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Seanan McGuire

(b.1978)

aka A Deborah Baker, Mira Grant

SEANAN McGUIRE is the author of the Wayward Children series, the October Daye urban fantasy series, the InCryptid series, and other works. She also writes darker fiction as Mira Grant. Seanan lives in Seattle with her cats, a vast collection of creepy dolls, and horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and in 2013 she became the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo ballot.

Awards: Hugo (2023), Nebula (2016) see all

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young Adult Fantasy, Horror, Mystery

New and upcoming books

September 2025

Silver and Lead
(October Daye, book 19)

January 2026

Through Gates of Garnet and Gold
(Wayward Children, book 11)

March 2026

Butterfly Effects
(InCryptid, book 15)

April 2026

Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos
(Magic: The Gathering)

June 2026

Inkpot Gods
(Alchemical Journeys, book 4)

September 2026

A Divided Duty
(October Daye, book 20)

Series

October Daye
   1. Rosemary and Rue (2009)
   2. A Local Habitation (2010)
   3. An Artificial Night (2010)
   4. Late Eclipses (2011)
   5. One Salt Sea (2011)
   6. Ashes of Honor (2012)
   7. Chimes at Midnight (2013)
   7.5. Full of Briars (2016)
   8. The Winter Long (2014)
   9. A Red-Rose Chain (2015)
   10. Once Broken Faith (2016)
   11. The Brightest Fell (2017)
   12. Night and Silence (2018)
   13. The Unkindest Tide (2019)
   14. A Killing Frost (2020)
   15. When Sorrows Come (2021)
   16. Be the Serpent (2022)
   17. Sleep No More (2023)
   18. The Innocent Sleep (2023)
   19. Silver and Lead (2025)
   20. A Divided Duty (2026)

InCryptid
   1. Discount Armageddon (2012)
   2. Midnight Blue-Light Special (2013)
   3. Half-Off Ragnarok (2014)
   4. Pocket Apocalypse (2015)
   5. Chaos Choreography (2016)
   6. Magic For Nothing (2017)
   7. Tricks for Free (2018)
   8. That Ain't Witchcraft (2019)
   9. Imaginary Numbers (2020)
   10. Calculated Risks (2021)
   11. Spelunking Through Hell (2022)
   12. Backpacking through Bedlam (2023)
   13. Aftermarket Afterlife (2024)
   14. Installment Immortality (2025)
   15. Butterfly Effects (2026)

Velveteen
   1. Velveteen vs. The Junior Super-Patriots (2012)
   2. Velveteen vs. The Multiverse (2013)
   3. Velveteen vs. The Seasons (2016)
   4. Velveteen vs. The Early Adventures (2024)

Indexing
1. Indexing (2013)
2. Reflections (2015)

Ghost Road
   1. Sparrow Hill Road (2014)
   2. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown (2018)
   3. Angel of the Overpass (2021)

Wayward Children
   1. Every Heart a Doorway (2016)
   2. Down Among the Sticks and Bones (2017)
   3. Beneath the Sugar Sky (2018)
   4. In an Absent Dream (2019)
   5. Come Tumbling Down (2020)
   6. Across the Green Grass Fields (2021)
   7. Where the Drowned Girls Go (2022)
   In Mercy, Rain (2022)
   Skeleton Song (2022)
   8. Lost in the Moment and Found (2023)
   9. Mislaid in Parts Half-Known (2024)
   10. Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear (2025)
   11. Through Gates of Garnet and Gold (2026)

Alchemical Journeys
   1. Middlegame (2019)
   2. Seasonal Fears (2022)
   3. Tidal Creatures (2024)
   4. Inkpot Gods (2026)

Novels

Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day (2017)
Indigo (2017) (with others)

Collections

   Magic & Mayhem Sampler (2019) (with others)
   Laughter at the Academy (2019)
   Dying with Her Cheer Pants on (2020)
   The Proper Thing and Other Stories (2024)

Series contributed to

Oz Reimagined
2. Emeralds to Emeralds, Dust to Dust (2013)

METAtropolis
Green Space (2013) (with others)

