American author and filker (born 1978)
Seanan McGuire (pronounced SHAWN-in;[1] born January 5, 1978, in Martinez, California) 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[2] and the pseudonym A. Deborah Baker to write the "Up-and-Under" children's portal fantasy series.[3]
In 2010, she was awarded the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer by the World Science Fiction Convention.[4] Her 2016 novella Every Heart a Doorway received a Nebula Award,[5] Hugo Award,[6] Locus Award,[7] and Alex Award.[8]
In 2013, McGuire received a record five Hugo nominations in total, two for works as Grant and three under her own name.[9]
Biography
McGuire was born in California, to parents who were separated for most of her childhood. She traveled with her father, a carnival worker of Romani origin, during the summer,[10] an experience that she described as "Bradbury-esque running wild and unfettered through farmers' fields, building Ferris wheels and living on funnel cake."[11] This experience had a strong influence on her later work, particularly InCryptid: several of the stories in the series (particularly Magic for Nothing, Married in Green and The Flower of Arizona) are set in or feature carnivals, and the companion Ghost Roads series tells the story of a highway ghost. She has at least two brothers on her father's side of the family.
Her mother, Micki McGuire, had "primary custody, two other children, no money, and an abusive husband who targeted [her]",[12] and her early childhood was difficult.
McGuire, who attended University of California, Berkeley,[13] currently lives in Washington State.[1]
She has described her interests as including "swamps, long walks, long walks in swamps, things that live in swamps, horror movies, strange noises, musical theater, reality TV, comic books, finding pennies on the street, and venomous reptiles."[14]
McGuire frequently posts online about roleplaying games, My Little Pony, and caring for her menagerie of cats. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked at a reptile rescue organization.[15]
She identifies as pansexual,[16] bisexual[17] and demisexual,[18] and writes numerous queer characters into her work.
She has autism, which she was diagnosed with in 2020,[19] attention deficit hyperactivity disorder[20][21] and obsessive–compulsive disorder, diagnosed when she was nine.[22]
Professional career
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.[23] She produced the musical album Pretty Little Dead Girl in 2006[24] and published her first short story in The Edge of Propinquity in 2008.[23]
Rosemary and Rue was her first published novel, released in 2009. She published Feed under the pseudonym Mira Grant in 2010, thus establishing herself as an urban fantasy writer and her Grant persona as a horror/science fiction writer.
Her longest-running series is the October Daye books, which began in 2009 with Rosemary and Rue. Sixteen books are currently available and the next installment is planned for September 2023.[25]
In 2018, McGuire began writing for Marvel Comics. She is the author of the Spider-Gwen series and has contributed to several other franchises.
Notable works
Series
Franchise tie-ins
Short fiction
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.[26] 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.
Awards and nominations
Literary awards
McGuire holds the record for most Hugo Award nominations in a single year, with five nominations in 2013. McGuire was the first author to win the American Library Association's Alex Awards for two consecutive years.[31] 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.[32] It was also recognized as a Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2010.[33]
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.[34]
Filk awards
Pegasus Award presented by the Ohio Valley Filk Festival.[52]
| 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
|
