Seanan McGuire
American author and filker (born 1978)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Seanan McGuire (/ˈʃɔːnɪn/ 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.
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- Mira Grant
- A. Deborah Baker
Seanan McGuire | |
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McGuire in 2018 | |
| Born | January 5, 1978 Martinez, California, U.S. |
| Pen name |
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| Occupation | Writer |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
| Genre | |
| Notable works |
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| Notable awards | |
| Website | |
seananmcguire | |
In 2010, she was awarded the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her works have garnered numerous awards, including the Alex Award, Hugo Award, Locus Award, and Nebula Award.
Early life and education
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]
Career
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 of her works are speculative fiction, including 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 19th book, Silver and Lead, published in 2025.
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 series from 2018 to 2020 — Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider and Spider-Gwen: Into the Unknown — and has contributed to several other franchises.
She is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA),[13] the Horror Writers Association (HWA), and the Book View Cafe publishing cooperative.
Notable works
Series
- October Daye
- InCryptid
- Wayward Children
- Alchemical Journeys
- Indexing
- Ghost Roads
- Newsflesh (as Mira Grant)
- Parasitology (as Mira Grant)
- Up-and-Under (as A. Deborah Baker)
Tie-ins
- "The Wine in Dreams" (novella included in Star Wars: Canto Bight anthology (as Mira Grant)
- Deadlands: Boneyard[14]
- Overwatch: Declassified – An Official History (2023)
Comics
- Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider (ongoing series, published 2018–9)
- X-Men Black: Mystique (2018)
- Age of X-Man: The Amazing Nightcrawler (tie-in, 2019)
- Ghost-Spider/Spider-Gwen: Into the Unknown (ongoing series, 2019–20)
- King in Black: Gwenom vs. Carnage (tie-in, 2021)
- Magic: Soul and Stone (July 2023)
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.[15] 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.[16] McGuire was the first author to win the American Library Association's Alex Awards for two consecutive years.[17] 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.[18] It was also recognized as a Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2010.[19]
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.[20]
| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | SF Squeecast (with Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Lynne M. Thomas, and Catherynne M. Valente) |
Hugo Award | Fancast | Won | [27] |
| Wicked Girls | Hugo Award | Hugo Award for Best Related Work | Finalist | [27] | |
| 2013 | SF Squeecast (with Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Lynne M. Thomas, and Catherynne M. Valente) |
Hugo Award | Fancast | Won | [29] |
Filk awards
Pegasus Award presented by the Ohio Valley Filk Festival.[67]
| 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 |
Personal life
Notes
- Now called the Astounding Award for Best New Writer
- Now known as the Otherwise Award
