A short life of the author
Lavie Tidhar (born 1976) is one of the most formally daring and thematically ambitious writers working in science fiction and fantasy. His novels draw on pulp fiction, alternate history, Jewish diaspora experience, and a genuinely global sensibility — he has lived in South Africa, Vanuatu, Laos, and the UK — to create work that expands the genre’s boundaries in ways that are both intellectually rigorous and wildly entertaining.
Life and Career
Tidhar was born in Israel and grew up on a kibbutz. He has lived in several countries and currently resides in London. His peripatetic biography is reflected in his fiction, which is more geographically and culturally diverse than most Anglophone science fiction.
Osama (2011) — which won the World Fantasy Award — is set in a world where terrorism does not exist, and Osama bin Laden is a fictional character in a series of pulp adventure novels. A detective is hired to find the novels’ mysterious author. The book is a meditation on the relationship between fiction and reality, on how narratives about violence shape our understanding of the world.
The Violent Century (2013) is an alternate history in which superheroes existed during World War II and the Cold War — but instead of the triumphalist narratives of mainstream superhero fiction, the novel explores what superpowers would actually mean in the context of real atrocity.
A Man Lies Dreaming (2014) imagines Adolf Hitler as a failed, penniless private detective in 1930s London, narrated by a prisoner in Auschwitz who is writing this fantasy as a coping mechanism. It is one of the most audacious and uncomfortable alternate histories ever written.
Central Station (2016) — a fix-up novel set in a future Tel Aviv around a massive space station — is his most celebrated work: a mosaic novel about robots, data vampires, genetically modified humans, and the persistence of immigrant communities in a transformed world. It draws on the traditions of both Israeli literature and global science fiction.
Key Works
- Osama (2011)
- A Man Lies Dreaming (2014)
- Central Station (2016)
- The Hood (2021)
Collecting Tidhar
Osama first edition (PS Publishing, 2011) — limited-edition hardcover from a UK small press — is scarce, $75–$250. Central Station first edition (Tachyon Publications, 2016) signed brings $40–$100. Tidhar signs at genre conventions. His bibliography is large and crosses multiple publishers and formats; the key collectible titles are the award-winners. PS Publishing limited editions command premiums.