Carniepunk
Carniepunk (2013) (with others)
Daughter of the Midway, the Mermaid, and the Open, Lonely Sea (2014)

Tor.Com Original
   Midway Relics and Dying Breeds (2014)
   Any Way the Wind Blows (2019)
   In Mercy, Rain (2022)
   Skeleton Song (2022)

DeadLands
3. Boneyard (2017)

In Our Own Worlds
2. In Our Own Worlds #2 (2020) (with others)

Overwatch
Overwatch: Declassified (2023)

Marvel: What If . . .
2. Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker Were Siblings? (2024)

Magic: The Gathering
Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos (2026)

Omnibus editions show

Books containing stories by Seanan McGuire

The Sapphics Strike Back (2025)
(Lesbians in Space)
edited by
J S Fields, Heather Tracy and William C Tracy

Grimoire: For Seattle Worldcon 2025 (2025)
(Shadow Tower of Grimoires, book 3)
edited by
Shawn Speakman

Grimoire: For Emerald City Comic Con 2025 (2025)
(Shadow Tower of Grimoires, book 2)
edited by
Shawn Speakman

More books

Awards

	2023 Hugo Award for Best Novella : Where the Drowned Girls Go
	2020 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel : Middlegame
	2017 Locus Award for Best Novella : Every Heart a Doorway
	2017 Hugo Award for Best Novella : Every Heart a Doorway
	2016 Nebula Award for Best Novella : Every Heart a Doorway
	2010 Astounding Award for Best New Writer : Rosemary and Rue

Award nominations

	2025 Locus Award for Best Novella (finalist) : Mislaid in Parts Half-Known
	2024 Locus Award for Best Novella (nominee) : Lost in the Moment and Found
	2023 Locus Award for Best Novelette (nominee) : In Mercy, Rain
	2022 Hugo Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : Tangles
	2022 Hugo Award for Best Novella (nominee) : Across the Green Grass Fields
	2021 Locus Award for Best Novella (nominee) : Come Tumbling Down
	2021 Hugo Award for Best Novella (nominee) : Come Tumbling Down
	2020 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella (nominee) : In an Absent Dream
	2020 Locus Award for Best Novelette (nominee) : Phantoms of the Midway
	2020 Hugo Award for Best Novella (nominee) : In an Absent Dream
	2020 Hugo Award for Best Novel (nominee) : Middlegame
	2019 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella (nominee) : Beneath the Sugar Sky
	2019 Sidewise Award for Best Short-Form Alternate History (nominee) : Any Way the Wind Blows
	2019 Hugo Award for Best Novella (nominee) : Beneath the Sugar Sky
	2018 Locus Award for Best Novella (nominee) : Down Among the Sticks and Bones
	2018 Locus Award for Best Novelette (nominee) : The Mathematical Inevitability of Corvids
	2018 Hugo Award for Best Novella (nominee) : Down Among the Sticks and Bones
	2017 British Fantasy Award for Best Novella (nominee) : Every Heart a Doorway
	2013 Hugo Award for Best Novelette (nominee) : Rat-Catcher
	2013 Hugo Award for Best Novelette (nominee) : In Sea-Salt Tears
	2010 Locus Award for Best First Novel (nominee) : Rosemary and Rue

Seanan McGuire recommends

Behooved (2025)
M Stevenson
"Cinematic and engaging, sparkling and joyous. You'll fall in love just like I did. This was a ridiculous amount of fun."

Once Was Willem (2025)
M R Carey
"A wild fever dream-monstrous and beautiful."

Crypt of the Moon Spider (2024)
(Lunar Gothic Trilogy, book 1)
Nathan Ballingrud
"This short, surreal novella feels like a slice of a much larger story in the best way. A thoughtful meditation on personhood, judgment, and trauma. Not for the arachnophobic among us."

How to Become the Dark Lord (and Die Trying) (2024)
(Dark Lord Davi, book 1)
Django Wexler
"Fast-paced, brilliantly raunchy, unforgettable. The Pratchett-esque American isekai you didn't know you wanted. My favorite read of the year."

