Vonda McIntyre
Encyclopedia
Vonda Neel McIntyre is an American science fiction
author.
from the University of Washington
in 1970. That same year, she attended the Clarion Writers Workshop
, founded at the Clarion University of Pennsylvania
in 1968. McIntyre went on to do graduate work in genetics
.
In 1971, McIntyre founded the Clarion West Writers Workshop
in Seattle, WA with the support of Clarion founder Robin Scott Wilson. She contributed to the workshop until 1973.
By 1973, McIntyre had won her first Nebula Award
, for the novelette "Of Mist, and Grass and Sand"; this later became part of the novel Dreamsnake
(1978), which won both the Hugo
and Nebula Awards. The novelette and novel both concern a female healer in a desolate, primitivized venue.
McIntyre's debut novel, The Exile Waiting, was published in 1975. She has also written a number of Star Trek
and Star Wars
novels, including Enterprise: The First Adventure and The Entropy Effect
. She wrote the novelizations of the films Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
.
It was McIntyre who came up with Hikaru
as the first name of the Star Trek character Mr. Sulu
, which became canon after Peter David
, author of the comic book
adaptation, visited the set of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
and convinced director Nicholas Meyer
to insert the name into the film's script.
Biocontrol is a learned ability to control aspects of one's own physiology that are normally autonomic. Its most important use is for birth control; practitioners apparently change the body temperature around their testes or ovaries so as to render their genetic material unviable. A character's experiences learning biocontrol are a plot thread in Dreamsnake; it is also mentioned in the Starfarers series (where it is also used to retard male beard growth) and the Star Trek III novelization (where characters mention taking formal biocontrol exams).
In the Star Trek II novelization, one of the characters discusses a computer game he has written, named "Boojum Hunt." In Barbary, a character refers to a computer game named "Snarks and Boojums." Both are references to Lewis Carroll's
poem The Hunting of the Snark
.
Robert A. Heinlein
in part dedicated his 1982 novel Friday
"to ...Vonda, ...".
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
author.
Biography
Vonda N. McIntyre, daughter of H. Neel and Vonda B. Keith McIntyre, earned a degree in biologyBiology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
from the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
in 1970. That same year, she attended the Clarion Writers Workshop
Clarion Workshop
Clarion is a six-week workshop for new and aspiring science fiction and fantasy writers. Originally an outgrowth of Knight and Wilhelm's Milford Writers' Conference, held at their home in Milford, Pennsylvania, USA, it was founded in 1968 by Robin Scott Wilson at Clarion State College in...
, founded at the Clarion University of Pennsylvania
Clarion University of Pennsylvania
Clarion University of Pennsylvania, located on a campus in Clarion, Pennsylvania, is one of fourteen universities of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education ....
in 1968. McIntyre went on to do graduate work in genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
.
In 1971, McIntyre founded the Clarion West Writers Workshop
Clarion West Writers Workshop
Clarion West Writers Workshop is an intensive six-week program for writers preparing for professional careers in science fiction and fantasy. It runs yearly late June through the end of July. The workshop is limited to 18 students per year. Each of the six weeks is instructed by a different...
in Seattle, WA with the support of Clarion founder Robin Scott Wilson. She contributed to the workshop until 1973.
By 1973, McIntyre had won her first Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
, for the novelette "Of Mist, and Grass and Sand"; this later became part of the novel Dreamsnake
Dreamsnake
Dreamsnake is a 1978 science fiction novel written by Vonda McIntyre. Dreamsnake won the 1979 Hugo Award, the 1978 Nebula Award, and the 1979 Locus Award. The novel follows a healer on her quest to replace her "dreamsnake", a small snake which produces venom which produces torpor and...
(1978), which won both the Hugo
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
and Nebula Awards. The novelette and novel both concern a female healer in a desolate, primitivized venue.
McIntyre's debut novel, The Exile Waiting, was published in 1975. She has also written a number of Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
and Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
novels, including Enterprise: The First Adventure and The Entropy Effect
The Entropy Effect
The Entropy Effect is a novel by Vonda N. McIntyre set in the fictional Star Trek Universe. It was originally published in 1981 by Pocket Books and is the second in its long running series of Star Trek novels .-Plot summary:The Enterprise is engaged...
. She wrote the novelizations of the films Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a 1982 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. The film is the second feature based on the Star Trek science fiction franchise. The plot features James T...
, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is a 1984 motion picture released by Paramount Pictures. The film is the third feature based on the Star Trek science fiction franchise and is the center of a three-film story arc that begins with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and concludes with Star Trek IV:...
, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a 1986 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth feature film based on the Star Trek science fiction television series and completes the story arc begun in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and continued in Star Trek III: The...
.
It was McIntyre who came up with Hikaru
Hikaru
is a Japanese verb meaning , and it is the dictionary form of the word . It is also a Japanese given name that can be given to either sex and rarely used as a surname.-Possible writings:Hikaru can be written using different kanji characters and can mean:...
as the first name of the Star Trek character Mr. Sulu
Hikaru Sulu
Hikaru Sulu is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by George Takei in the original Star Trek series, Sulu also appears in the animated Star Trek series, the first six Star Trek movies, one episode of Star Trek: Voyager, and in numerous books, comics, and video games...
, which became canon after Peter David
Peter David
Peter Allen David , often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, movies and video games...
, author of the comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
adaptation, visited the set of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is the sixth feature film in the Star Trek science fiction franchise and is the last of the Star Trek films to include the entire main cast of the 1960s Star Trek television series. Released in 1991 by Paramount Pictures, it was directed by Nicholas Meyer and...
and convinced director Nicholas Meyer
Nicholas Meyer
Nicholas Meyer is an American screenwriter, producer, director and novelist, known best for his best-selling novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, and for directing the films Time After Time, two of the Star Trek feature film series, and the 1983 television movie The Day After.Meyer graduated from...
to insert the name into the film's script.
Recurring story elements
Two story elements which McIntyre uses in many of her stories (regardless of their very different settings) are divers and biocontrol. Divers are humans who have been genetically modified to live underwater, although they retain their ability to breathe air as well. Their traits include gills, insulating fur, webbing on the fingers and toes to aid swimming, the ability to produce and hear sounds in the range used by cetaceans for communication, and retractable penises for males. Superluminal has a diver protagonist and extensive discussion of that novel's Earth diver culture; they are also featured in the Starfarers series, and a reference to divers is made in the Star Trek IV novelization.Biocontrol is a learned ability to control aspects of one's own physiology that are normally autonomic. Its most important use is for birth control; practitioners apparently change the body temperature around their testes or ovaries so as to render their genetic material unviable. A character's experiences learning biocontrol are a plot thread in Dreamsnake; it is also mentioned in the Starfarers series (where it is also used to retard male beard growth) and the Star Trek III novelization (where characters mention taking formal biocontrol exams).
In the Star Trek II novelization, one of the characters discusses a computer game he has written, named "Boojum Hunt." In Barbary, a character refers to a computer game named "Snarks and Boojums." Both are references to Lewis Carroll's
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
poem The Hunting of the Snark
The Hunting of the Snark
The Hunting of the Snark is usually thought of as a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll in 1874, when he was 42 years old...
.
Awards & tributes
- Dreamsnake — 1978 Hugo Award, 1979 Nebula Award, both for Best Novel
- The Moon and the SunThe Moon and the SunThe Moon and the Sun is a 1996 fantasy novel by Vonda McIntyre. It won both the Nebula Award and the Intergalactic Award for Best Novel in 1997....
— 1997 Nebula Award
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
in part dedicated his 1982 novel Friday
Friday (novel)
Friday is a 1982 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. It is the story of a female "artificial person," the titular character, genetically engineered to be stronger, faster, smarter, and generally better than normal humans...
"to ...Vonda, ...".
Non-series novels
- The Exile Waiting (1975)
- DreamsnakeDreamsnakeDreamsnake is a 1978 science fiction novel written by Vonda McIntyre. Dreamsnake won the 1979 Hugo Award, the 1978 Nebula Award, and the 1979 Locus Award. The novel follows a healer on her quest to replace her "dreamsnake", a small snake which produces venom which produces torpor and...
(1978) - Superluminal (1983)
- The Bride (1985)
- BarbaryBarbary (novel)Barbary is a 1986 science fiction novel written by Vonda McIntyre about an orphan and her cat moving to a space station. It is considered one of the best science fiction stories of the decade for children and young adults.-Plot summary:...
(1986) - The Moon and the SunThe Moon and the SunThe Moon and the Sun is a 1996 fantasy novel by Vonda McIntyre. It won both the Nebula Award and the Intergalactic Award for Best Novel in 1997....
