Seanan McGuire
Seanan McGuire 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. 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. McGuire has stated that her mother, Micki McGuire, had "primary custody, two other children, no money, and an abusive husband who targeted ". During the summer, McGuire traveled with her father, a carnival worker of Romani origin, an experience she described as "Bradbury-esque running wild and unfettered through farmers' fields, building Ferris wheels and living on funnel cake."At age nine, McGuire was diagnosed with obsessive–compulsive disorder.
McGuire attended University of California, Berkeley, where she studied folklore and herpetology.
Career
Before becoming a full-time writer, McGuire worked at a reptile rescue organization.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. She produced the musical album Pretty Little Dead Girl in 2006 and published her first short story in The Edge of Propinquity in 2008. 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.
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, the Horror Writers Association, and the Book View Cafe publishing cooperative.
Notable works
Series
- October Daye
- InCryptid
- Wayward Children
- Alchemical Journeys
- Indexing
- Ghost Roads
- Newsflesh
- Parasitology
- ''Up-and-Under''
Tie-ins
- "The Wine in Dreams"
- Deadlands: Boneyard
- ''Overwatch: Declassified – An Official History''
Comics
- Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider
- X-Men Black: Mystique
- Age of X-Man: The Amazing Nightcrawler
- Ghost-Spider/Spider-Gwen: Into the Unknown
- King in Black: Gwenom vs. Carnage
- ''Magic: Soul and Stone''
Short fiction
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. 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. 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. It was also recognized as a Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2010.
In 2012, McGuire was inducted in to the Darrell Awards Hall of Fame for the best American Mid-South regional speculative fiction.
| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
| 2010 | — | John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer | — | Won | |
| 2010 | Feed | Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award | Science Fiction Novel | ||
| 2010 | Feed | Shirley Jackson Award | Novel | ||
| 2011 | Deadline | Philip K. Dick Award | — | ||
| 2011 | Feed | Audie Award | Audie Award for Science Fiction | ||
| 2011 | Feed | Hugo Award | Best Novel | ||
| 2012 | "Countdown" | Hugo Award | Best Novella | ||
| 2012 | Blackout | Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award | Science Fiction Novel | ||
| 2012 | Deadline | Hugo Award | Best Novel | ||
| 2013 | Blackout | Hugo Award | Best Novel | ||
| 2013 | "In Sea-Salt Tears" | Hugo Award | Best Novelette | ||
| 2013 | "Rat-Catcher" | Hugo Award | Best Novelette | ||
| 2013 | San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats | Hugo Award | Best Novella | ||
| 2014 | Parasite | Hugo Award | Best Novel | ||
| 2015 | “Each to Each” | James Tiptree Jr. Award | — | ||
| 2016 | Every Heart a Doorway | Nebula Award | Best Novella | Won | |
| 2016 | Every Heart a Doorway | James Tiptree Jr. Award | — | ||
| 2017 | Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day | Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award | Fantasy Novel | ||
| 2017 | Every Heart a Doorway | Alex Awards | — | Won | |
| 2017 | Every Heart a Doorway | British Fantasy Award | Best Novella | ||
| 2017 | Every Heart a Doorway | Hugo Award | Best Novella | Won | |
| 2017 | Every Heart a Doorway | Locus Award | Best Novella | Won | |
| 2017 | Every Heart a Doorway | World Fantasy Award | Novella | ||
| 2017 | October Daye | Hugo Award | Best Series | ||
| 2018 | Down Among the Sticks and Bones | Alex Awards | — | Won | |
| 2018 | Down Among the Sticks and Bones | Hugo Award | Best Novella | ||
| 2018 | Down Among the Sticks and Bones | Locus Award | Best Novella | ||
| 2018 | Down Among the Sticks and Bones | RUSA Award | Fantasy | Won | |
| 2018 | Every Heart a Doorway | Geffen Award | Best Translated Fantasy Book | ||
| 2018 | InCryptid | Hugo Award | Best Series | ||
| 2018 | “The Mathematical Inevitability of Corvids” | Locus Award | Best Novelette | ||
| 2019 | “Any Way the Wind Blows" | Sidewise Award for Alternate History | Short Form | ||
| 2019 | Beneath the Sugar Sky | Hugo Award | Best Novella | ||
| 2019 | Beneath the Sugar Sky | World Fantasy Award | Novella | ||
| 2019 | The Girl in the Green Silk Gown | Endeavour Award | — | ||
| 2019 | October Daye | Hugo Award | Best Series | ||
| 2020 | In an Absent Dream | Hugo Award | Best Novella | ||
| 2020 | In an Absent Dream | World Fantasy Award | Novella | ||
| 2020 | InCryptid | Hugo Award | Best Series | ||
| 2020 | Middlegame | Alex Awards | — | Won | |
| 2020 | Middlegame | Endeavour Award | — | ||
| 2020 | Middlegame | Hugo Award | Best Novel | ||
| 2020 | Middlegame | Locus Award | Best Fantasy Novel | Won | |
| 2020 | "Phantoms of the Midway" | Locus Award | Best Novelette | ||
| 2021 | Calculated Risks | Endeavour Award | — | ||
| 2021 | Come Tumbling Down | Hugo Award | Best Novella | ||
| 2021 | Come Tumbling Down | Locus Award | Best Novella | ||
| 2021 | Ghost-Spider Vol. 1: Dog Days Are Over | Hugo Award | Best Graphic Story | ||
| 2021 | October Daye | Hugo Award | Best Series | ||
| 2021 | Over the Woodward Wall | Locus Award | Best Young Adult Book | ||
| 2022 | Across the Green Grass Fields | Hugo Award | Best Novella | ||
| 2022 | Be the Serpent | Endeavour Award | — | ||
| 2022 | "Tangles" | Hugo Award | Best Short Story | ||
| 2022 | Wayward Children | Hugo Award | Best Series | Won | |
| 2023 | “In Mercy, Rain" | Locus Award | Best Novelette | ||
| 2023 | October Daye | Hugo Award | Best Series | ||
| 2023 | Sleep No More | Endeavour Award | — | ||
| 2023 | Where the Drowned Girls Go | Hugo Award | Best Novella | Won | |
| 2024 | Lost in the Moment and Found | Locus Award | Best Novella | ||
| 2024 | October Daye | Hugo Award | Best Series | ||
| 2025 | InCryptid | Hugo Award | Best Series | ||
| 2025 | Mislaid in Parts Half-Known | Locus Award | Best Novella |
| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result | . |
| 2012 | SF Squeecast | Hugo Award | Fancast | Won | |
| 2012 | Wicked Girls | Hugo Award | Hugo Award for Best Related Work | ||
| 2013 | SF Squeecast | Hugo Award | Fancast | Won |