Sarah Gailey

Sarah Gailey is an American author of fantasy, science fiction, and mystery novels, short stories, and comics.

As a comics writer, they have published Eat the Rich (2021); an arc in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe, The Vampire Slayer (2022–2023); and another original, Know Your Station (2022–2023).

Perhaps best known for their American Hippo duology, the alternate history novella River of Teeth (2017) was a finalist for the 2017 Nebula Award for Best Novella, the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novella, and the 2018 Locus Award for Best Novella. A follow-up, Taste of Marrow, was shortly released thereafter, with an omnibus published the year next.

Their full-length novels include award-nominated Magic for Liars (2019), The Echo Wife (2021) and Just Like Home (2022).

Career
Gailey's fiction has been published in The Atlantic, Tor.com, and Fireside Magazine. Their non-fiction writing has appeared on Tor.com, Mashable, The Boston Globe and Uncanny Magazine.

According to Gailey's website, their work has been translated into seven different languages.

Novels and other work
Gailey first became well-known for their 2017 American Hippo duology, consisting of the novellas River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow. The pair of novellas is about the hypothetical of if hippos had been imported into southern US bayou country as food stock as well as a counteractive measure against invasive water hyacinth; and inspired by the real proposed House Resolution 23261 (1910). Louisiana Congressman Robert F. Broussard's bill is retconned as a bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Buchanan during his lame duck period in 1861. Years later an extermination group is hired to eliminate feral individuals that have killed locals. Main characters are notably LGBT or non-binary, and reviewers have discussed the complexity of their interactions. It was well-received (for its interesting characters, creative worldbuilding, and fast-paced action) by critics, who had minor grievances with the novella format and structural length, transition decisions, and the failed chance to depict indigenous populations accurately.

Upright Woman Wanted, a standalone novella, got published in February 2020.

Their debut young adult novel, When We Were Magic, was published by Simon Pulse in March 2020.

Their first full-length novel, Magic for Liars, was published by Tor Books in June 2019. Magic for Liars steeps into the crime and mystery dimension of writing, while also retaining fantasy aspects of magic, which notably are largely not exposited. BuzzFeed News called it "one of the best fantasies of 2019."

Gailey's second novel for adults, The Echo Wife, was published in February 2021 by Tor Books.

Comics
In August 2021, their five-issue original comics series Eat the Rich premiered.

In 2022 Gailey released their third novel for adults, Just Like Home, published in July by Tor Books. They continued their work in comics with a 12-issue Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics arc titled The Vampire Slayer (2022–2023) and an original science fiction series titled Know Your Station (2022–2023),  co-created with artist Liana Kangas.

Personal life
Gailey is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, and as of 2019 lives in Los Angeles.

Gailey is non-binary.

Novels

 * Magic for Liars (2019, Tor Books; ISBN 9781250174611)
 * When We Were Magic (2020, Simon Pulse; ISBN 9781534432871)
 * The Echo Wife (2021, Tor Books; ISBN 9781250174666)
 * Just Like Home (2022, Tor Books; ISBN 9781250174727)

Comics Collections

 * Eat the Rich (2022, BOOM! Studios; ISBN 9781684158324)
 * The Vampire Slayer, Vol. 1 (2023, BOOM! Studios ISBN 9781684158843)
 * The Vampire Slayer, Vol. 2 (2023, BOOM! Studios; ISBN 9781684158935)
 * The Vampire Slayer, Vol. 3 (2023, BOOM! Studios; ISBN 9781684159147)
 * Know Your Station (2023, BOOM! Studios; ISBN 9781684159963)

American Hippo novella series

 * River of Teeth (2017, Tor Books; ISBN 9780765395221)
 * Taste of Marrow (2017, Tor Books; ISBN 9780765395245)
 * Omnibus:
 * American Hippo (2018, Tor Books; ISBN 9781250176424; omnibus containing the novellas River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow, as well as additional short stories, including "Worth Her Weight in Gold")

Other novellas

 * The Fisher of Bones (2017, Fireside Fiction; ISBN 9780998778327)
 * Upright Women Wanted (2020, Tor Books; ISBN 9781250213587)

Select nonfiction

 * "This Future Looks Familiar: Watching Blade Runner in 2017". Tor.com October 2017.
 * "Impostor/Abuser: Power Dynamics in Publishing". Fireside Magazine March 2019.

Awards and nominations

 * 2017 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer finalist
 * 2017 Hugo Award for Best Related Work nomination for "The Women of Harry Potter" posts
 * 2017 British Fantasy Award Best Non-fiction nomination for "The Women of Harry Potter" posts
 * 2017 Nebula nomination for River of Teeth
 * 2018 Hugo and Locus nominations for River of Teeth
 * 2018 Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer
 * 2019 Hugo and Locus nominations for "STET"
 * 2020 Hugo nomination for "Away With the Wolves"
 * 2020 Locus Award nomination for Magic for Liars
 * 2021 Hugo and Locus nominations for Upright Women Wanted