Wilson, G Willow
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1982- ) US author whose first works were Graphic Novels, beginning with the Young Adult Cairo: A Graphic Novel (graph 2007), a tale which incorporates aspects of her own life story – she converted to Islam while teaching in Cairo during 2003 – into contemporary Urban Fantasy [see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below], combining noir encounters with organized crime, and djinns. The Air sequence of connected stories and larger tales, beginning with Air Vol 1: Letters from Lost Countries (graph 2009) illus M K Perker, moves from nonfantastic adventures of an air attendant into encounters with unregistered countries and fantasticated Inventions which include flight without Machines, and, once again, organized terrorism.
Wilson is of strongest sf interest for Alif the Unseen (2012), which again incorporates into an Urban Fantasy rendering of the contemporary Middle East an Equipoisal jostle of elements, as the protagonist, an Internet hacker, becomes embroiled with the venomous and internet-savvy secret police of the unnamed Dystopian state where the action is set. The entwining of Computer-fomented Virtual Reality and the supernatural in general (see Supernatural Creatures in particular), though not new, seems fresh in this new context, which all the same occasionally reflects aspects of George Alec Effinger's Budayeen universe. Alif the Unseen won the World Fantasy Award for best novel in 2013. A memoir, The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman's Journey to Love and Islam (2010), interestingly weaves together her life and her work. The Bird King (2019) is an historical quest fantasy, set just before Christopher Columbus "discovered" "America", with the eponymous object of a complex quest subject to discrepancies of Perception between Muslim and Christian aspirants to enlightenment and power (see Religion).
In 2014 Wilson began a new Comic: Ms. Marvel, whose young female Muslim Superhero from Pakistan fits well in the Marvel Comics long-time focus on heroes and heroines with tormented childhoods. The first Graphic Novel assembly of this work, Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal (graph 2014), received the Hugo award for best graphic story. [JC]
Gwendolyn Willow Wilson
born Long Branch, New Jersey: 31 August 1982
works
series
Air
- Air Vol 1: Letters from Lost Countries (New York: DC Comics/Vertigo, 2009) [coll of linked stories: graph: comprising #1-5 of Air: Air: illus/pb/M K Perker]
- Air Vol 2: Flying Machines (New York: DC Comics/Vertigo, 2009) [coll of linked stories: graph: comprising #6-10 of Air: Air: illus/pb/M K Perker]
- Air Vol 3: Pureland (New York: DC Comics/Vertigo, 2010) [graph: Air: illus/pb/M K Perker and Chris Chuckry]
- Air Vol 4: A History of the Future (New York: DC Comics/Vertigo, 2012) [graph: Air: illus/pb/M K Perker and Chris Chuckry]
Ms. Marvel
- Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal (New York: Marvel Comics, 2014) with Adrian Alphona and Jake Wyatt [graph: Ms. Marvel: pb/Sara Pichelli]
individual titles
- Cairo: A Graphic Novel (New York: DC Comics, 2007) [graph: illus/hb/M K Perker]
- Vixen: Return of the Lion (New York: DC Comics, 2009) [graph: illus/pb/Cafu]
- Mystic: The Tenth Apprentice (New York: Marvel Comics, 2012) [graph: illus/pb/David Lopez]
- Alif the Unseen (New York: Grove Press, 2012) [hb/Christopher Sergio]
- The Bird King (New York: Grove Press, 2019) [hb/Helen Crawford-White]
- Invisible Kingdom 1: Walking the Path (New York: Dark Horse Comics, 2019) with Christian Ward [graph: comprising issues #1-#5 of Invisible Kingdom: Invisible Kingdom: pb/Christopher Ward]
nonfiction
- The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman's Journey to Love and Islam (New York: Grove Atlantic, 2010) [nonfiction: hb/]
links
- G Willow Wilson
- Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- The Encyclopedia of Fantasy: Urban Fantasy
- Picture Gallery
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