Laura J. Mixon


Laura J. Mixon is an American science fiction writer and a chemical and environmental engineer. In 2011, she began publishing under the pen name Morgan J. Locke. Under that name, she is one of the writers for the group blog Eat Our Brains.
Mixon writes about the impact of technology and environmental changes on personal identity and social structures. Her work has been the focus of academic studies on the intersection of technology, feminism, and gender. She has also experimented with interactive storytelling, in collaboration with game designer Chris Crawford. She won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer for her reporting about the online activities of writer Benjanun Sriduangkaew.

Biography

Mixon was born in December 1957 and went on to become a chemical and environmental engineer. In the 1980s, she took a break from that work to serve in the Peace Corps in East Africa. Her first book, Astropilots, was published as part of a young adult series by Scholastic/Omni books in 1987. Her second novel, Glass Houses, was originally serialized in Analog Magazine in 1991; it was published by Tor Books the following year. She wrote her next book, Proxies, set in the same universe as Glass Houses, but with a bigger scope. Burning the Ice continues the story begun in Proxies, but takes place long after the colony ship has left Earth.
Mixon is married to fellow science fiction writer Steven Gould, with whom she collaborated on the novel Greenwar. They live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and have two daughters.
Mixon won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer for online commentary which "described the venomous behavior of a female, left-leaning troll". George R. R. Martin praised Mixon's "detailed, eloquent, and devastating expose of the venomous internet troll best known as 'Requires Hate' and 'Winterfox'," calling it "a terrific piece of journalism, an important piece that speaks to issues of growing importance to fandom in this internet age."

Works

Novels

  • Astropilots
  • Glass Houses
  • Greenwar, in collaboration with Steven Gould
  • Proxies
  • Burning the Ice
  • Up Against It as Morgan J. Locke

    Novellas

  • “A Dose of Reality”, with Melinda M. Snodgrass

    Novelettes

  • “The Lamia's Tale”
  • “At Tide’s Turning”

    Short stories

  • “True North,” as Morgan J. Locke
  • "Ripple Effects", edited by George R. R. Martin, as part of the Wild Cards series, Tor Books, May 19, 2021

    Nonfiction

  • “A Pilgrim's Progress: My Experiments with a New Interactive Storytelling Technology”
  • “Writing on the Edges: The Science in Science Fiction”
  • ""A Report on Damage Done by One Individual Under Several Names," at