(1997)
Starfarers
- Starfarers (1989)
- Transition (1991)
- Metaphase (1992)
- Nautilus (1994)
Star Trek - The Original Series
- The Entropy EffectThe Entropy EffectThe Entropy Effect is a novel by Vonda N. McIntyre set in the fictional Star Trek Universe. It was originally published in 1981 by Pocket Books and is the second in its long running series of Star Trek novels .-Plot summary:The Enterprise is engaged...
(1981), (Book 2) - Enterprise: The First Adventure (1986)
Star Trek - movies
- Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982), (Book 7)
- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), (Book 17)
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
- Duty, Honor, Redemption (2004) (collection of the above three novelizations)
Short stories
- Breaking Point
- Venture Science Fiction MagazineVenture Science Fiction MagazineVenture Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, first published from 1957 to 1958, and revived for a brief run in 1969 and 1970. Ten issues were published of the 1950s version, with another six in the second run. It was founded in both instances as a companion to The...
(1970)
- Cages
- Quark/4Quark/4Quark/4 is a 1971 anthology of short stories and poetry edited by Samuel R. Delany and Marilyn Hacker. It is the fourth and final volume in the Quark series. The stories and poems are original to this anthology with the exception of "Voortrekker" which had previously appeared in the magazine...
(1971)
- Only at Night
- Clarion (1971)
- Fireflood and Other Stories (1979)
- The Galactic Clock
- Generation (1972)
- The Genius Freaks
- Orbit 12 (1973)
- Fireflood and Other Stories (1979)
- Spectra
- Orbit 11 (1973)
- Fireflood and Other Stories (1979)
- Wings
- The Alien Condition (1973)
- Fireflood and Other Stories (1979)
- Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand
- Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (October 1973)
- Best SF of the Year 3 (1974)
- Nebula Award Stories 9 (1974)
- Women of Wonder (1975)
- Looking Ahead (1975)
- The Infinite Web (1977)
- The Best of Analog (1978)
- Dreamsnake (1978)
- Fireflood and Other Stories (1979)
- Arbor House Treasury of Modern SF (1980)
- Constellations (1980)
- The Analog Anthology #1 (1980)
- The Road to Science Fiction #4 (1982)
- The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume IV (1986)
- 6 Decades: The Best of Analog (1986)
- Great Science Fiction of the 20th Century (1987)
- The Best of the Nebulas (1989)
- Recourse, Inc.
- Alternities (1974)
- Fireflood and Other Stories (1979)
- The Mountains of Sunset, the Mountains of Dawn
- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (February 1974)
- Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year (1975)
- Fireflood and Other Stories (1979)
- Norton Book of SF (1993)
- Screwtop (Novella)
- The Crystal Ship (1976)
- The New Women of Wonder (1978)
- Fireflood and Other Stories (1979)
- Screwtop / The Girl Who Was Plugged In (1989)
- Thanatos
- Future Power (1976)
- The End's Beginning
- Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (September 1976)
- Fireflood and Other Stories (1979)
- Aztecs
- 2076: The American Tricentennial (1977)
- Best SF of the Year 7 (1978)
- Fireflood and Other Stories (1979)
- Nebula Winners 13 (1980)
- The Serpent's Death
- Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (February 1978)
- Dreamsnake (1978)
- The Broken Dome
- Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (March 1978)
- Dreamsnake (1978)
- Fireflood
- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (November 1979)
- Fireflood and Other Stories (1979)
- Best SF of the Year 9 (1980)
- Shadows, Moving
- Interfaces (1980)
- Elfleda
- New Dimensions 12 (1981)
- Unicorns! (1982)
- Looking for Satan
- Shadows of Sanctuary (1981)
- Lythande (1986)
- The Straining Your Eyes Through the Viewscreen Blues
- Nebula Winners 15 (1981)
- Transit
- Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (October 1983)
- Malheur Maar
- Full Spectrum 2 (1989)
- Steelcollar Worker
- Analog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
(November 1992)
- The Adventure of the Field Theorems
- Sherlock Holmes in Orbit (1995)
- The Sea Monster's Song
- Odyssey, Issue 1 (November/December 1997)
- Little Faces
- The Year's Best Science Fiction Twenty-Third Annual Collection (2006)