Dreamsnake (Cover image via Jo Fletcher Books)
17. Vonda N. McIntyre
Vonda N. McIntyre was only the fourth woman to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel (after two wins by Ursula K. Le Guin and one by Kate Wilhelm). That makes it all the more refreshing to think of the many female winners at the 2017 Hugos.
McIntyre’s win is thanks to her 1979 novel, Dreamsnake. It’s a tale that blends both science fiction and fantasy in a world set long after an apocalypse. It follows Snake, a young healer that travels through this hostile world. She can heal thanks to her snake companions and their painkilling, sedating and hallucinogenic venom. When her precious and incredibly rare dreamsnake, Grass, is accidentally killed, Snake is devastated. She sets out on a quest to redeem herself and find a replacement.
McIntyre has also established herself as a well-known Star Trek author. She’s written some of the more well-known books in the literary world of the series. These include The Entropy Effect, which gave both Hikaru Sulu and Nyota Uhura their canon first names. McIntyre also wrote the novelizations for the movies Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III, and Star Trek IV.
While taking part in a sci-fi convention panel, McIntyre became so annoyed with another panelist’s attitude towards sci-fi television that she invented a fictional show on the spot. She claimed that this amazing (and thoroughly nonexistent) series, Starfarers, was only so little-known because of network scheduling woes. Upon reflection, McIntyre liked her made-up television show so much that she decided to turn it into a four-novel series.