Son of Korea Country Director and later Peace Corps Director Kevin O'Donnell is Science Fiction Writer
Kevin O'Donnell, Jr.
Kevin O'Donnell, Jr. was born November 29, 1950, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Kevin O'Donnell and Margaret Anne O'Donnell O'Donnell. He is the oldest of eight children.
He grew up on the west side of Cleveland and in its suburb, Fairview Park. After his mother's death in 1965, his father remarried (Ellen Bly- denburgh Patterson), and in 1966 joined the Peace Corps as Director, Peace Corps Korea. The family moved to Seoul, where they lived for four years.
His father was Director of the Peace Corps from July 1, 1971 to September 30, 2972.
He graduated from Seoul Foreign School in June 1968 and left for Yale University, where he worked in the dining halls, read a great deal of bad science fiction, and began writing some himself. He received his B.A. in Chinese Studies in 1972. He spent the next academic year teaching in Hong Kong, and the year after that in Taipei, Taiwan. He made his first short story sale to ANALOG Science Fiction/Science Fact in January, 1973 and his second, also to ANALOG, the following year.
In May, 1974, he returned to New Haven, Connecticut. On September 7, 1974, he married Lillian Kia Chou ("Kim") Tchang, a New York-born Chinese- American whom he had met at Yale. O'Donnell and Tchang moved to Philadel- phia in September 1983 so that Tchang could earn her MBA at the Wharton School of Business. In June, 1985 they came to Campbell, California and Tchang's new job at Hewlett-Packard's Sunnyvale office.
Early in his career, O'Donnell wrote only short stories while working at various part-time/temporary jobs. In late 1976, he set aside the joys of honest labor to begin his first science fiction novel, which Bantam Books purchased in November of 1977 and published as Bander Snatch in June 1979.
He has since sold ten more novels, including the first five volumes in the popular McGill Feighan series, and a non-fiction book on personal computers. Roc Books, the science fiction imprint of Penguin USA/New American Library, released his tenth and latest novel, Fire On The Border, in September, 1990; his next, Plains, will appear from Tor Books sometime in 1996.
Periodicals ranging from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine to OMNI have bought a total of 69 short stories and articles from him. He most recently appeared in the June 1992 AMAZING Stories.
A dozen of his works have been recommended for the Nebula Award, given annually by the Science Fiction Writers of America. The French translation of his novel ORA:CLE won the Prix Litteraire Mannesmann Tally in February, 1987.
O'Donnell served as Managing Editor of EMPIRE: For The SF Writer from February 1979 to December 1981, and then as Publisher until January 1983. He was also first a member, then President, of his New Haven condominium's Board of Directors, from March, 1979 to March, 1982. On acquiring a micro- computer in 1982, he dabbled in computer consulting and training. He occasionally writes sales and public relations brochures for New York City businesses. Chairman of SFWA's Nebula Awards Novel Jury from 1990 and 1991, he is now Chairman of SFWA's Nebula Awards Committee. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of The Lunar Resources Company.
An avid gardener, he delights in raising bonsai, vegetables, assorted ornamentals, and potted plants. He enjoys sports, especially squash and basketball, and fiddles with his computer a lot. Telecommunications fascinate him; he spends way too much time on GEnie's Science Fiction Round- Table.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
NOVELS
* Bander Snatch. Bantam Books, June 1979.
* Mayflies. Berkley Books, December 1979.
* Caverns. (The Journeys of McGill Feighan, Book I) Berkley Books, April 1981.
* Reefs. (The Journeys of McGill Feighan, Book II) Berkley Books, October 1981.
* War Of Omission. Bantam Books, March 1982.
* Lava. (The Journeys of McGill Feighan, Book III) Berkley Books, April 1982.
* ORA:CLE. Berkley Books, August, 1984.
* Cliffs. (The Journeys of McGill Feighan, Book IV) Berkley Books, February 1986.
* The Shelter (with Mary Kittredge). Tor Books, August 1987.
* Fire On The Border. Roc Books, September 1990.
* Plains. (The Journeys of McGill Feighan, Book V) Tor Books, work in progress.
NON-FICTION BOOKS
The Electronic Money Machine (with The Haven Group). Avon Books, March, 1984.
SHORT FICTION
* "The Hand Is Quicker," ANALOG, October 1973.
* "Alternate," Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, August 1975.
* "Hear No Evil," