Maureen F. McHugh (born February 13, 1959) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. Her deubt novel, China Mountain Zhang (1992), earned her the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, the Locus Award for Best First Novel, and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men's Science Fiction/Fantasy. She has also won a Hugo Award for her story "The Lincoln Train" (1995) and the Shirley Jackson Award for her collection After the Apocalypse (2011). In addition to authoring novels and short stories, McHugh has written for alternate reality games such as I Love Bees (2004) and Year Zero (2007).
Early life and education McHugh was born February 13, 1959, in Loveland, Ohio. She studied at Ohio University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in 1981. In 1984, she received a master's degree in English literature from New York University.
Career
McHugh published her first story in Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine in 1988, under the pseudonym Michael Galloglach. This was followed by a pair of publications under her own name in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in 1989. Since then, she has written four novels and over twenty short stories.
Her first novel, China Mountain Zhang (1992), was nominated for both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, and won the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. In 1996, she won a Hugo Award for her short story "The Lincoln Train" (1995). Her short story collection Mothers and Other Monsters was shortlisted as a finalist for the Story Prize in December 2005. In 2013, she was a Readercon guest of honor with Patricia A. McKillip.
McHugh has worked as a writer and/or managing editor for numerous alternate reality game projects, including Year Zero and I Love Bees for 42 Entertainment. Since 2009 she has been a partner at No Mimes Media, an alternate reality game company that she co-founded with Steve Peters and Behnam Karbassi.
Works
Prose Fiction
Novels China Mountain Zhang (1992, Tor Books, ) Half the Day Is Night (1994, Tor Books, ) Mission Child (1998, Avon Eos, ) Nekropolis (2001, HarperCollins Eos, )
Collections and chapbooks Mothers and Other Monsters (2005, short story collection, Small Beer Press, ) Plugged In (2008, Aqueduct Press, chapbook, with L. Timmel Duchamp, ) After the Apocalypse (2011, short story collection, Small Beer Press, )
Short stories "All in a Day's Work" (1988, credited as Michael Galloglach, Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine) "Baffin Island" (August 1989, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine) "Kites" (October 1989, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine) "The Queen of Marincite" (March 1990, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine) "The Beast" (March 1992, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine) "Protection" (April 1992, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine) "The Missionary's Child" (October 1992, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine) "Render unto Caesar" (December 1992, Asimov's Science Fiction) "A Coney Island of the Mind" (February 1993, Asimov's Science Fiction) "Whispers" (with David B. Kisor, April 1993, Asimov's Science Fiction) "A Foreigner's Christmas in China" (November 1993, in Christmas Ghosts, Martin H. Greenberg & Mike Resnick, DAW Books) "Tut's Wife" (1993, in Alternate Warriors, Mike Resnick, Tor Books) "Virtual Love" (January 1994, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction) "Nekropolis" (April 1994, Asimov's Science Fiction) "The Ballad of Ritchie Valenzuela" (October 1994, in Alternate Outlaws, Mike Resnick, Tor Books) "Joss" (February 1995, Asimov's Science Fiction) "The Lincoln Train" (1995, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction) "In the Air" (November 1995, in Killing Me Softly: Erotic Tales of Unearthly Love, Gardner Dozois, HarperPrism) "Learning to Breathe" (Fall 1995/Winter 1996, Tales of the Unanticipated #15) "The Cost to Be Wise" (1996, in Starlight 1, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Tor Books) "Homesick" (1996, in Intersections: The Sycamore Hill Anthology, Richard Butner, John Kessel, & Mark