October Daye knows how cruel Faerie can be to its changeling children. Born in San Francisco and carried to the Summerlands by her pureblood mother when she was just a child, she was raised in a world that never seemed capable of understanding her. She ran away the moment the opportunity presented itself, only to find that the human world wasn't any better. Things have been going downhill ever since.[3]
The Covenant of St. George was founded to uphold one simple ideal: anything that was not present on the Ark—anything they deemed "unnatural"—needed to be destroyed. Monsters. Creatures of myth and legend. All of them would be wiped from the Earth in the name of Man's dominion. Unfortunately for them, not all the monsters agreed with this plan...and neither did all the human beings.
After their rather abrupt departure from the Covenant, Alexander and Enid Healy found themselves alone in the world, but with a simple mission of their own: to protect the cryptids of the world from those who would harm them without just cause. It was a cause that would eventually claim both their lives, leaving their children, and their children's children, to take up the fight. Now in the modern day, their descendants struggle to stay beneath the Covenant's radar, while defending the cryptids from humanity—and humanity from the cryptids.[6]
"Follow the Lady." That Ain't Witchcraft. (March 5, 2019)
"Take the Shot." Patreon. (October 1, 2019)
"Winter Sunshine." Patreon (November 1, 2019)
"Off-Balance." Patreon. (January 1, 2020)
"All That Glitters." Patreon. (February 1, 2020)
"The Measure of a Monster." Imaginary Numbers. (February 25, 2020)
"What Was I Meant to Do?" Patreon. (August 1, 2020)
"What You Pay For." Patreon (November 1, 2020)
"What You Build." Patreon. (January 1, 2020)
"Singing the Comic-Con Blues." Calculated Risks. (February 23, 2021)
"By the Hand of the Forest." Patreon (March 1, 2021)
"By Any Other Name." Patreon (May 1, 2021)
"To Build a Better...." Patreon (June 1, 2021)
"Halfway Through the Wood." Patreon (July 1, 2021)
"School Belles." Patreon (October 1, 2021)
"Long Way From Home." Patreon (January 1, 2022)
"And Sweep Up the Wood." Spelunking Through Hell. (March 1, 2022)
"How to Bake a Pie." Patreon. (October 1, 2022)
"The Mysteries of the Stolen God and Where His Waffles Went." Backpacking Through Bedlam. (March 7, 2023)
"Passing Grades in Penance." Patreon. (April 1, 2023)
Velveteen (2012)
The Velveteen stories began in 2008 as an open-ended series about a superhero universe where cosmic powers not only came with great responsibility, they came with great legislation, merchandising, and focus group oversight. Many young heroes were effectively "adopted" by a corporate entity known as The Super Patriots, Inc., which promised to teach them how to best control their amazing gifts. Some of those junior heroes wanted out. Few of them got it.[9]
The stories were originally posted on
LiveJournal and then collected into three volumes published by
ISFiC Press. Select stories are also republished on McGuire's website.[9]
Collections
Velveteen vs. the Junior Super Patriots.ISFiC Press. (November 9, 2012)
Velveteen vs. the Multiverse.
ISFiC Press (August 23, 2013)
Velveteen vs. the Season.ISFiC Press. (May 6, 2016)
"Velveteen vs. Dr. Darwin". Patreon. (October 1, 2023)
"Velveteen vs. Gainful Employment". Patreon. (October 1, 2023)
"Velveteen Presents the Princess vs. the Congressional Committee for Superhuman Oversight". Patreon. (December 1, 2023)
"Velveteen vs. Evolution". Patreon. (March 1, 2024)
Parasitology [as Mira Grant] (2013)
We owe our good health to a humble parasite — a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the Intestinal Bodyguard worm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system — even secretes designer drugs. It's been successful beyond the scientists' wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them. But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives . . . and will do anything to get them.
Fairy tales are real. Princes and princesses, pumpkins and glass slippers, it's all true. Fairy tales are deadly. The brave agents of the ATI Management Bureau put their lives on the line every day to keep fairy tales from manifesting in our world...because once they begin, they will not stop until they achieve their idea of happily ever after. They don't care how many bodies this leaves in their wake.[10]
Expanded and reprinted as a chapter in the Indexing serial book.
