Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal (born February 8, 1969 in Raleigh, N.C., as Mary Robinette Harrison) is an American author and puppeteer.

Mary Harrison was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, and studied at East Carolina University. She graduated with a degree in Art Education with a minor in theater, and began work as a professional puppeteer in 1989. She has performed for the Center for Puppetry Arts, Jim Henson Productions, and her own production company, Other Hand Productions. She also worked in Iceland on the children's television show LazyTown for two seasons. She was recently accepted as a participant in a Sesame Puppetry Workshop.

Kowal served as art director for Shimmer Magazine and in 2010 was named art director for Weird Tales. She served as secretary of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America for two years, and was elected to the position of SFWA vice-president in 2010. In 2008, her second year of eligibility, she won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

Kowal's work as an author includes "For Solo Cello, op. 12," (originally published in Cosmos Magazine and reprinted in Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2008 Edition,) which made the preliminary ballot for the 2007 Nebula Awards. Her fiction has also appeared in Talebones Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Apex Digest, among other venues. Her debut novel Shades of Milk and Honey was nominated for the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Novel. Two of her short fiction works have been nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story: "Evil Robot Monkey" in 2009 and "For Want of a Nail," which won the award in 2011. Her novelette, The Lady Astronaut of Mars was ineligible for the 2013 Hugo Awards because it had only been released as part of an audiobook, but was later published in text format and went on to win the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.

In 2009, she donated her archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.

After appearing several times as a guest star in the podcast, Writing Excuses, she became a full-time cast member at the start of their sixth season in 2011.

Kowal is also a voice actor, having recorded audiobook versions of books written by authors such as John Scalzi, Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow and Kage Baker.

Novels

• Shades of Milk and Honey, Tor Books, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7653-2556-3
• Glamour in Glass, Tor Books, 2012, ISBN 978-0-7653-2557-0
• Without a Summer, Tor Books, 2013, ISBN 978-0-7653-3415-2
• Valour and Vanity, Tor Books, 2014, ISBN 9780765334169
• Of Noble Family, Tor Books, 2015, ISBN 978-0-7653-7836-1
• Ghost Talkers, Tor Books, 2016, ISBN 978-0-7653-7825-5

Novellas

• Kiss Me Twice, Asimov's Science Fiction, 2011 (nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novella)
• The Lady Astronaut of Mars, Tor.com / maryrobinettekowal.com, 2013
• Forest of Memory, Tor.com / maryrobinettekowal.com, 2014

Novelettes

• A Fire in the Heavens, Shadows Beneath anthology, 2014

Collections

• Scenting the Dark and Other Stories, Subterranean Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-59606-267-2
• Word Puppets, Prime Books, 2015, ISBN 978-1-60701-456-0

Short stories

• "Just Right", The First Line, 2004
• "Rampion", The First Line, 2004
• "The Shocking Affair of the Dutch Steamship Friesland", The First Line, 2004
• "Portrait of Ari", Strange Horizons, 2006
• "Bound Man", Twenty Epics, 2006
• "Cerbo in Vitra ujo", Apex Digest, 2006
• "Locked In", Apex Digest, 2006
• "This Little Pig", Cicada, 2007
• "For Solo Cello, op. 12", Cosmos, 2007
• "Horizontal Rain", Apex Online, 2007
• "Death Comes But Twice", Talebones, 2007
• "Some Other Day", All Possible Worlds, 2007
• "Tomorrow and Tomorrow", Gratia Placenti, 2007
• "Suspension and Disbelief", Doctor Who: Short Trips: Destination Prague, 2007
• "Clockwork Chickadee", Clarkesworld Magazine, 2008
• "Scenting the Dark", Apex Online, 2008
• "Waiting for Rain", Subterranean Magazine, 2008
• "Chrysalis", Aoife’s Kiss, 2008
• "Evil Robot Monkey", The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Vol. 2, 2008 (nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story)
• "At the Edge of Dying", Clockwork Phoenix 2: More Tales of Beauty and Strangeness, 2009
• "Body Language", InterGalactic Medicine Show, 2009
• "The Consciousness Problem", Asimov's Science Fiction, 2009
• "First Flight", Tor.com, 2009
• "Ginger Stuyvesant and the Case of the Haunted Nursery", Talebones, 2009
• "Jaiden’s Weaver", Diamonds in the Sky: An Astronomical Anthology, 2009
• "Prayer at Dark River", Innsmouth Free Press, 2009
• "Ring Road", Dark Faith Anthology, 2010
• "The Bride Replete", Apex Online, 2010
• "Beyond the Garden Close", Apex Online, 2010
• "Typewriter Triptych", Sharable.net, 2010
• "For Want of a Nail", Asimov's Science Fiction, 2010 (winner of the Hugo Award for Best Short Story)
• "Salt of the Earth", Redstone SF, 2010
• "American Changeling", Daily Science Fiction, 2010
• "Changement d’itinéraire (Changed Itinerary)", Légendes, 2010
• "Birthright", 2020 Visions, 2010
• "Water to Wine", METAtropolis: Cascadiopolis, 2010
• "We Interrupt This Broadcast", The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination, 2013