Toni Weisskopf (born Antonia Katherine Flora Weisskopf on December 12, 1965) is an American
science fiction editor and the publisher of
Baen Books
Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher an ...
. She has been nominated four times for a
Hugo Award
The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...
. She has won the
Phoenix Award
The Phoenix Award annually recognizes one English-language children's book published twenty years earlier that did not then win a major literary award. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix that is reborn from its own ashes, signifying the ...
, the
Rebel Award
The Rebel Award is a lifetime achievement award for a science fiction fan "who has done a great deal for Southern Fandom." The Rebel is given annually by DeepSouthCon, a bidded convention held in different states of the former Confederacy.
There ...
, and the
Neffy Award The National Fantasy Fan Federation (N3F or NFFF) is one of the world's oldest science fiction fandom organizations. The organization was founded in April 1941 when all science fiction, horror fiction, horror, and fantasy literature was lumped into ...
for best editor. She uses the
nom de plume
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
T. K. F. Weisskopf as an anthology editor.
Biography
Weisskopf was born on December 12, 1965 in
Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, th ...
.
Her family moved to
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
when she was three years old, and then to
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...
when she was twelve.
She graduated from
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
in 1987 with a degree in anthropology.
She has one daughter, Katherine, with
Jim Baen
James Patrick Baen (, beɪn , ; October 22, 1943 – June 28, 2006) was a U.S. science fiction publisher and editor. In 1983, he founded his own publishing house, Baen Books, specializing in the adventure, fantasy, military science fiction, an ...
.
Following Baen's death, she married
Hank Reinhardt
Julius Henry ("Hank") Reinhardt (January 18, 1934 – October 30, 2007) was an American author, editor, science fiction fan, and noted armorer and authority on medieval weaponry. He wrote as Hank Reinhardt, the nickname by which he was widely kno ...
, who died on October 30, 2007.
Career
Upon graduation in 1987, she was employed by
Baen Books
Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher an ...
as an editorial assistant.
She worked various jobs there until becoming executive editor, a job she had until the death of founder
Jim Baen
James Patrick Baen (, beɪn , ; October 22, 1943 – June 28, 2006) was a U.S. science fiction publisher and editor. In 1983, he founded his own publishing house, Baen Books, specializing in the adventure, fantasy, military science fiction, an ...
in 2006. Since that time, she has been the publisher at Baen.
She has edited a number of Baen anthologies under the name T. K. F. Weisskopf.
She won the
Phoenix Award
The Phoenix Award annually recognizes one English-language children's book published twenty years earlier that did not then win a major literary award. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix that is reborn from its own ashes, signifying the ...
in 1994 for excellence in
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
,
as well as the tongue-in-cheek Rubble Award, an anti-award given out annually to a fan or professional who has "done something humorously ignominious".
Her first publication, a vampire anthology titled ''Tomorrow Sucks'', was co-edited with Greg Cox and published by Baen in 1994.
A follow-up anthology, ''Tomorrow Bites'', was released in 1995.
Weisskopf received the
Rebel Award
The Rebel Award is a lifetime achievement award for a science fiction fan "who has done a great deal for Southern Fandom." The Rebel is given annually by DeepSouthCon, a bidded convention held in different states of the former Confederacy.
There ...
in 2000 for "lifetime achievement in Southern Science Fiction Fandom".
Her next set of anthologies, ''Cosmic Tales: Adventures in Sol System'' (2004) and ''Cosmic Tales II: Adventures in Far Futures'' (2005) contained science fiction adventure stories. ''Transhuman'', an anthology co-edited with
Mark L. Van Name
Mark L. Van Name (born 14 March 1955) is an American science fiction writer and technology consultant. As of 2009, Van Name lives in North Carolina.
About
With John Kessel, Van Name co-founded the Sycamore Hill Writer's Workshop in 1985, and ...
, was published in February 2008. Weisskopf was the editor guest of honor for the 2010
North American Science Fiction Convention
NASFiC, a.k.a. the North American Science Fiction Convention, is a science fiction convention scheduled only during years where the Worldcon is being held outside the North American continent. NASFiC bids are voted on by the membership of the Wo ...
,
ReConStruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...
.
She was nominated for a
Hugo Award
The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...
four times in the
Best Professional Editor category: in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. She was awarded the
Neffy Award The National Fantasy Fan Federation (N3F or NFFF) is one of the world's oldest science fiction fandom organizations. The organization was founded in April 1941 when all science fiction, horror fiction, horror, and fantasy literature was lumped into ...
as Best Editor in 2015. In February 2015 Toni was an Editor Guest of Honor and Keynote Speaker at the 33rd annual
Life, the Universe, & Everything
''Life, the Universe, & Everything: The Marion K. "Doc" Smith Symposium on Science Fiction and Fantasy'' is an academic conference held annually since 1983 in Provo, Utah. It is the longest-running science fiction and fantasy convention in Utah, ...
professional science fiction and fantasy arts symposium.
In 2020, she co-edited with Christopher Woods an anthology, ''Give Me LibertyCon'', that established a scholarship in honor of Timothy Bolgeo, founder of
LibertyCon, an annual science fiction convention in
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
.
She was announced in July 2020 as the Editor Guest of Honor for
Discon III, the 79th
World Science Fiction Convention
Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during ...
.
Due to controversies over the online community Baen's Bar maintained by
Baen Books
Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher an ...
, she was removed as Editor Guest of Honor on February 19, 2021.
Bibliography
Weisskopf edited the following anthologies as T. K. F. Weisskopf:
* ''Tomorrow Sucks'' with Greg Cox (October 1994,
Baen
Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher ...
, )
* ''Tomorrow Bites'' with Greg Cox (October 1995, Baen, )
* ''Cosmic Tales: Adventures in Sol System'' (June 2004, Baen, )
* ''Cosmic Tales II: Adventures in Far Futures'' (February 2005, Baen, )
* ''Transhuman'' with
Mark L. Van Name
Mark L. Van Name (born 14 March 1955) is an American science fiction writer and technology consultant. As of 2009, Van Name lives in North Carolina.
About
With John Kessel, Van Name co-founded the Sycamore Hill Writer's Workshop in 1985, and ...
(February 2008, Baen, )
* ''Give Me LibertyCon'' with Christopher Woods (June 2020, Baen, )
Awards and recognition
Weisskopf has received the following awards and recognition:
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weisskopf, Toni
1965 births
Baen Books
Living people
Oberlin College alumni
Science fiction editors
Women speculative fiction editors