Ghost Roads (2014)
Everyone knows the urban legend about the girl who asks for a ride home; the one who turns out to have been dead all along. But where did she come from? Who was she? And how did she die? She's been called a lot of things: the Phantom Prom Date, the Girl in the Diner, and the Spirit of Sparrow Hill Road. Around here, we call her Rose.[12]
Ghost Roads takes place in the InCryptid universe. Angel of the Overpass is significantly influenced by the events of InCryptid #8, That Ain't Witchcraft.
"Rolling in the Deep" is a novella about an expedition to produce a documentary on mermaids which doesn't go quite as expected. The novel picks up the story seven years later.
When is a door not a door? When it's a gateway to adventure: when it's the portal that leads you from a world where you never quite fit in to the place where you've always belonged, where you've always wanted to be. When it is the conduit to everything you need to be happy. When is a door a lie? When it opens again and you find yourself right back where you started...only now suddenly, brutally aware of how much you're missing. There's a school where these wayward children go, when they find themselves back in homes that will never understand them. Welcome to Eleanor West's.[14]
Roger Middleton and Dodger Cheswich discover that not only are they twins separated at birth, they are the creation of alchemist James Reed, whose plan for world domination relies on Dodger's superhuman mathematical abilities and Roger's superhuman language abilities.
Avery is an exceptional child. Everything he does is precise, from the way he washes his face in the morning, to the way he completes his homework – without complaint, without fuss, without prompt. Zib is also an exceptional child, because all children are, in their own way. But where everything Avery does and is can be measured, nothing Zib does can possibly be predicted, except for the fact that she can always be relied upon to be unpredictable. They live on the same street. They live in different worlds. On an unplanned detour from home to school one morning, Avery and Zib find themselves climbing over a stone wall into the Up and Under – an impossible land filled with mystery, adventure and the strangest creatures. And they must find themselves and each other if they are to also find their way out and back to their own lives.
Up-and-Under is published under the penname of A. Deborah Baker, a fictional character within the Alchemical Journeys series.
Despite its humble origins, there is no more challenging or physically dangerous teen sport in the world than cheerleading. Cheerleaders are seriously injured and even killed at a higher rate than other high school sports. Their stunts are performed in skimpy uniforms without the benefit of proper safety equipment…and yet they love them, glittery eyeshadow, spirit bows, and all.
And then there are the Fighting Pumpkins, who take that injury rate as a challenge. Students of Johnson’s Crossing High School, they answer to a higher calling than the pyramid and the basket toss, pursuing the pep rally that is rising up against mysteries and monsters, kicking gods with the pointed toes of professional athletes chasing a collegiate career.
Collections
Dying With Her Cheer Pants On: Stories of the Fighting Pumpkins.Subterranean Press (October 30, 2020)
Collects all Fighting Pumpkins stories to date.
Short fiction
"Dying With Her Cheer Pants On".
Apex Magazine (April 7, 2010)
Reprint: The Book of Apex: Volume 2 of Apex Magazine (December 1, 2010)
"Gimmie a 'Z'". Zombiesque.DAW Books (February 11, 2011)
"Turn the Year Around". Harvest Season.ISFiC Press (November 14, 2014)
"Fiber". Unbound. Grim Oak Press. (December 1, 2015)
"School Colors" Little Green Men....Attack! (March 7, 2017)
"The Golden Girls of Fall". Pop the Clutch: Thrilling Tales of Rockabilly, Monsters, and Hot Rod Horror. Dark Moon Books (January 14, 2019)
"Away Game". The Secret Guide to Fighting Elder Gods. Pulse Publishing (April 22, 2019)
Apocalypse Scenarios: These are the Ways the World Ends [as Mira Grant]. Subterranean Press. (2022)[19]
The Proper Thing and Other Stories. Subterranean Press. (2024)[20]
As editor
Queers Destroy Science Fiction Special Issue.
Lightspeed Magazine (June 2015)
Comics
Spider-Gwen
Starring
Gwen Stacy, the
Spider-Woman of Earth-65, launched as part of the Spider-Geddon storyline, finding herself trapped in a parallel dimension as her friends and fellow Spiders are dying.
