Brian Michael Thomsen (April 13, 1959 – September 21, 2008) was an American science fiction editor, author, and anthologist.

Biography

Thomsen was raised in the New York City neighborhood of Rockaway Beach and attended Regis High School in Manhattan. He was a founding editor of

Warner Books Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Warner Communications acquired the Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publishing business to Hachet ...

' Questar Science Fiction line, in which position he was nominated for the 1988

Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor The Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The award is available for editors of magazines, ...

. In the mid-90s, Thomsen served as managing fiction editor at

TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had bee ...

He also worked at one point as the publisher for TSR's Periodicals Department. He authored two

Forgotten Realms ''Forgotten Realms'' is a campaign setting for the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as ...

tie-in novels, in 1995 and 1996. His tenure at TSR was controversial. In the 1980s, TSR had developed a reputation for underpaying its authors compared to the major fiction publishers in New York.

Mary Kirchoff Mary L. Kirchoff is an American author of fantasy and young adult novels. Biography Kirchoff was born and raised in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the city where the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game was invented. "I went to school with Ernie ...

, who eventually came to lead the Books Department, had spearheaded changes to increase author compensation so as to better retain talent. Kirchoff instituted a sliding royalty system where the better books sold, the more of a share of royalties the author would receive, a gesture to keep the most valuable talent happy. Kirchoff left TSR in early 1992, and Thomsen was hired to replace her. According to Jim Lowder, then a part of TSR's fiction department, Thomsen was expected by others to move TSR's fiction department closer in policy to that of the New York publishing houses he had come from, and continue increasing author compensation and prestige. Thomsen surprised Lowder and others by doing the reverse: he moved to slash author royalties, reduce or eliminate author

advance Advance commonly refers to: *Advance, an offensive push in sports, games, thoughts, military combat, or sexual or romantic pursuits *Advance payment for goods or services *Advance against royalties, a payment to be offset against future royalty pa ...

s, and end recruiting new authors from the

slush pile In publishing, a slush pile is a set of unsolicited query letters or manuscripts that have either been directly sent to a publisher by an author, or which have been delivered via a literary agent representing the author who may or may not be f ...

of unsolicited fan offerings. He theatrically made his point by throwing slush submissions into a garbage can at a departmental meeting. Thomsen's changes led to a breakdown in relations with a number of its authors, most notably star author R. A. Salvatore who stopped publishing his popular

Drizzt Drizzt Do'Urden () is a fictional character appearing in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. Drizzt was created by author R. A. Salvatore as a supporting character in the '' Icewind D ...

series with TSR after refusing to agree to Thomsen's contract demands. Lowder himself had a finished book, ''The Screaming Tower'', trapped in limbo where Thomsen refused to relinquish the rights to it, but also refused to publish it. Ben Riggs, an author who studied TSR's financial problems, considered Thomsen's changes disastrous and self-defeating for one of TSR's most important and lucrative departments. After

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidia ...

purchased a bankrupt TSR in 1997, Thomsen was fired from his position, Mary Kirchoff was rehired, and Wizards set about reversing the bonds broken in Thomsen's tenure, notably including luring Salvatore back to work with the Forgotten Realms again. Thomsen wrote more than 30 short stories for various anthologies. He was a collaborator with longtime DC Comics managing editor

Julius Schwartz Julius "Julie" Schwartz (; June 19, 1915 – February 8, 2004) was a comic book editor, and a science fiction agent and prominent fan. He was born in The Bronx, New York. He is best known as a longtime editor at DC Comics, where at various ...

on Schwartz's autobiography. He was also a consulting editor for publisher

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese sci ...

. He died on September 21, 2008, at his home in Brooklyn, New York at the age of 49. He was survived by his wife, Donna.

Bibliography

Novels

*''Once Around the Realms'', 1995 *''The Mage in the Iron Mask'', 1996

Anthologies

*''The Reel Stuff'', 1998 *''A Date Which Will Live in Infamy'', with

Martin H. Greenberg Martin Harry Greenberg (March 1, 1941 – June 25, 2011) was an American academic and anthologist in many genres, including mysteries and horror, but especially in speculative fiction. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies and commissioned ov ...

, 2001 *''Oceans of Magic'', with

, 2001 *''Alternate Gettysburgs'', with

, 2002 *''The American Fantasy Tradition'', 2002 *''Oceans of Space'', with

, 2002 *''The Repentant'', with

, 2003 *''A Yuletide Universe'', 2003 *''Blue & Gray at Sea'', 2004 *''Masters of Fantasy'', with Bill Fawcett, 2004

Nonfiction

*''Man of Two Worlds'', with

, 2000

Short stories

*"Gloria Remembers," ''

Alternate Kennedys ''Alternate Kennedys'' is an alternate history anthology edited by Mike Resnick, published in the United States by Tor Books. There are 26 stories in the anthology, including Resnick's own "Lady in Waiting". The remaining stories by various autho ...

'', 1992 *"The Missing Thirty-Fifth President," ''Alternate Kennedys'', 1992 *"Paper Trail," ''

Alternate Presidents ''Alternate Presidents'' is an alternate history anthology edited by Mike Resnick, published in the United States by Tor Books. There are 28 stories in the anthology, including Resnick's own "The Bull Moose at Bay". The other remaining storie ...

'', 1992 *"Reunion," ''Grails: Quests of the Dawn'', 1992 *"The Case of the Skinflint's Specters," ''Christmas Ghosts'', 1993 *"A Sense of Loyalty, a Sense of Betrayal," '' Alternate Warriors'', 1993 *"Bigger Than U.S. Steel," ''

Alternate Outlaws ''Alternate Outlaws'' is an alternate history anthology edited by Mike Resnick, published in the United States by Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company bas ...

'', 1994 *"Iguanacon, Too," ''Alternate Worldcons'', 1994 *"A Night on the Plantation," ''By Any Other Fame'', 1994 *"Infallibility, Obedience & Acts of Contrition," ''

Alternate Tyrants ''Alternate Tyrants'' is a 1997 Tor alternate history anthology, edited by Mike Resnick. The anthology contains 20 short stories, with each story by a different author, and presents a scenario where an individual becomes a tyrant or dictato ...

'', 1997 *"Oscar Night at Swifty's," ''Alternate Skiffy'', 1997 *"Bloodstained Ground," '' Alternate Generals'', 1998 *"Dearest Kitty," ''Legends: Tales from the Eternal Archives'', 1999 *"Mouse the Magic Guy," ''Merlin'', 1999 *"Fragment of the Log of Captain Amasa Delano," ''Oceans of Space'', 2002 *"The Grand Tour," ''Sol's Children'', 2002 *"It's a Wonderful Miracle on 34th Street's Christmas Carol," ''A Yuletide Universe'', 2002

References

External links

*
List of Thomsen's awards
at the

ISFDB The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) is a database of bibliographic information on genres considered speculative fiction, including science fiction and related genres such as fantasy, alternate history, and horror fiction. The ISFDB ...

Obituary
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomsen, Brian 1959 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American science fiction writers Novelists from New York (state) Regis High School (New York City) alumni Science fiction editors