Toni Weisskopf

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Toni Weisskopf
BornAntonia Katherine Flora Weisskopf
(1965-12-12) December 12, 1965 (age 58)[1]
Waltham, Massachusetts
Pen nameT. K. F. Weisskopf
Occupation
NationalityAmerican
Genre
SpouseHank Reinhardt (d. 2007)
PartnerJim Baen (d. 2006)
ChildrenKatherine

Toni Weisskopf (born Antonia Katherine Flora Weisskopf on December 12, 1965) is an American science fiction editor and the publisher of Baen Books. She has been nominated four times for a Hugo Award. She has won the Phoenix Award, the Rebel Award, and the Neffy Award for best editor. She uses the nom de plume T. K. F. Weisskopf as an anthology editor.

Biography[edit]

Weisskopf was born on December 12, 1965, in Waltham, Massachusetts.[1][2][3] Her family moved to Brooklyn when she was three years old, and then to Huntsville, Alabama, when she was twelve.[2] She graduated from Oberlin College in 1987 with a degree in anthropology.[2]

She has one daughter, Katherine, with Jim Baen.[4] Following Baen's death, she married Hank Reinhardt, who died on October 30, 2007.[5]

Career[edit]

Upon graduation in 1987, she was employed by Baen Books as an editorial assistant.[2] She worked various jobs there until becoming executive editor, a job she had until the death of founder Jim Baen in 2006. Since that time, she has been the publisher at Baen.[6] She has edited a number of Baen anthologies under the name T. K. F. Weisskopf.[3]

She won the Phoenix Award in 1994 for excellence in science fiction,[7] 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".[8] Her first publication, a vampire anthology titled Tomorrow Sucks, was co-edited with Greg Cox and published by Baen in 1994.[9] A follow-up anthology, Tomorrow Bites, was released in 1995.[10]

Weisskopf received the Rebel Award in 2000 for "lifetime achievement in Southern Science Fiction Fandom".[7] 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, was published in February 2008. Weisskopf was the editor guest of honor for the 2010 North American Science Fiction Convention, ReConStruction.[11] She was nominated for a Hugo Award four times in the Best Professional Editor category: in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. She was awarded the Neffy Award 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 professional science fiction and fantasy arts symposium.[12]

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.[13] She was announced in July 2020 as the Editor Guest of Honor for Discon III, the 79th World Science Fiction Convention.[14] Due to controversies over the online community Baen's Bar maintained by Baen Books, she was removed as Editor Guest of Honor on February 19, 2021.[15]

Bibliography[edit]

Weisskopf edited the following anthologies as T. K. F. Weisskopf:

  • Tomorrow Sucks with Greg Cox (October 1994, Baen, ISBN 0-671-87626-0)[9]
  • Tomorrow Bites with Greg Cox (October 1995, Baen, ISBN 0-671-87691-0)[10]
  • Cosmic Tales: Adventures in Sol System (June 2004, Baen, ISBN 0-7434-8832-6)[16]
  • Cosmic Tales II: Adventures in Far Futures (February 2005, Baen, ISBN 0-7434-9887-9)[17]
  • Transhuman with Mark L. Van Name (February 2008, Baen, ISBN 978-1-4165-5523-0)[18]
  • Give Me LibertyCon with Christopher Woods (June 2020, Baen, ISBN 9781982124649)[13]
  • Onward, Libertycon! with Christopher Woods (June 2022 Woods Publishing, ISBN 978-1946419477)

Awards and recognition[edit]

Weisskopf has received the following awards and recognition:

Year Organization Award title,
Category
Work Result Refs
1994 DeepSouthCon Phoenix Award
Excellence in Science Fiction
n/a Won [7]
2000 DeepSouthCon Rebel Award,
Lifetime Achievement in Southern Science Fiction Fandom
n/a Won [7]
2013 Worldcon Hugo Award,
Best Professional Editor
n/a Nominated [19]
2014 Worldcon Hugo Award,
Best Professional Editor
n/a Nominated [20]
2015 Worldcon Hugo Award,
Best Professional Editor
n/a Nominated [21]
2015 National Fantasy Fan Federation Neffy Award,
Best Editor
n/a Won [22]
2016 Worldcon Hugo Award,
Best Professional Editor
n/a Nominated [23]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Silver, Steven H. "December Birthdays". SF Site.com. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "Toni Weisskopf interview excerpts". Locus Online. March 2007. Archived from the original on February 23, 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Summary Bibliography: T. K. F. Weisskopf". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Archived from the original on December 14, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  4. ^ Rourke, Mary (July 4, 2006). "Jim Baen, 62; Science Fiction Publisher Pioneered Web Sales". Los Angeles Times. p. B13. Archived from the original on February 23, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  5. ^ Proctor, Jerry. "In Memoriam - obituary". Estate of Hank Reinhardt. Archived from the original on February 23, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  6. ^ Hickey, Katherine (August 10, 2006). "Baen Books Appoints New Publisher: Weisskopf Now at the Helm" (Press release). PRWeb. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
  7. ^ a b c d "DeepSouthCon: Past, Present and Future". Southern Fandom Resource Guide. Archived from the original on February 23, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  8. ^ Robe, Gary (October 2, 2011). "If Life Hands You Sour Grapes--Try Making Whine: A Brief History of the Rubble Award". Southern Fandom Confederation Handbook. Archived from the original on June 14, 2017. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
  9. ^ a b "Title: Tomorrow Sucks". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Archived from the original on October 2, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Title: Tomorrow Bites". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Archived from the original on May 3, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  11. ^ Silver, Steven (August 11, 2009). "Worldcon 2009, NASFiC 2010, Worldcon 2011". SF Site News. SF Site.com. Archived from the original on April 9, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2010.
  12. ^ "Life, the Universe, & Everything 33: The Marion K. "Doc" Smith Symposium on Science Fiction and Fantasy" (PDF). LTUE Press. February 1, 2015.
  13. ^ a b "Give Me Libertycon by Christopher Woods and T.K.F. Weisskopf". Baen Books. Archived from the original on February 23, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  14. ^ "DisCon Guests of Honor". Locus Online. July 25, 2020. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  15. ^ Lawhorn, Bill (February 19, 2021). "Update on Editor Guest of Honor". DisCon III. Archived from the original on February 19, 2021. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  16. ^ "Title: Cosmic Tales: Adventures in Sol System". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Archived from the original on September 10, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  17. ^ "Title: Cosmic Tales II: Adventures in Far Futures". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Archived from the original on May 3, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  18. ^ "Title: Transhuman". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Archived from the original on September 10, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  19. ^ "2013 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. 22 December 2012. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  20. ^ "2014 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. 18 April 2014. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  21. ^ "2015 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. 31 March 2015. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  22. ^ "Weisskopf Wins Neffy". Locus Online. October 26, 2015. Archived from the original on October 21, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  23. ^ "2016 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. 29 December 2015. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2016.