October Daye knows how cruel Faerie can be to its changeling children. Born in San Francisco and carried to the Summerlands by her pureblood mother when she was just a child, she was raised in a world that never seemed capable of understanding her. She ran away the moment the opportunity presented itself, only to find that the human world wasn't any better. Things have been going downhill ever since.[3]
The Covenant of St. George was founded to uphold one simple ideal: anything that was not present on the Ark—anything they deemed "unnatural"—needed to be destroyed. Monsters. Creatures of myth and legend. All of them would be wiped from the Earth in the name of Man's dominion. Unfortunately for them, not all the monsters agreed with this plan...and neither did all the human beings.
After their rather abrupt departure from the Covenant, Alexander and Enid Healy found themselves alone in the world, but with a simple mission of their own: to protect the cryptids of the world from those who would harm them without just cause. It was a cause that would eventually claim both their lives, leaving their children, and their children's children, to take up the fight. Now in the modern day, their descendants struggle to stay beneath the Covenant's radar, while defending the cryptids from humanity—and humanity from the cryptids.[6]
"Follow the Lady." That Ain't Witchcraft. (March 5, 2019)
"Take the Shot." Patreon. (October 1, 2019)
"Winter Sunshine." Patreon (November 1, 2019)
"Off-Balance." Patreon. (January 1, 2020)
"All That Glitters." Patreon. (February 1, 2020)
"The Measure of a Monster." Imaginary Numbers. (February 25, 2020)
"What Was I Meant to Do?" Patreon. (August 1, 2020)
"What You Pay For." Patreon (November 1, 2020)
"What You Build." Patreon. (January 1, 2020)
"Singing the Comic-Con Blues." Calculated Risks. (February 23, 2021)
"By the Hand of the Forest." Patreon (March 1, 2021)
"By Any Other Name." Patreon (May 1, 2021)
"To Build a Better...." Patreon (June 1, 2021)
"Halfway Through the Wood." Patreon (July 1, 2021)
"School Belles." Patreon (October 1, 2021)
"Long Way From Home." Patreon (January 1, 2022)
"And Sweep Up the Wood." Spelunking Through Hell. (March 1, 2022)
"How to Bake a Pie." Patreon. (October 1, 2022)
"The Mysteries of the Stolen God and Where His Waffles Went." Backpacking Through Bedlam. (March 7, 2023)
"Passing Grades in Penance." Patreon. (April 1, 2023)
Velveteen (2012)
The Velveteen stories began in 2008 as an open-ended series about a superhero universe where cosmic powers not only came with great responsibility, they came with great legislation, merchandising, and focus group oversight. Many young heroes were effectively "adopted" by a corporate entity known as The Super Patriots, Inc., which promised to teach them how to best control their amazing gifts. Some of those junior heroes wanted out. Few of them got it.[9]
The stories were originally posted on
LiveJournal and then collected into three volumes published by
ISFiC Press. Select stories are also republished on McGuire's website.[9]
Collections
Velveteen vs. the Junior Super Patriots.ISFiC Press. (November 9, 2012)
Velveteen vs. the Multiverse.
ISFiC Press (August 23, 2013)
Velveteen vs. the Season.ISFiC Press. (May 6, 2016)
"Velveteen vs. Dr. Darwin". Patreon. (October 1, 2023)
"Velveteen vs. Gainful Employment". Patreon. (October 1, 2023)
"Velveteen Presents the Princess vs. the Congressional Committee for Superhuman Oversight". Patreon. (December 1, 2023)
"Velveteen vs. Evolution". Patreon. (March 1, 2024)
Parasitology [as Mira Grant] (2013)
We owe our good health to a humble parasite — a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the Intestinal Bodyguard worm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system — even secretes designer drugs. It's been successful beyond the scientists' wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them. But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives . . . and will do anything to get them.
Fairy tales are real. Princes and princesses, pumpkins and glass slippers, it's all true. Fairy tales are deadly. The brave agents of the ATI Management Bureau put their lives on the line every day to keep fairy tales from manifesting in our world...because once they begin, they will not stop until they achieve their idea of happily ever after. They don't care how many bodies this leaves in their wake.[10]
Expanded and reprinted as a chapter in the Indexing serial book.