Dual Memory (2023)
Sue Burke
"Sue Burke only gets better and better. She is a genuine if unsung hero of our genre."

Sister, Maiden, Monster (2023)
Lucy A Snyder
"Absolutely recommended for readers of the cosmic and gloriously horrific."

Self-Portrait with Nothing (2022)
Aimee Pokwatka
"Self-Portrait with Nothing is a thoughtful, beautiful contemplation on identity and how we build ourselves from all the bones we're given, both by the people who love us and by the people who leave us. How is this a first novel? Gorgeously drawn characters in a new and compelling setting, this is a beautiful book that deserves to be read."

Hollywood Monsters (2022)
(Lilith , book 3)
Dana Fredsti
"Fast, fun, and unrelenting."

A Half-Built Garden (2022)
Ruthanna Emrys
"This complex, complicated, gorgeous musing on the future of humanity and the power of connection, the things we owe to each other and the essential strength of consensus, deserves to be the first contact novel that defines a generation."

Kagen the Damned (2022)
(Kagen the Damned, book 1)
Jonathan Maberry
"Kagen the Damned is a gloriously nuanced, exceptionally brutal epic fantasy crossed with cosmic horror that manages to mine new material out of a very familiar space. It's thoughtful, beautiful, awful, fresh, and very, very welcome."

Rosebud (2022)
Paul Cornell
"Beautifully written, perfectly cruel, and ultimately kind. This is Cornell at the height of his craft."

Nettle & Bone (2022)
T Kingfisher
"T. Kingfisher solidifies her place as natural and inevitable heir to the greats of her genre, while remaining clearly and unquestionably a unique voice in fantasy. This book is a modern classic and belongs alongside The Last Unicorn and Spinning Silver on your shelf."

Legends & Lattes (2022)
(Legends & Lattes, book 1)
Travis Baldree
"This is a story about following your dreams, even when they take you away from who you thought you had to be. It's sweet, beautiful and, most of all, kind. I hugely recommend this book."

Road of Bones (2022)
Christopher Golden
"You know you're reading a Christopher Golden horror joint when you signed up for a horror novel, that's why you're here, but when the bad shit starts you're like, 'wait, can I shift genres to something where these guys just get to have a nice road trip and everything's okay?'"

Nothing But Blackened Teeth (2021)
Cassandra Khaw
"This is a glorious poem, a slow motion collapse leading to the inevitable haunting. It is beautiful and it is brutal and it is heartbroken. Absolutely recommended."

Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters (2021)
Aimee Ogden
"Absolutely gorgeous and deeply moving, this novella is familiar and strange at the same time, like a new interpretation of a beloved recipe."

Hench (2020)
(Hench, book 1)
Natalie Zina Walschots
"This book is fast, furious, compelling, and angry as hell. It's a beautiful deconstruction of the superhero genre, and I'm only a little annoyed that I didn't think of it first."

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass (2020)
(Metamorphosis , book 1)
Adan Jerreat-Poole
"A unique, gripping, engaging book by a voice that the genre has been waiting for."

Deal with the Devil (2020)
(Mercenary Librarians, book 1)
Kit Rocha
"Hard-hitting, unflinching, brutally, beautifully written, and surprising even in the last act. It pulls off a few tricks I would have called cliches past redeeming. I am SO impressed."

Axiom's End (2020)
(Noumena, book 1)
Lindsay Ellis
"Axiom's End: if you enjoy first contact tales, alien cultures, inexplicable found families, beautiful chaos and elegantly constructed stories."

Stealing Thunder (2020)
(Stealing Thunder, book 1)
Alina Boyden
"This is an epic fantasy for our time, beautifully written, considerately composed, and very important in many ways. Highly recommended."

The Mother Code (2020)
Carole Stivers
"The Mother Code by Carole Stivers is brilliant, innovative, and moving."

The House in the Cerulean Sea (2020)
(Cerulean Chronicles, book 1)
TJ Klune
"Sweet, comforting, and kind, this book is very close to perfect. The House in the Cerulean Sea is a work of classic children's literature written for adults and children alike, with the perspective and delicacy of the modern day. I cannot recommend it highly enough."

