Author
Jan 27th, 2009 by Una McCormack
I originally come from St Helens, near Liverpool: you can still hear the Scouse accent if you get me to say ”school”. I studied History and Social and Political Sciences at Newnham College, Cambridge; I have an M.Sc. in Psychology from the University of Reading and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Surrey. Halfway through writing up my thesis (“The appliance of science: uses of technology in social scientific theory and practice”), I realized that I got more satisfaction from exploring my ideas in fiction, and so I made a very late career switch. I don’t miss the academic world, and I continue to teach, which was always the most enjoyable part of the job for me.
Una McCormack
I wrote fiction as a child but exam preparation and essay writing meant I had pretty much given up by my teens. My magnum opus in this period – written when I was an 11-year-old schoolgirl – was an epic scribbled into a school exercise book, about an apocalyptic battle between Good and Evil, in which Good (yes, Good) is ably assisted by an 11-year-old schoolgirl. Looking back, I detect the unmistakeable influence of Susan Cooper‘s Dark is Rising sequence, and the Guardian Trilogy of stories during Davison-era Doctor Who.
I didn’t start writing fiction again until my mid-twenties, when I began producing fanfiction based on budget 1970s BBC space opera Blake’s 7. In the late 90s, a friend handed me his Star Trek: Deep Space Nine videos, ignoring my shrieks that “I didn’t like Star Trek” and insisting, “You’ll like this.” How right he was. I devoured the show in a matter of weeks, started churning out fanfiction at a great pace, publishing on the new-fangled InterWebs that were so popular at the time. This turned out to be a good move: someone recommended my writing to the editor of the Star Trek range at Pocket Books, and he emailed to ask if I’d like to pitch some stories. One benefit of email is that you have time to compose a measured reply, rather than yelp, “Oh god yes!” down the phone at someone you’re eager to impress.
Since then, I’ve written three Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novels and a Doctor Who novel, and I have also started to write fiction set in original settings. My second original short story, “Sea Change”, was selected to appear in Gardner Dozois’ Year’s Best Science Fiction anthology in 2008. (My first original short story, “Torch Song”, got an honourable mention in the same anthology.) My current projects include a space opera about girls with guns, and a pseudo-historical political thriller set in a counterfactual post-Roman Britain.
I spend most of my free time reading and watching TV: I love the writing of Ursula Le Guin, JRR Tolkien, TS Eliot, Rosemary Sutcliff, Emma Goldman, Lois McMaster Bujold, Sylvia Engdahl, Lucy M. Boston, and Tove Jansson. Current favourite TV shows include new Doctor Who (which I’m convinced has been written just for me), and the amazing, hilarious, touching, brilliant Chuck (perhaps not written for me, but certainly written for Generation X). I live in a shonky house in Cambridge, England, with my partner of seventeen years, Matthew. We have no cats and several Daleks.
Interviews
Una:
I just finished reading the Never Ending Sacrifice. It was a wonderful story and I thoroughly enjoyed the book; however, the last page in the book confused me. It seems, as Rugal makes his way to the garden that he finds Penelya (kind of suddenly at the last minute of the book); however, it also kind of sounds like Rugal was also remembering older times while walking toward the garden. Thus, I’m not entirely certain he was dreaming at the end or if he really did find Penelya.
What was your intention? Thanks for the clarification!
Hi Nathan – thanks for your nice note and I’m glad you liked the book. Yes, Rugal and Penelya meet again at the end: she’s waiting to meet him in the ruins of what was once their old meeting place, the stone garden.
Just before they meet, Rugal remembers his last meeting with Erani and Tekis, and how they got away: I wanted to suggest that it was possible for other people to have survived too.
Hope this clarifies!
Hi Uma,
I just seemed to stumble onto your site and love it. I found the blog first and since you don’t seem to be updating it much now, came here. I am a shameless Trekkie and have even recently started devouring old Dr Who episodes but I am sorry to say, have never read your work. Now I am intrigued and really must run right out and buy some. I love reading and SF so I can’t wait to get your most recent book. I’ll let you know what I think. I am an artist (starving artist!) and I do a few illustrations for children’s magazines but mostly I teach art.
I enjoyed your site and great comments.
Hi Denise! Thank you for your kind comments about the site! I hope you’re enjoying your viewing of Dr Who. Thank you too for intending to go and get the new book, and I do hope you like it and will let me know what you think. I’m going to enjoy having a look around your site.
Hi Una,
I have just finished reading The Never-Ending Sacrifice, and wanted to let you know how much I had enjoyed it. Like Nathan, the ending confused me a little, but that’s now been cleared up nicely.
The Cardassians have always been my favourite race in my favourite series, and it was great to read a precis of the DS9 story from a Cardassian perspective.
The choice of protagonist was surprising, but inspired.
Thank you.
Hi Stephen – thank you for your message. I’m delighted that you liked the book and that the discussion here has cleared up any confusion in the ending.
I have the editor, Marco Palmieri, to thank for the choice of protagonist. I agreed it was a brilliant idea, and I’m so glad I got the chance to write Rugal’s story.