before regaining contact with her father and his new wife, Lek, a Thai Buddhist nun.

Salmonson's writing career began in the early 1970's, with her work as an editor and writer for a small press magazine, The Literary Magazine of Fantasy and Terror. Salmonson used her role at the magazine, which served as a forum for feminist issues, to openly document and discuss her gender transition. In 1985, Salmonson left the Literary Magazine of Fantasy and Terror to work as the editor for the literary zine Fantasy Macabre (1985- 1997).

Salmonson's first significant publication - Amazons! - won the 1980 World Fantasy Award. Just a year later, her work Tomoe Gozen - the first of a trilogy - was published to acclaim (a revised version of the novel, re-titled The Disfavored Hero, was published in 1999). In 1989, she won a Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Science Fiction/Fantasy, for her editorial work on the anthrology What Did Miss Darrington See?: An Anthology of Feminist Supernatural Fiction.Salmonson's story collections include A Silver Thread of Madness (1989); The Mysterious Doom and Other Ghostly Tales of the Pacific Northwest (1992); Phantom Waters: Northwest Legends of Rivers, Lakes, and Shores (1995); and The Eleventh Jaguarandi and Other Mysterious Persons (coll 1995).

Her works of poetry include: The Black Crusader and Other Poems of Horror (1979, chap); Cheap Present (1980, chap); On the Shores of Eternity (1981, chap); Feigned Death and Other Sorceries (1983, chap); Innocent of Evil: Poems in Prose (1984, chap); The Patient Child (1985, chap); Fantasies in Black and White (1987, chap); A Celestial Occurrence (1991, chap); The Goddess Under Siege (1992, chap); Songs of the Maenads (1993, chap); The Horn of Tara (1995, chap); and Lake of the Devil: Poems of Morosity and Jest (1995, chap).

Salmonson lives in the Pacific Northwest.

[source: Clute, John and John Grant. Encyclopedia of Fantasy. Palgrave Macmillan: 1997.]

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The Jessica Salmonson papers are comprised primarily of draft and published versions of her manuscripts and other works, and correspondence.

Drafts of the Tomoe Gozen Saga, and the fanzines and chapbooks contained in the collection, may be of special interest to researchers.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Authors, American--20th century
  • Authors, American--Oregon
  • Fantasy fiction--Women authors
  • Feminist fiction, American--Authorship
  • Science fiction, American--Authorship
  • Science fiction--Periodicals
  • Science fiction--Women authors
  • Transgender people
  • Women authors, American--Oregon