Seanan McGuire | |
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Born | Martinez, California, U.S. | January 5, 1978
Pen name |
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Occupation | Writer |
Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
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Notable works |
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Notable awards | |
Website | |
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Seanan McGuire (pronounced SHAWN-in; [1] born January 5, 1978) is an American author and filker. McGuire is known for her urban fantasy novels. She uses the pseudonym Mira Grant to write science fiction/horror and the pseudonym A. Deborah Baker to write the "Up-and-Under" children's portal fantasy series.
In 2010, she was awarded the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer by the World Science Fiction Convention. Her 2016 novella Every Heart a Doorway received a Nebula Award, Hugo Award, Locus Award, and Alex Award.
In 2013, McGuire received a record five Hugo nominations in total, two for works as Grant and three under her own name.
She writes numerous queer characters into her work.
McGuire was born on January 5, 1978, in Martinez, California. [2] McGuire has stated that her mother, Micki McGuire, [3] had "primary custody, two other children, no money, and an abusive husband who targeted [Seanan]". [4] During the summer, McGuire traveled with her father, [5] a carnival worker of Romani origin, [6] an experience she described as "Bradbury-esque running wild and unfettered through farmers' fields, building Ferris wheels and living on funnel cake." [7]
At age nine, McGuire was diagnosed with obsessive–compulsive disorder. [8]
McGuire attended University of California, Berkeley, where she studied folklore and herpetology. [2]
Before becoming a full-time writer, McGuire worked at a reptile rescue organization. [9]
McGuire has published filk music, poetry, short fiction, essays, and novels. Most follow speculative fiction themes of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Her earliest publication was a contribution to the June 2002 poetry anthology Speculon. [10] She produced the musical album Pretty Little Dead Girl in 2006 [11] and published her first short story in The Edge of Propinquity in 2008. [10] In 2009, she published her first novel, Rosemary and Rue, which has resulted in her longest-running series, with the 18th book, The Innocent Sleep, published in 2023.
In 2010, she published Feed under the pseudonym Mira Grant. This established Seanan McGuire as an urban fantasy writer and her pseudonym Mira Grant as a horror/science fiction writer. [12]
In 2018, McGuire began writing for Marvel Comics. She wrote two Spider-Gwen/Ghost Spider series from 2018-2020 and has contributed to several other franchises.
McGuire's short fiction has been published in Apex Magazine, Nightmare Magazine, Lightspeed Magazine, and others. Her works appear in anthologies edited by Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, and John Joseph Adams.
She has self-published hundreds of short stories. From 2008 to 2017, she posted installments of the Velveteen series to LiveJournal with the support of fan sponsorships. [14] Tie-ins to her October Daye and InCryptid series are available for free on her website. In 2016, she launched a Patreon account to post monthly short stories for her subscribers.
McGuire holds the record for most Hugo Award nominations in a single year, with five nominations in 2013. [15] McGuire was the first author to win the American Library Association's Alex Awards for two consecutive years. [16] She has been nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Series every year since its inception in 2017.
In 2010, Feed was recognized as #74 out of the 100 top thriller novels of all time by NPR. [17] It was also recognized as a Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2010. [18]
In 2012, McGuire (as Mira Grant) was inducted in to the Darrell Awards Hall of Fame for the best American Mid-South regional speculative fiction. [19]
Locus has regularly included the Wayward Children books in their year-end list of the best novellas of the year, including Every Heart a Doorway (2016), [20] Down Among the Sticks and Bones (2017), [21] Come Tumbling Down (2020), [22] and Lost in the Moment and Found (2023). [23]
Year | Work | Award | Result | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | N/A | John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer | Won | [24] [25] [26] |
Feed (as Mira Grant) | Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Science Fiction Novel | Nominated | [27] | |
Shirley Jackson Award for Novel | Nominated | [28] | ||
2011 | Deadline (as Mira Grant) | Philip K. Dick Award | Nominated | [29] |
Feed (as Mira Grant) | Audie Award for Science Fiction | Nominated | [30] | |
Hugo Award for Best Novel | Nominated | [31] [32] [33] | ||
Philip K. Dick Award | Nominated | [34] | ||
2012 | "Countdown" (as Mira Grant) | Hugo Award for Best Novella | Nominated | [35] [36] |
Blackout (as Mira Grant) | Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice for Science Fiction Novel | Nominated | [37] | |
Deadline (as Mira Grant) | Hugo Award for Best Novel | Nominated | [35] [36] [38] | |