L. Van Name, Tor Books) "Strings" (November 1996, Science Fiction Age) "Interview: On Any Given Day" (2001, in Starlight 3, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Tor Books) "Presence" (March 2002, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction) "Makeover" (October 2002, Infinite Matrix) "Laika Comes Back Safe" (2002, in Polyphony, Volume 1, Deborah Layne & Jay Lake, Wheatland Press) "Frankenstein's Daughter" (April 2003, Sci Fiction) "Eight-Legged Story" (August 2003, in Trampoline, Kelly Link, Small Beer Press) "Ancestor Money" (October 2003, Sci Fiction) "Oversite" (September 2004, Asimov's Science Fiction) "Wicked" (July/August 2005, Angle) "The Lost Boy: A Reporter at Large" (October 2007, in Eclipse One: New Science Fiction and Fantasy, Jonathan Strahan, Night Shade Books) "Kingdom of the Blind" (2008, in Plugged In, Aqueduct Press) "Special Economics" (2008, in The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Ellen Datlow, Del Rey) "Going to France" (June 2008, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet #22) "Useless Things" (2009, Eclipse Three: New Science Fiction and Fantasy, Jonathan Strahan, Night Shade Books) "The Naturalist" (Spring 2010, Subterranean) "After the Apocalypse" (2011, in After the Apocalypse, Small Beer Press) "Honeymoon" (2011, in After the Apocalypse, Small Beer Press) "The Effect of Centrifugal Forces" (2011, in After the Apocalypse, Small Beer Press) "The Memory Book" (March 2013, in Queen Victoria's Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, Tor Books) "Dead Fads" (July 2013, in Readercon 24 Souvenir Book, Richard Duffy & Ellen Brody, Readercon) "Sidewalks" (Winter 2017, Omni) "Cannibal Acts" (2017) "'The Starfish Girl'" (July 2018, Slate) "Under the Hill" (September 2019, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction) "Yellow and the Perception of Reality" (2020, Tor.com) "The Goldfish Man" (March 2022, Uncanny Magazine #45) "Prospect Heights" (January 2023, Uncanny Magazine #50) "Just a Nudge" (August 2023, in The Book of Witches, Jonathan Strahan, Harper Voyager) "Liminal Spaces" (January 2024, Tor.com)
Essays
"The Anti-SF Novel" (August 1999, Tales of the Unanticipated #20)
Poems
"Zoo Babies" (Spring 2002, Full Unit Hookup #1) "Alternate History" (August 2003, Asimov's Science Fiction) "Les Brown's Band of Renown" (2004, Say... #4)
Alternate reality games I Love Bees: Writer and Managing Editor (2004) Last Call Poker: Writer and Managing Editor (2005) Year Zero: Writer (2007)
Awards and honors + Year Award Category Work Result1993 Hugo Award Novel China Mountain Zhang Novella"Protection" Lambda Literary Award Gay Men's Science Fiction/Fantasy China Mountain Zhang James Tiptree Jr. Award - Locus Award First Novel Nebula Award Novel Novella"Protection" 1995Locus Award Novelette"Nekropolis" Short Story"Virtual Love" Nebula Award Novelette"Nekropolis" Short Story"Virtual Love" Sidewise Award Short Form Alternate History"The Lincoln Train" Theodore Sturgeon Award -"Nekropolis" 1996Hugo Award Short Story"The Lincoln Train" Locus Award Short Story Nebula Award Short Story 1997 Hugo Award Novella "The Cost to Be Wise" Locus Award Novella Short Story"Strings" Nebula Award Novella "The Cost to Be Wise" 1998 James Tiptree Jr. Award - Mission Child 1999 Gaylactic Spectrum Award Hall of Fame China Mountain Zhang Nebula Award Novel Mission Child 2002 John W. Campbell Memorial Award - Nekropolis Locus Award Science Fiction Novel Theodore Sturgeon Award - "Interview: On Any Given Day" 2003 Hugo Award Novelette"Presence" 2004 World Fantasy Award Short Fiction "Ancestor Money" 2009 James Tiptree Jr. Award - "Useless Things" Theodore Sturgeon Award "Special Economics" 2010 Locus Award Short Story 2011 James Tiptree Jr. Award - "After the Apocalypse" Locus Award Novelette "The Naturalist" 2012 Collection After the Apocalypse: Stories Philip K. Dick Award - Shirley Jackson Award Collection World Fantasy Award Collection 2014 Shirley Jackson Award Short Fiction "The Memory Book" 2018 Theodore Sturgeon Award - "Sidewalks" 2021 "Yellow and the Perception of Reality" 2023 Locus Award Short Story "The Goldfish Man"
Notes
References
External links
Maureen McHugh's blog No Mimes Media