Where The Sun Goes to Die (2019)
(Chronicles of Jonathan Crowley, book 9)
James A Moore
"James Moore continues to be a winner, whatever genre he's writing in."

Salvaged (2019)
Madeleine Roux
"Elegant and inevitable, this is the prose equivalent of playing a survival horror game. Each piece feeds perfectly into the next. Beautifully written."

The Library Of The Unwritten (2019)
(Hell's Library, book 1)
A J Hackwith
"It's like The Good Place meets Law & Order: Bibliophile Crime Unit. Highly recommended. This book is so much fun, and you should be reading it. Trust me. Stories about story are some of my favorite kinds. This book definitely makes the list. I am so glad I read this."

The Nobody People (2019)
(Resonant Duology, book 1)
Bob Proehl
"Thoughtful, nuanced, kinetic, and, above all, human, this is the superhero story we've been waiting for."

The Sol Majestic (2019)
Ferrett Steinmetz
"A feast of a book."

Miranda in Milan (2019)
Katharine Duckett
"Glorious and transformative, this may not be the continuation Shakespeare intended, but it is the one that we deserve."

Creatures of Want & Ruin (2018)
(Creatures , book 2)
Molly Tanzer
"Profound and enthralling. This book is a delicate dream, mixing its own internal mythology with a brutal tale of prejudice and human frailty. I can’t recommend it enough. Tanzer is absolutely one to watch."

The Phoenix Empress (2018)
(Ascendant Trilogy , book 2)
K Arsenault Rivera
"A stunning debut."

An Easy Death (2018)
(Gunnie Rose, book 1)
Charlaine Harris
"When a master of her craft offers to tell you a story, let her. The results are dazzling."

One of Us (2017)
Craig DiLouie
"This is not a kind book, or a gentle book, or a book that pulls its punches. But it's a powerful book and it will change you."

Cormorant Run (2017)
Lilith Saintcrow
"Lilith Saintcrow is at the top of her game."

Phantom Pains (2017)
(Arcadia Project, book 2)
Mishell Baker
"Smart, snappy, fast, fantastic. You will not be sorry you read this."

Gather Her Round (2017)
(Tufa, book 5)
Alex Bledsoe
"Beautifully written, surprisingly moving, and unexpected in the best ways."

Heroine Complex (2016)
(Heroine Complex, book 1)
Sarah Kuhn
"The superheroine we’ve been waiting for; the urban fantasy we deserve. Sarah Kuhn is the total package: comedy, tragedy, and sincerity. Grab your cape. We’re saving the city."

Planetfall (2015)
(Planetfall , book 1)
Emma Newman
"I have been waiting for this book for a very long time. Planetfall is gripping, thoughtful science fiction in the vein of Tiptree or Crispin. Unique, timely, and enthralling...Emma Newman has crafted a story that turns inward on itself in a beautiful spiral; the written equivalent of the golden mean. Absolutely worth your time. Science fiction is meant to show us things about ourselves that we need to know. Planetfall is some of the finest sociological science fiction I have read since Tiptree...Absolutely beautiful. What a glorious, heartbreaking maze of a book."

Within These Walls (2015)
Ania Ahlborn
"Cruel, bone chilling, and destined to become a classic, WITHIN THESE WALLS is worth the sleep it will cost you. Some of the most promising horror I’ve encountered in years."

The Witches of Echo Park (2015)
(Echo Park Coven, book 1)
Amber Benson
"Dark, delicious, and devilishly intricate. a spellbinding winner."

Attack the Geek (2014)
(Ree Reyes, book 3)
Michael R Underwood
"Underwood just keeps getting better and better. We need more urban fantasy like this."

Dirty Magic (2013)
(Prospero's War, book 1)
Jaye Wells
"DIRTY MAGIC is like nothing else currently happening in urban fantasy. Grim, gritty, and great."

The Shambling Guide to New York City (2013)
(Shambling Guides, book 1)
Mur Lafferty
"Nothing short of delightful."

The Shadow Reader (2011)
(McKenzie Lewis, book 1)
Sandy Williams
"Sexy and fun, this is a must."

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