SF Squeecast | Hugo Award for Best Fancast | Won | [35] [36] | |
Wicked Girls | Hugo Award for Best Related Work | Nominated | ||
2013 | "In Sea-Salt Tears" | Hugo Award for Best Novelette | Nominated | [15] [39] |
"Rat-Catcher" | Hugo Award for Best Novelette | Nominated | ||
"San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats" (as Mira Grant) | Hugo Award for Best Novella | Nominated | ||
Blackout (as Mira Grant) | Hugo Award for Best Novel | Nominated | [15] [40] [41] | |
SF Squeecast | Hugo Award for Best Fancast | Won | [15] | |
2014 | Parasite (as Mira Grant) | Hugo Award for Best Novel | Nominated | [42] [43] |
2015 | “Each to Each” | Tiptree Award | Honor | [44] |
2016 | Every Heart a Doorway | Nebula Award for Best Novella | Won | [45] [46] |
Tiptree Award | Honor | [47] | ||
2017 | Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day | Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Fantasy | Nominated | [48] |
Every Heart a Doorway | Alex Awards | Won | [49] | |
British Fantasy Award for Best Novella | Nominated | [50] | ||
Hugo Award for Best Novella | Won | [51] [52] | ||
Locus Award for Best Novella | Won | [53] | ||
World Fantasy Award for Best Novella | Nominated | [54] | ||
October Daye | Hugo Award for Best Series | Nominated | [51] | |
2018 | “The Mathematical Inevitability of Corvids” | Locus Award for Best Novelette | Nominated | [55] |
Down Among the Sticks and Bones | Alex Awards | Won | [56] [57] | |
Hugo Award for Best Novella | Nominated | [58] [59] | ||
Locus Award for Best Novella | Nominated | [55] | ||
RUSA Award for Fantasy | Won | [60] | ||
Every Heart a Doorway | Geffen Award for Best Translated Fantasy Book | Nominated | [61] | |
InCryptid | Hugo Award for Best Series | Nominated | [59] | |
2019 | “Any Way the Wind Blows" | Sidewise Award for Short Form | Nominated | [62] |
Beneath the Sugar Sky | BooktubeSFF Award for Short Work | Nominated | [63] | |
Hugo Award for Best Novella | Nominated | [64] [65] | ||
World Fantasy Award for Best Novella | Nominated | [66] [67] | ||
October Daye | Hugo Award for Best Series | Nominated | [64] [65] | |
2020 | In an Absent Dream | Hugo Award for Best Novella | Nominated | [68] [69] |
World Fantasy Award—Novella | Nominated | [70] | ||
InCryptid | Hugo Award for Best Series | Nominated | [68] [69] | |
The Girl in the Green Silk Gown | Endeavour Award | Nominated | [71] | |
Middlegame | Endeavour Award | Nominated | [72] | |
Hugo Award for Best Novel | Nominated | [68] [69] | ||
Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel | Won | [73] | ||
Alex Awards | Won | [74] | ||
2021 | “Treatment Plan” | Emeka Walter Dinjos Award for Disabled Writers | Nominated | [75] |
Calculated Risks | Endeavour Award | Nominated | [76] | |
Come Tumbling Down | Hugo Award for Best Novella | Nominated | [77] [78] | |
Locus Award for Best Novella | Nominated | [79] | ||
Ghost-Spider Vol. 1: Dog Days Are Over | Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story | Nominated | [77] [78] | |
October Daye | Hugo Award for Best Series | Nominated | ||
2022 | "Tangles" (Magic: The Gathering) | Hugo Award for Best Short Story | Nominated | [80] [81] |
Across the Green Grass Fields | Hugo Award for Best Novella | Nominated | [80] [81] [82] | |
Be the Serpent | Endeavour Award | Nominated | [83] | |
Small Gods | Hugo Award for Best Fanzine | Won | [80] | |
Wayward Children | Hugo Award for Best Series | Won | [80] [81] | |
2023 | “In Mercy, Rain" | Locus Award for Best Novelette | Nominated | [84] |
October Daye | Hugo Award for Best Series | Nominated | ||
Where the Drowned Girls Go | Hugo Award for Best Novella | Won | [85] [86] | |
2024 | October Daye | Hugo Award for Best Series | Nominated | [87] |
Pegasus Award presented by the Ohio Valley Filk Festival. [88]
Year | Award | Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2005 | Best Writer/ Composer | N/A | Nominated |
2006 | Best Writer/ Composer | N/A | Nominated |
2006 | Best Torch Song | "Maybe It's Crazy" | Nominated |
2007 | Best Performer | N/A | Won |
2008 | Best Writer/ Composer | N/A | Won |
2008 | Best Tragedy Song | "The Black Death" | Nominated |
2010 | Best Mad Science Song | "What a Woman's For" | Won |
2011 | Best Filk Song | "Wicked Girls" | Won |
2011 | Most Badass Song | "Evil Laugh" | Won |
2012 | Best Filk Song | "My Story Is Not Done" | Nominated |
2015 | Best Filk Song | "My Story Is Not Done" | Won |
2018 | Best Horror Song | "Dear Gina" | Won |
2021 | Best Mad Science Song | "Maybe it's Crazy" | Nominated |
2021 | Best Cheery-Ose Song | "Dear Seanan" (with Erin Bellavia and Merav Hoffman) | Nominated |
McGuire was diagnosed as autistic in 2020 [89] and has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. [90] [91] She identifies as pansexual, [92] bisexual, [93] and demisexual. [94]
McGuire lives in Washington state. [1]
The Hugo Award for Best Novella is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novella award is available for works of fiction of between 17,500 and 40,000 words; awards are also given out in the short story, novelette and novel categories. The Hugo Awards have been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction" and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing".
