Nine Bar Blues

About Sheree Rene ThomasSheree Renee Thomas

Sheree Renée Thomas is an award-winning fiction writer poet and editor. Her work is inspired by myth and folklore natural science and conjure her roots in Memphis and in the genius culture created in the Mississippi Delta. Sherees stories and poetry explore ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. She is the author of Sleeping Under the Tree of Life (Aqueduct Press) honored with a Publishers Weekly Starred Review and longlisted for the 2016 James Tiptree Jr. Award and of Shotgun Lullabies (2011) described as a revelatory work like Jean Toomers Cane. Thomas edited the two Dark Matter (Hachette) black speculative fiction volumes that first introduced W. E. B. Du Boiss work as science fiction winning two World Fantasy Awards (2001 2005). Her work appears in numerous anthologies and literary journals including The Big Book of Modern Fantasy Sycoraxs Daughters Do Not Go Quietly So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy Memphis Noir Revise the Psalm: Work Celebrating the Writing of Gwendolyn Brooks Afrofuturo(s) Ghost Fishing: Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology The Ringing Ear Apex Magazine FIYAH Magazine Callaloo Fireside Quarterly African Voices Jalada Strange Horizons Blacktasticon Mojo Rising: Contemporary Writers Mojo: Conjure Stories Stories for Chip: Tribute to Samuel R. Delany 80! Memories and Reflections On Ursula K. Le Guin and Harvards Transition. She is the Associate Editor of Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora (Illinois State University Normal) the Founding Editor of MOJO: Journal of the Black Speculative Arts Movement and the co-editor of Trouble the Waters: Tales of the Deep Blue (Rosarium). Honored with fellowships from Bread Loaf Environmental the Millay Colony of Arts Smith College as The Lucille Geier-Lakes Writer in Residence the New York Foundation of the Arts VCCA Cave Canem Foundation and the Tennessee Arts Commission among others Thomass multigenre writing explores the hidden wonders in the invisible. Her stories have received Notable Mention in the Years Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy and Honorable Mention in several volumes of the Years Best Fantasy & Horror. Her editorial work uncovered a legacy of over a century of black science fiction writing and helped launch the careers of some of the most exciting new voices in the field. Nine Bar Blues from Third Man Books is Sherees debut all fiction collection. The stories encompass the heart spirit and music of the Mississippi Delta and of Memphis Tennessee where she was born and currently lives. Visit her on Facebook/Instagram @shereereneethomas Twitter @blackpotmojo