Una McCormack (born 13 January 1972) is a British-Irish academic, scriptwriter and novelist. She is the author of ''The Baba Yaga'' (2015) and ''The Star of the Sea'' (2016), two books in the ''Weird Space'' series from UK science fiction publisher Abaddon Books. McCormack taught at

Anglia Ruskin University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public university in East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins are in the Cambridge School of Art, founded by William John Beamont in 1858. It became a university in 1992, and was renamed after John Ruskin in ...

, as a lecturer in

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literar ...

. She was also a co-director of the

Centre for Science Fiction and Fantasy. She is best known as the author of numerous tie-in novels based on the science fiction TV series ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vario ...

'' and '' Doctor Who''.

Early life

McCormack was born on 13 January 1972 in

St Helens, Merseyside St Helens () is a town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 102,629. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, which had a population of 176,843 at the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census. St Helens i ...

. She is the youngest of six children born to Gerald James McCormack and Kathleen McCormack (née Towey), both primary school teachers. She was educated at Carmel College, St Helens, then studied for a BA in History and Social and Political Science at

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicent ...

, followed by an MSc in Psychology at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

and a PhD in Sociology at the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institu ...

Published works

McCormack's first professionally published fiction was a short story, "A Time and a Place", published in issue 197 of ''

Doctor Who Magazine ''Doctor Who Magazine'' (abbreviated as ''DWM'') is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. Launched in 1979 as ''Doctor Who Weekly'', the magazine became a monthly publication the follo ...

'' in 1993. Her fan fiction based on the television series ''

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (abbreviated as ''DS9'') is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller. The fourth series in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise, it originally aired in syndication from ...

'' led to her being commissioned to write a story, "Face Value", for the ''Prophet and Change'' anthology collection published by

Pocket Books Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books. History Pocket Books produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in the United States in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishin ...

in 2003. Her first ''DS9'' novel, ''Cardassia: The Lotus Flower'', was published in 2004. This was followed by five more ''Star Trek'' novels: ''Hollow Men'' (2005) ''The Never-Ending Sacrifice'' (2009), ''Brinkmanship'' (2012), the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' bestselling ''The Fall: The Crimson Shadow'' (2013) and ''The Missing'' (2014). Her latest ''DS9'' novel, ''Enigma Tales'', was published in 2017. She's also written two Star Trek Discovery novels, ''The Way to the Stars'' (2019) and ''Wonderlands'' (2021), the first Picard novel, ''The Last Best Hope'' (2020), and the "Autobiographies" of Kathryn Janeway (2020) and Mr Spock (2021). She has written four ''Doctor Who'' novels for the official New Series Adventures range published by

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadca ...

: '' The King's Dragon'' (2010), ''

The Way Through the Woods ''The Way Through the Woods'' is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the tenth novel in the Inspector Morse series. It received the Gold Dagger Award in 1992. The novel was adapted for television in 1995, as an episode of the ''Inspector Morse'' se ...

'' (2011), '' Royal Blood'' (2015) and ''Molten Heart'' (2018), and another ''Doctor Who'' novel, ''All Flesh is Grass'' (2020), for the '' Time Lord Victorious'' multi-platform story event. McCormack wrote the original ''

Firefly The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

'' novel ''Carnival'', published by

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and ...

in November 2021. McCormack has also written ''The Undefeated'', a work of original fiction, published in May 2019. McCormack has also written numerous audio dramas, based on ''Doctor Who'', ''Star Cops'' and ''

Blake's 7 ''Blake's 7'' (sometimes styled ''Blakes7'') is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. Four 13-episode series were broadcast on BBC1 between 1978 and 1981. It was created by Terry Nation, who also wrote the first ser ...

'', for

Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on cult science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'', the ...

Personal life

McCormack lives in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

with her partner Matthew and their daughter.

Notes

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCormack, Una 1972 births Academics of Anglia Ruskin University Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Living people British women novelists 21st-century British novelists Writers of Doctor Who novels