Puppeteer, science fiction and fantasy author, blogger, podcaster. Author of Shades of Milk and Honey and its sequels. Hugo-winner for the short story "For Want of a Nail" and the novel The Calculating Stars. Performed as additional puppeteer in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (and briefly, as Elmo's marionettist) (also briefly, as an extra). In 2011, she became the fourth full-time cast-member of the podcast, Writing Excuses. She is the author of the Lady Astronaut science-fiction series, currently consisting of The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky.
Mary Robinette Kowal's works include:
- The Glamourist Histories series:
- Shades of Milk and Honey
- Glamour In Glass
- Without A Summer
- Valour and Vanity
- Of Noble Family
- The Lady Astronaut series:
- "The Lady Astronaut of Mars" (a novelette)
- The Calculating Stars
- The Fated Sky
- The Relentless Moon
Mary Robinette Kowal's short stories provide examples of:
- Back from the Dead: In "Death Comes But Twice," Dr V— has discovered an elixir that brings people back from the dead. Unfortunately, the effects only last for 24 hours.
- Cool Car: The 1952 MG-TD in "This Little Pig."
- Disability Superpower:
- The female teddy bear spider in "Jaiden's Weaver" can't create her valuable weavings because she's missing a leg. When she finally figures out a workaround, her weavings are so unique that they're worth an astonomical amount.
- The blind main character in "Scenting the Dark" is a gifted parfumier. Unfortunately, this also means he can't see the creature that attacks and kills his crewmate and eventually himself.
- Fictional Holiday: Top Day and Bottom Day in "Jaiden's Weaver," an extension of Shown Their Work, below.
- Foregone Conclusion: The events in "Death Comes But Twice" are told in the form of a suicide note.
- Must Make Amends: In "Some Other Day," Josie Langdon's father accidentally created an ecological disaster by killing off all mosquitos. Josie has dedicated her life to the same area of research, in an effort to bring them back.
- Never Mess with Granny: Louise in "First Flight"
- Our Time Travel Is Different: In "First Flight," people can only travel in time as far back as the year of their birth.
- Shown Their Work: "Jaiden's Weaver" was written after Mary Robinette Kowal attended NASA's Launch Pad writer's workshop. In the story, she demonstrates the meteorological effects that rings would have on an inhabited planet. (The rings also justify a couple of Fictional Holidays.)
- Unwanted Revival: The narrator in "Death Comes But Twice," who glimpses heaven before he's brought back from the dead. It gets worse every time he dies.
