Seanan McGuire

Seanan McGuire ( ; 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.

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 [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.

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 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

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.

+ Awards for literature Year Work Award Category Result Ref. 2010 — John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer — Feed Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award Science Fiction Novel Shirley Jackson Award Novel 2011 Deadline Philip K. Dick Award — Feed Audie Award Audie Award for Science Fiction Hugo Award Best Novel 2012 Hugo Award Best Novella Blackout Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award Science Fiction Novel Deadline Hugo Award Best Novel Hugo Award Best Novelette 2015 James Tiptree Jr. Award — 2016Every Heart a Doorway Nebula Award Best Novella James Tiptree Jr. Award — 2017 Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award Fantasy Novel Every Heart a Doorway Alex Awards — British Fantasy Award Best Novella Hugo Award Best Novella Locus Award Best Novella World Fantasy Award Novella October Daye Hugo Award Best Series Hugo Award Best Novella Locus Award Best Novella RUSA Award Fantasy Every Heart a Doorway Geffen Award Best Translated Fantasy Book InCryptid Hugo Award Best Series Beneath the Sugar Sky Hugo Award Best Novella World Fantasy Award Novella Endeavour Award — October Daye Hugo Award Best Series World Fantasy Award Novella InCryptid Hugo Award Best Series Endeavour Award — Hugo Award Best Novel Locus Award Best Novelette Come Tumbling Down Hugo Award Best Novella Locus Award Best Novella Ghost-Spider Vol. 1: Dog Days Are Over Hugo Award Best Graphic Story Be the Serpent Endeavour Award — Hugo Award Best Short Story October Daye Hugo Award Best Series Sleep No More Endeavour Award — Where the Drowned Girls Go Hugo Award Best Novella October Daye Hugo Award Best Series 2025 InCryptid Hugo Award Best Series Mislaid in Parts Half-Known Locus Award Best Novella 2026 October Daye Hugo Award Best Series + Other awards Year !! Work !! Award !! Category !! Result !! .

SF Squeecast (with Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Lynne M. Thomas, and Catherynne M. Valente) Hugo Award Fancast

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.