Bonanno, Margaret Wander
Entry updated 29 January 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1950-2021) US author whose first books were the mainstream feminist novels A Certain Slant of Light (1979), Ember Days (1980) and Callbacks (1981); a later title, Risks (1989), is also nonfantastic. She made her mark on sf with a highly successful Star Trek tie, Dwellers in the Crucible (1985). Two others were soon published: Star Trek: Strangers from the Sky (1987); and Star Trek: Probe (1992), the latter of these, after being subjected to a variety of changes by the owners of the franchise, she disavowed as no longer having been written by her [see her website under links below]. Star Trek: The Lost Era: 2360: Catalyst of Sorrows (2003) followed several years later.
More interestingly, Bonanno also published two moderately ambitious series. In The Others, a Planetary-Romance sequence comprising The Others (1990), Otherwhere (1991) and Otherwise (1993), the eponymous Aliens, stranded on an Earth-like world, must attempt – through Telepathy and intermittent bouts of interracial breeding (see Exogamy) – to survive the onslaughts of jealous, inferior human-like natives. The Preternatural sequence, comprising Preternatural (1996), Preternatural Too: Gyre (2000) and Preternatural3 (2002), complexly combines Fabulation with sf tropes – like Time Travel and episodes occupying intersecting Dimensions, and with Aliens stranded on Earth – in a narrative which in part comprises a multi-volume book written by a forty-something sf writer in trouble with her life and work, and which in part carries this sf writer herself into Recursive SF venues which may be delusional. On the other hand, the aliens may be writing her. The sequence is technically of considerable interest, though Bonanno's control over her material is sometimes less than magisterial. Under the House Name Rick North, she also wrote two instalments in the Young Astronauts sequence [see Checklist below]. [JC]
Margaret Wander Bonanno
born New York: 7 February 1950
died Los Angeles, California: 8 April 2021
works
series
Star Trek
- Dwellers in the Crucible (New York: Pocket Books, 1985) [tie to Star Trek: Star Trek: pb/Boris Vallejo]
- Star Trek: Strangers from the Sky (New York: Pocket Books, 1987) [tie to Star Trek: Star Trek: pb/Boris Vallejo]
- Star Trek: Probe (New York: Pocket Books, 1992) [tie: see commentary above on authorship of this title: Star Trek: pb/Keith Birdsong]
- Star Trek: The Lost Era: 2360: Catalyst of Sorrows (New York: Pocket Books, 2003) [tie to Star Trek: Star Trek: The Lost Era: pb/John Vairo Jr]
- Star Trek: Burning Dreams (New York: Pocket Books, 2006) [tie to Star Trek: Star Trek: pb/Cliff Nielsen]
- Star Trek: Unspoken Truth (New York: Pocket Books, 2010) [tie to Star Trek: Star Trek: pb/Doug Drexler]
Young Astronauts
- Young Astronauts #4: Destination Mars (New York: Zebra Books, 1991) as by Rick North [tie to the Shared World series created for the Young Astronaut Council: Young Astronauts: pb/]
- Young Astronauts #6: Citizens of Mars (New York: Zebra Books, 1991) as by Rick North [tie to the Shared World series created for the Young Astronaut Council: Young Astronauts: pb/]
The Others
- The Others (New York: St Martin's Press, 1990) [The Others: hb/Adam Niklewicz]
- Otherwhere (New York: St Martin's Press, 1991) [The Others: hb/Adam Niklewicz]
- Otherwise (New York: St Martin's Press, 1993) [The Others: hb/Adam Niklewicz]
Preternatural
- Preternatural (New York: Tor, 1996) [Preternatural: hb/]
- Preternatural Too: Gyre (New York: Tor, 2000) [Preternatural: hb/Shelley Eshkar]
- Preternatural3 (New York: Tor, 2002) [Preternatural: hb/]
individual titles
- A Certain Slant of Light (New York: Seaview Books, 1979) [hb/]
- Ember Days (New York: Seaview Books, 1980) [hb/]
- Callbacks (New York: Seaview Books, 1981) [hb/]
- Risks (New York: St Martin's Press, 1989) [hb/]
- Saturn's Child (New York: Ace Books, 1995) with Nichelle Nichols [hb/Michael Herring]
links
previous versions of this entry