Seanan McGuire

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 [Seanan]". 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 (SFWA), the Horror Writers Association (HWA), and the Book View Cafe publishing cooperative.

Notable works

Main article: Seanan McGuire bibliography

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
• 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. 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 (as Mira Grant) was inducted in to the Darrell Awards Hall of Fame for the best American Mid-South regional speculative fiction.

Filk awards

Pegasus Award presented by the Ohio Valley Filk Festival.

Personal life

McGuire was diagnosed as autistic in 2020 and has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She identifies as pansexual, bisexual, and demisexual.

McGuire lives in Washington state.

Notes

References

References

1. "Seanan McGuire: General FAQ".
2. (2017-12-11). "Seanan McGuire: Out of Sync".
3. McGuire, Seanan. (March 6, 2018). "Tricks for Free". Astra Publishing House.
4. McGuire, Seanan. (2023-06-13). "Because there are often diametric conflicts in the way I describe my childhood: I have two parents. Most people do. They were not married. My mother had primary custody, two other children, no money, and an abusive husband who targeted me.".
5. McGuire, Seanan. (2023-06-13). "My father had the carnival, where I had my own wagon, and was allowed a certain amount of feral, emotionally-damaged autonomy. He only got me during the summers.".
6. "Yes, I am ethnically Irish (and Romany, on my father's side). I have a very Irish name. This doesn't make me culturally Irish. I am privileged to be a guest in the land of my ancestors.".
7. McGuire, Seanan. (2023-06-13). "So yes, my childhood was simultaneously unspeakable horrors in an apartment with cockroaches and no heat, and Bradbury-esque running wild and unfettered through farmers' fields, building Ferris wheels and living on funnel cake. Real life gets to contradict.".
8. McGuire, Seanan. (Jan 30, 2020). "And the answer is that people with OCD exist. I have OCD, and I exist. I'm not looking for a cure; I have the childhood onset form of the condition, meaning I was diagnosed at the age of nine.".
9. O'Connor, Amy. (2015-08-23). "This story of a lizard getting trapped inside a man's leg is pure nightmare fuel".
10. "Bibliography".
11. "Albums".
12. Mayer, Petra. (July 22, 2018). "Readers See Themselves In The Many Worlds Of Seanan McGuire".
13. Posts Tagged ‘Seanan Mcguire’. Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. https://www.sfwa.org/tag/seanan-mcguire/
14. (2 November 2017). "New Treasures: Deadlands: Boneyard by Seanan McGuire – Black Gate".
15. "Velveteen vs. The Aftermath.".
16. Flood, Alison. (31 March 2013). "Seanan McGuire gets record five nominations for Hugo awards". [[The Guardian]].
17. (2018-02-12). "Alex Awards Tor Press Release".
18. "Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2010". Publishersweekly.com.
19. "The Darrell Awards".
20. (5 Sep 2010). "Announcing the 2010 Hugo Award Winners!". [[Reactor (magazine).
21. (3 Jun 2011). "Winners of 2010 Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Awards".
22. (18 Jul 2011). "2010 Shirley Jackson Award Winners".
23. (2012-01-10). "2011 Philip K. Dick Award Nominees".
24. (5 May 2011). "2011 Audie Awards Finalists".
25. (24 Apr 2011). "2011 Hugo Finalists". [[Reactor (magazine).
26. (2 Sep 2012). "2012 Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners". [[Locus (magazine).
27. (7 Nov 2012). "2012 Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Nominees".
28. (1 Sep 2013). "2013 Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners".
29. (15 Aug 2014). "2014 Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners".
30. (1 Apr 2016). "Fischer and Schmatz Win Tiptree".
31. (20 May 2017). "2016 Nebula Awards Winners". [[Locus (magazine).
32. (14 Mar 2017). "McLemore Wins 2016 Tiptree Award".
33. (2 May 2018). "2017 Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Winners".
34. (13 Feb 2018). "Alex Awards 2017".
35. (2 Oct 2017). "2017 British Fantasy Awards Winners".
36. (11 Aug 2017). "2017 Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners". [[Locus (magazine).
37. (24 Jun 2017). "2017 Locus Awards Winners".
38. (26 Jul 2017). "2017 World Fantasy Award Finalists".
39. (12 Feb 2018). "2018 ALA Awards".
40. (20 Aug 2018). "2018 Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners".
41. (23 Jun 2018). "2018 Locus Awards Winners".
42. (12 Feb 2018). "RUSA 2018 Selections".
43. (1 Oct 2018). "2018 Geffen Awards Winners".
44. (20 Dec 2021). "2019 and 2020 Sidewise Awards Winners".
45. (19 Aug 2019). "2019 Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners".
46. (3 Nov 2019). "2019 World Fantasy Awards Winners".
47. (11 Nov 2019). "2019 Endeavour Award Winner".
48. (1 Aug 2020). "2020 Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Awards Winners".
49. (2 Nov 2020). "World Fantasy Awards Winners".
50. (27 Jan 2020). "2020 Youth Media Award Winners".
51. (16 Nov 2020). "2020 Endeavour Award Winners".
52. (27 Jun 2020). "2020 Locus Awards Winners".
53. (10 Apr 2023). "Satifka Wins 2021 Endeavour Award".
54. (19 Dec 2021). "2021 Hugo, Astounding, and Lodestar Awards Winners". [[Locus Online]].
55. (26 Jun 2021). "2021 Locus Awards Winners".
56. (4 Sep 2022). "2022 Hugo, Astounding, and Lodestar Awards Winners".
57. (13 Nov 2023). "2022 Endeavour Award".
58. (25 Jun 2023). "2023 Locus Awards Winners".
59. (21 Oct 2023). "2023 Hugo, Astounding, and Lodestar Awards Winners". [[Locus (magazine).
60. (21 Oct 2024). "Owen Wins Endeavour". [[Locus (magazine).
61. (22 Jun 2024). "2024 Locus Awards Winners". [[Locus (magazine).
62. (11 Aug 2024). "2024 Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Awards Winners". [[Locus (magazine).
63. (16 Aug 2025). "2025 Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Awards Winners". [[Locus (magazine).
64. (21 Jun 2025). "2025 Locus Awards Winners". [[Locus (magazine).
65. "Seanan McGuire".
66. McGuire, Seanan. (Mar 23, 2023). "I was diagnosed autistic in 2020, which surprised absolutely no one, and is not a useful thing to use when trying to mock me. You can do better.".
67. McGuire, Seanan. (Aug 7, 2022). "It absolutely is. And my ADHD is running the schedule right now.".
68. McGuire, Seanan. (Oct 23, 2022). "Me: "I wonder if my new ADHD meds are working." Also me: "Oh, I got up at 6am and got right to work, I'm already 1,500 words into my day, why are you looking at me like that?"".
69. (2017-09-07). "Women in Queer SFF: Interview with Seanan McGuire".
70. McGuire, Seanan. (2015-04-22). "I am not a lesbian when I am with a woman. I am not straight when I am with a man. I am not asexual when I am with neither. I'm bi.".
71. McGuire, Seanan. (2017-02-13). "My name is pronounced SHAWN-in, and while there are many aspects to the book that are not mine, I identify as demisexual.".