Ardath Mayhar

Ardath Frances Hurst Mayhar, 1930-2012, began her writing career as a poet when she was nineteen. She began writing science fiction in 1979 after returning with her family to Texas from Oregon. She was nominated for the Mark Twain Award, and won the Balrog Award for a horror narrative poem in Masques I. She has had numerous other nominations for awards in almost every fiction genre and has won many awards for poetry. In 2008 she was chosen by Science Fiction Writers of America as their Author Emeritus.

Mayhar has written over 60 books ranging from science fiction to horror to young adult to historical to westerns; with some work under the pseudonyms Frank Cannon, Frances Hurst, and John Killdeer.

[author_link_2493] says simply, "Ardath Mayhar writes damn fine books!"

Mayhar also owned and operated The View From Orbit Bookstore in Nacogdoches, Texas with her husband Joe until his death in the 1990s. She has since sold the bookstore, which served the students of Stephen F. Austin State University and people in the East Texas area, providing a wide variety of books and literature that would otherwise have been unavailable to this conservative region. Mayhar's reputation is such that she still speaks regularly in the area, drawing large crowds whenever she teaches and speaks.