Howard Waldrop

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Howard Waldrop
Howard Waldrop.jpg
Waldrop in 2007
Born
Houston, Mississippi, U.S.
Died(2024-01-14)January 14, 2024
Austin, Texas, U.S.
OccupationFiction writer
GenreScience fiction
Notable works"The Ugly Chickens", "Night of the Cooters"
Notable awards Nebula Award (1980)
World Fantasy Award (1981)

Howard Waldrop (died January 14, 2024) was an American science fiction author who worked primarily in short fiction. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2021.

Contents

Early life

Born in Houston, Mississippi, [1] Waldrop spent most of his life in Texas. He moved to Washington state for several years, but returned to Austin.

As a child, he corresponded with A Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin about their shared love of comic books. He was an avid fly fisherman. He was a member of the Turkey City Writer's Workshop, attended the Rio Hondo Writing Workshop, [2] and taught at the Clarion Workshop. [3]

Career

Waldrop was a frequent attendee of ArmadilloCon, the local science fiction convention held annually in Austin. He was the Toastmaster at the inaugural ArmadilloCon #1 (1979) and again at ArmadilloCon #29 (2007); he was Guest of Honor at ArmadilloCon #5 (1983). [4]

Waldrop was one of three writer Guests of Honor at the 1995 World Fantasy Convention [5] held in Baltimore and at Readercon 15 [6] held in Burlington, Massachusetts, in 2003. [7]

Barry Longyear, John Clute, Elizabeth Hand and Howard Waldrop at Readercon in Boston, 2009 Barry Longyear.jpg
Barry Longyear, John Clute, Elizabeth Hand and Howard Waldrop at Readercon in Boston, 2009

Waldrop was Professional Writer Guest of Honor at Loscon 46 in Los Angeles, California, in 2019. [8]

In 2004 he started writing movie reviews with Lawrence Person for Locus Online . [9]

Waldrop died from a stroke in Austin, on January 14, 2024, at the age of 77. [10] [11]

Style

Waldrop's stories combine elements such as alternative history, American popular culture, the American South, [12] old movies (and character actors), classical mythology, and rock 'n' roll music. His style is sometimes obscure or elliptical: Night of the Cooters is a pastiche of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds told from the perspective of a small town Texas sheriff (a homage to Slim Pickens) who faces a Martian cylinder crashing down near his town; "Heirs of the Perisphere" involves robotic Disney characters waking up in the far future; "Fin de Cyclé" describes the Dreyfus affair from the perspective of bicycle enthusiasts.

Waldrop's work is frequently out-of-print, though still available for sale online; several of his books have been reprinted in omnibus editions.

Several of his stories have been nominated for the genre's awards; "The Ugly Chickens" — about the extinction of the dodo — won a Nebula Award for best novelette in 1980, and also a World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction in 1981; this is perhaps his best known work. His collection Night of the Cooters: More Neat Stories win the Locus Award for Best Collection in 1992. [13] In 2021, he won the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. [14]

At least three novels remained unfinished/unpublished: I, John Mandeville, The Search for Tom Purdue and The Moone World. [15]

Film adaptations

Three of his stories, "The Ugly Chickens", "Mary Margaret Road Grader" and "Night of the Cooters", have been adapted to film. [16]

Bibliography

Novels and novellas

Short story collections

Short stories

Chapbooks

References

  1. ↑ Clute, John; Nicholls, Peter (July 22, 2021). "Waldrop, Howard". In Clute, John; et al. (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (3rd ed.). Gollancz.
  2. ↑ "The Infinite Matrix | Howard Waldrop | Week 12". www.infinitematrix.net. Retrieved December 11, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Clarion Workshop Writers 2003". Archived from the original on August 17, 2003.
  4. ↑ "Con History – F.A.C.T." Retrieved December 11, 2024.
  5. ↑ "History of the World Fantasy Conventions". Archived from the original on December 31, 2008.
  6. ↑ "Readercon15 Program". Archived from the original on August 17, 2018. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Readercon 15" . Retrieved December 11, 2024.
  8. ↑ "2019 Loscon Guests of Honor Announced". September 15, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Lawrence Person's Bibliography". www.lawrenceperson.com. Retrieved December 11, 2024.
  10. ↑ "Howard Waldrop: 1946-2024 « Lawrence Person's Futuramen" . Retrieved December 11, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Howard Waldrop (1946–2024)". Locus. January 15, 2024. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Why George R.R. Martin Broke the "Cardinal Rule of Hollywood" for a Childhood Friend". Yahoo Entertainment. December 5, 2024. Retrieved December 11, 2024.
  13. ↑ "Locus Awards 1992" . Retrieved June 23, 2025.
  14. ↑ "Howard Waldrop Awards". Science Fiction Awards Database . Locus Science Fiction Foundation. December 21, 2021.
  15. ↑ Fenner, Arnie (March 25, 2024). "Howard Waldrop". Muddy Colors. Retrieved October 28, 2025.
  16. ↑ Ford, Lily (December 5, 2024). "Why George R.R. Martin Broke the "Cardinal Rule of Hollywood" for a Childhood Friend". The Hollywood Reporter.
  17. 1 2 "Howard Waldrop - Old Earth Books".
  18. ↑ DeNardo, John (February 14, 2013). "TOC: Old Mars Edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois". SF Signal . Archived from the original on December 24, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  19. ↑ Bedford, Robert H. (October 8, 2013). "Mars as We Thought it Could Be: Old Mars, edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois". Tor.com . Macmillan. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  20. ↑ "2014 Locus Awards Winners". Locus . June 28, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
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