Hugo winning science fiction author Vonda McIntyre has lost her battle with cancer, as reported by caregiver and friend Jeanne Gomoll. While in hospice care, she slipped away at approximately 6:25 pm Pacific time, Monday, April 1, 2019, having been diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer on February 7. The cancer was unfortunately aggressive.
Vonda McIntyre was one of the strongest and most unique voices in science fiction. She has won both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards, and was nominated for the Locus Poll Award, the Sturgeon Award, and the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. She shared her gifts and has mentored many writers of speculative fiction, through her work with Clarion Workshop in Pennsylvania, and founded Clarion West Writers Workshop in Washington.
Ms. McIntyre’s books include: Dreamsnake (1978), which won both the Hugo and the Nebula in ’79, The Moon and the Sun (1997), which won the Nebula in 1998, nominated for the Locus Poll Award and the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, Starfarers (1989), and the novelizations of The Wrath of Khan and the Search for Spock. as well as many other novels, novellas, and short form fiction.
It is hard to fully express how much Ms. McIntyre meant to the science fiction community. Her generous and nuturing nature has helped launch many a writing career, and she was a favorite at science fiction literary conventions wherever she went.
While we are saddened by the knowledge that there will be no more pleasant conversations and chance encounters with Vonda McIntyre, no more guiding words, and no more of her smiles, so long as we remember her, she will never truly leave us.
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Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress #30”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions, Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.