Ghost Roads (2014)
Everyone knows the urban legend about the girl who asks for a ride home; the one who turns out to have been dead all along. But where did she come from? Who was she? And how did she die? She's been called a lot of things: the Phantom Prom Date, the Girl in the Diner, and the Spirit of Sparrow Hill Road. Around here, we call her Rose.[12]
Ghost Roads takes place in the InCryptid universe. Angel of the Overpass is significantly influenced by the events of InCryptid #8, That Ain't Witchcraft.
"Rolling in the Deep" is a novella about an expedition to produce a documentary on mermaids which doesn't go quite as expected. The novel picks up the story seven years later.
When is a door not a door? When it's a gateway to adventure: when it's the portal that leads you from a world where you never quite fit in to the place where you've always belonged, where you've always wanted to be. When it is the conduit to everything you need to be happy. When is a door a lie? When it opens again and you find yourself right back where you started...only now suddenly, brutally aware of how much you're missing. There's a school where these wayward children go, when they find themselves back in homes that will never understand them. Welcome to Eleanor West's.[14]
Roger Middleton and Dodger Cheswich discover that not only are they twins separated at birth, they are the creation of alchemist James Reed, whose plan for world domination relies on Dodger's superhuman mathematical abilities and Roger's superhuman language abilities.
Avery is an exceptional child. Everything he does is precise, from the way he washes his face in the morning, to the way he completes his homework – without complaint, without fuss, without prompt. Zib is also an exceptional child, because all children are, in their own way. But where everything Avery does and is can be measured, nothing Zib does can possibly be predicted, except for the fact that she can always be relied upon to be unpredictable. They live on the same street. They live in different worlds. On an unplanned detour from home to school one morning, Avery and Zib find themselves climbing over a stone wall into the Up and Under – an impossible land filled with mystery, adventure and the strangest creatures. And they must find themselves and each other if they are to also find their way out and back to their own lives.
Up-and-Under is published under the penname of A. Deborah Baker, a fictional character within the Alchemical Journeys series.
Despite its humble origins, there is no more challenging or physically dangerous teen sport in the world than cheerleading. Cheerleaders are seriously injured and even killed at a higher rate than other high school sports. Their stunts are performed in skimpy uniforms without the benefit of proper safety equipment…and yet they love them, glittery eyeshadow, spirit bows, and all.
And then there are the Fighting Pumpkins, who take that injury rate as a challenge. Students of Johnson’s Crossing High School, they answer to a higher calling than the pyramid and the basket toss, pursuing the pep rally that is rising up against mysteries and monsters, kicking gods with the pointed toes of professional athletes chasing a collegiate career.
Collections
Dying With Her Cheer Pants On: Stories of the Fighting Pumpkins.Subterranean Press (October 30, 2020)
Collects all Fighting Pumpkins stories to date.
Short fiction
"Dying With Her Cheer Pants On".
Apex Magazine (April 7, 2010)
Reprint: The Book of Apex: Volume 2 of Apex Magazine (December 1, 2010)
"Gimmie a 'Z'". Zombiesque.DAW Books (February 11, 2011)
"Turn the Year Around". Harvest Season.ISFiC Press (November 14, 2014)
"Fiber". Unbound. Grim Oak Press. (December 1, 2015)
"School Colors" Little Green Men....Attack! (March 7, 2017)
"The Golden Girls of Fall". Pop the Clutch: Thrilling Tales of Rockabilly, Monsters, and Hot Rod Horror. Dark Moon Books (January 14, 2019)
"Away Game". The Secret Guide to Fighting Elder Gods. Pulse Publishing (April 22, 2019)
Apocalypse Scenarios: These are the Ways the World Ends [as Mira Grant]. Subterranean Press. (2022)[19]
The Proper Thing and Other Stories. Subterranean Press. (2024)[20]
As editor
Queers Destroy Science Fiction Special Issue.
Lightspeed Magazine (June 2015)
Comics
Spider-Gwen
Starring
Gwen Stacy, the
Spider-Woman of Earth-65, launched as part of the Spider-Geddon storyline, finding herself trapped in a parallel dimension as her friends and fellow Spiders are dying.