So if a person had told me that Kill the Dead is a classy novel where Tanith Lee discards her usual trademarks, I may not have even bothered to read the book. about the only thing remaining of the Lee I know is her usual twist ending, which in this case really works. the tone is not reserved and distancing, it's lively and amusing and often outright comic. the narrative is also straightforward: there are some flashbacks and memories recounted but no dreamy meanderings that blur the line between fantasy and the reality of the story itself. there are no sadistic heroes or masochistic heroines (or vice versa) creepy sexuality in general is kept at a minimum.

none of her usual writerly flourishes, no strange, so-lush-it's-carboniferous prose stylings. 'Tanith Lee keeps it classy' is my callow way of saying that this does not really read like a Tanith Lee novel. together they encounter a tragic and threatening ghost city, one that comes complete with a ghost forest and a ghost lake in the form of a five-pointed star. Tanith Lee keeps it classy in this fun and rather old-fashioned fantasy adventure about a ghost-killer, the musician who follows him, and a vengeful young witch's ghost. Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played 'M' in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s.

Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror. Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing. Her first short story, 'Eustace,' was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971. She also wrote four radio plays broadcast by the BBC and two scripts for the UK, science fiction, cult television series 'Blake's 7.'īefore becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress. She was the author of 77 novels, 14 collections, and almost 300 short stories. Tanith Lee was a British writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy.

Kill the Dead by Tanith Lee