The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is a lifetime honor presented annually by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) to a living writer of fantasy or science fiction. It was first awarded in 1975, to Robert Heinlein. In 2002, it was renamed after Damon Knight, the founder of SFWA, who had died that year.
Mary Robinette Kowal is an American author, translator, art director, and puppeteer. She has worked on puppetry for shows including Jim Henson Productions and the children's show LazyTown. As an author, she is a four-time Hugo Award winner, and served as the president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America from 2019-2021.
Aliette de Bodard is a French-American speculative fiction writer.
Ken Liu is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. Liu has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards for his novel translations and original short fiction, which has appeared in F&SF, Asimov's Science Fiction, Analog, Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, and multiple "Year's Best" anthologies.
Lynne M. Thomas is an American librarian, podcaster and editor. She has won eleven Hugo Awards for editing and podcasting in the science fiction genre. She is perhaps best known as the co-publisher and co-editor-in-chief of the Hugo Award-winning Uncanny Magazine with her husband, Michael Damian Thomas. With her eleven Hugo Award wins, Thomas is tied with Connie Willis for most wins among women, and sixth all time for most wins amongst all Hugo Award winners.
The Locus Award for Best Short Story is one of a series of Locus Awards given every year by Locus Magazine. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year.
The Hugo Award for Best Series is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The award is available for series of science fiction or fantasy stories consisting of at least 3 published works totaling at least 240,000 words, with at least one work released or translated into English during the previous calendar year. A losing finalist becomes eligible again with the publication of at least two new works totaling at least 240,000 words.
October Daye is a New York Times Best Selling series of urban fantasy novels by American author Seanan McGuire. They follow October "Toby" Daye, a half-fae changeling and reluctant hero of the realm.
Every Heart a Doorway is a fantasy novella by American writer Seanan McGuire, the first in the Wayward Children series. It was first published in hardcover and ebook editions by Tor.com in April 2016.
Lee Harris is a British editor of science fiction, fantasy and horror. He is the only British editor ever to have been nominated in the Hugo Awards "short form" editing category, and the first British editor ever to have been nominated in the editing "long form" category.
Middlegame is a 2019 science fantasy/horror novel by American novelist Seanan McGuire. It was well-received critically, winning the 2020 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel and garnering a nomination for the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Journey Planet is an Irish-American science fiction fanzine currently edited by James Bacon, Christopher J. Garcia and various other co-editors. It has been nominated twelve times for the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine, winning in 2015.
Michael Damian Thomas is an American magazine editor and podcaster. Thomas has won eight Hugo Awards, a British Fantasy Award, and a Parsec Award as co-publisher and co-editor-in-chief of Uncanny Magazine with his wife, Lynne M. Thomas. He has also been active as an advocate for disabled children in Illinois.
Wayward Children is a series of fantasy novellas by American author Seanan McGuire. It takes place at a boarding school for children who have journeyed to magical lands and been forcibly returned to the real world. The volumes alternate between being set at the school versus showing the lives of the children while they were in their alternate worlds.
Down Among the Sticks and Bones is a 2017 fantasy novella by Seanan McGuire. It is the second book in the Wayward Children series and explores the history of two characters, Jack and Jill, from the previous book, Every Heart a Doorway.
Beneath the Sugar Sky is a 2018 fantasy novella by American author Seanan McGuire. It is the third book in the Wayward Children series and introduces Rini Onishi, the child of Sumi, who was murdered in the series's first book, Every Heart a Doorway.
In an Absent Dream is a 2019 fantasy novella by American author Seanan McGuire. It is the fourth book in the Wayward Children series and follows Lundy, the in-house therapist at Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children.
Come Tumbling Down is a 2020 fantasy novella by American author Seanan McGuire. It is the fifth book in the Wayward Children series and focuses on the Wolcott twins, who were centered in the first book in the series and the second. This time, the children from the School for Wayward Children must venture into the Moors to save Jack Wolcott and the Moors themselves.
Across the Green Grass Fields is a 2021 fantasy novella by American author Seanan McGuire. It is the fifth book published in the Wayward Children book series and follows Regan as she learns about her true nature then travels to a world of centaurs and unicorns, where she finds family.