Taral Wayne

Wayne MacDonald (October 12, 1951 – July 31, 2024), known by his pen name Taral Wayne, was a Canadian science fiction fan artist who was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist eleven times, from 1987 to 2012. In October 2008 he received the annual Rotsler Award. In recognition of his contributions to science fiction fandom, particularly Canadian fandom, Taral was named Fan Guest of Honour by the 2009 Worldcon, Anticipation.

The pen name Taral originated from a fictional synthetic language, Siroihin, that he described in one of his early science fiction fanzines.

Career Born in Toronto, Ontario, on October 12, 1951, Wayne began his involvement in science fiction fandom in 1971 when he joined the Ontario Science Fiction Club (OSFiC). Over the years he contributed art and writing to a wide variety of amateur and semi-professional fanzines, as well as publishing his own—Red Shift, Delta Psi, Synapse, New Toy and others. restoration of Vaughn Bodé art appearing in fanzines for Rare & Well Done Bode, research and illustration for John Robert Colombo's book Years of Light (Hounslow Press, 1982). He also made contributions to The Fantasy Showcase Tarot Deck (Bruce Pelz, 1980) and Tank Vixens Card Game (United Publications, 2004).

In addition to his art, Taral sold a small number of articles and short stories, worked on TV and cartoon presentations, produced several CDs of art and fan writing, sold tee-shirts, and even designed a postal cancellation for the 1978 Worldcon. The bulk of Taral's career, though, was the creation of art for private commissions, numbering more than 3,000 inked, coloured, or penciled works.

Taral resided in the Parkdale district of Toronto. While still possessing close ties to science fiction fandom, he was rather an outsider in the comics community. In early 2017 he suffered a stroke, from which he subsequently began a slow recovery. He died at his home on July 31, 2024, at the age of 72.