Patricia Anne McKillip (February 29, 1948 – May 6, 2022) was an American author of

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

and

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

. She wrote predominantly standalone fantasy novels and has been called "one of the most accomplished prose stylists in the fantasy genre". Her work won many awards, including the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2008.

Personal life

McKillip was born in

Salem, Oregon Salem ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County, Oregon, Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, w ...

to Wayne and Helen ( Roth) McKillip. She grew up in Oregon, Great Britain, and Germany. She attended the College of Notre Dame ( Belmont, California) and

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

(

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

), where she earned her BA and MA degrees in English in the early 1970s. McKillip was married to David Lunde, a poet. She died on May 6, 2022, at the age of 74 at her home in

Coos Bay, Oregon Coos Bay () is a city located in Coos County, Oregon, United States, where the Coos River enters Coos Bay on the Pacific Ocean. It shares Coos Bay with the adjacent city of North Bend, Oregon, North Bend. Together, they are often referred to as ...

Career

McKillip's first publications were two short children's books, '' The Throme of the Erril of Sherill'' and '' The House on Parchment Street''. Her first novel, '' The Forgotten Beasts of Eld'', was published in 1974, when she was 26 years old, and won the

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...

in 1975. She next wrote the ''Riddle-Master'' trilogy (1976–1979), which scholar Peter Nicholls described as "a work of classic stature". It was selected as part of Gollancz's Fantasy Masterworks series. Since 1994, McKillip's writing comprised mostly standalone novels. Most of her novels feature cover paintings by Kinuko Y. Craft. On writing fantasy, she said, "The tropes of mythology and symbolism are the basics. It's like a notation in music; you can change it in really wacky ways, but the sound is always the same, the sound is always there. As long as we need these symbols, then the stories will be written. But if we destroy the old symbols, then we might just have to come up with new ones—who knows?" Critic

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (25 July 1948 – 24 February 2024) was a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who published a hundred novels and over a hundred volumes of translations. His earlier books were published under the name Br ...

described McKillip as "one of the most accomplished prose stylists in the fantasy genre", while Nicholls and

John Clute John Frederick Clute (born 12 September 1940) is a Canadian-born author and critic specializing in science fiction and fantasy literature who has lived in both England and the United States since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part ...

considered her "perhaps the most impressive author of fantasy story still active". McKillip was the Guest of Honor at the 1985 Mythcon and the 1999

World Fantasy Convention The World Fantasy Convention is an annual science fiction convention, convention of professionals, collectors, and others interested in the field of fantasy. The World Fantasy Awards are presented at the event. Other features include an art sh ...

, and in 2005 the ''

Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA), founded in 1982 is a nonprofit association of scholars, writers, and publishers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror in literature, film, and the other arts. Its principal ac ...

'' published a special issue on her work. She received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2008.

Awards

McKillip holds the record for the most Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards (four) and nominations (fifteen). She has also won World Fantasy Awards for Best Novel, as well as for Life Achievement.

Bibliography

References

Citations

Sources

External links

patriciamckillip.com
(unofficial)
McKillip at Fantastic Fiction
* *

at FantasyLiterature.net
"Vengeance as a theme in the writings of Patricia A. McKillip"
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKillip, Patricia A. 1948 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American women writers American fantasy writers American women novelists American women short story writers Novelists from Oregon San Jose State University alumni American women science fiction and fantasy writers World Fantasy Award–winning writers Writers from Salem, Oregon