Tess Collins is an American novelist and theatre manager.

Early life

Tess Collins was born in Middlesboro, Kentucky. She received a BA in journalism from the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

, where she also studied creative writing with Kentucky Poets Laureate

Gurney Norman Gurney Norman (born 1937) is an American writer, documentarian, and professor. Biography Gurney Norman was born in Grundy, Virginia, in 1937. He grew up in the southern Appalachian Mountains and was raised alternately by his maternal grandparent ...

and James Baker Hall, and with novelist and essayist Ed McClanahan. She received the Oswald Award for Creative Writing, and her first poems appeared in ''The Wandering Foot'', a literary journal published by the University of Kentucky Department of English.

San Francisco

Collins moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 1979. While working in theater management she participated in the Master Workshops of Bay Area author

James N. Frey James N. Frey (born March 15, 1943 in Syracuse, New York) is an American writer and creative writing teacher. Frey has written both fiction and non-fiction and is known for his book called ''How to Write a Damn Good Novel''. He has written nove ...

. Eventually she became manager of San Francisco's

Curran Theatre The Curran Theatre, located at 445 Geary Street between Taylor and Mason Streets in the Theatre District of San Francisco, California opened in February 1922, and was named after its first owner, Homer Curran. As of 2014, the theater is owned by ...

. Best known as an author of novels, Collins has also crafted a nonfiction book and plays. She holds a Ph.D. in theater management from the

Union Institute and University Union Institute & University (UI&U) is a private university in Cincinnati, Ohio. It specializes in limited residence and distance learning programs. The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and operates satellite campuses ...

Suspense thrillers

In 1997, Collins's first novel, ''The Law of Revenge'', was published by

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains ...

. It concerns a San Francisco attorney returning to her Appalachian hometown, where in her teens she was the victim of a brutal gang rape. Responding to a call from her estranged family, she must defend her brother from a murder charge, but her pursuit of the truth is clouded since the prosecuting attorney was once the boy responsible for her rape. In this novel Collins established what were to become two major themes in her writing: the internal journey of victimized women toward empowerment, and the ambiguous relationships between the natural and supernatural. The second and third novel of her Appalachian thriller series, ''The Law of the Dead'' followed in 1999 and ''The Law of Betrayal'' in 2003, the third of these being a ''ForeWord Magazine'' Book of the Year finalist.

Mythic storytelling

Having previously written commercial suspense thrillers for a mass market publisher, Collins remarked, "I had to choose between writing to the market and writing the stories I wanted to tell." Her previous fiction contained mythic elements, but then she moved further toward what she has termed "myth-based fiction, as opposed to metafiction." The short story "Scarlet Ribbons," published in the magazine ''

Space and Time Space and Time or Time and Space, or ''variation'', may refer to: * ''Space and time'' or ''time and space'' or ''spacetime'', any mathematical model that combines space and time into a single interwoven continuum * Philosophy of space and time Sp ...

'', received an honorable mention in ''The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror'' (2004), edited by Ellen Datlow,

Kelly Link Kelly Link (born July 19, 1969) is an American editor and author of short stories. While some of her fiction falls more clearly within genre categories, many of her stories might be described as slipstream or magic realism: a combination of sci ...

and

Gavin J. Grant Gavin J. Grant is a science fiction editor and writer. He runs Small Beer Press along with his wife Kelly Link. In addition, he has been the editor of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet since 1996 and, from 2003 to 2008, was co-editor of the Year's ...

. ''Helen of Troy'' (BearCat Press, 2012) blends realism and mythic themes to achieve psychological observations, often humorous, on marriage and small-town life. ''Notown'' (BearCat Press, 2013), the first of the Midnight Valley Quartet, combines graphic realism with magical realism as it traces "a day in the life of a woman who decides to kill her husband." ''The Hunter of Hertha'', the second of the Midnight Valley Quartet, is forthcoming.

Nonfiction

Collins's guide to professional theatre management, ''How Theater Managers Manage'', was published in 2003 by Scarecrow Press. She has also authored articles on writing for ''Byline Magazine'' and ''The Writer'', and "Trees at Granny's House," an essay reflecting on her childhood.

Plays

Her first play, ''Tossing Monte'', was produced in San Francisco in 1997. Further works as a playwright include ''Barbarians'' and a dramatic version of ''Helen of Troy''.Tess Collins' website – plays
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External links

Tess Collins' website

Tess Collins discusses her fiction (video)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Tess 20th-century American novelists Living people People from Middlesboro, Kentucky University of Kentucky alumni 21st-century American novelists Novelists from San Francisco American women novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Year of birth missing (living people) Writers from Kentucky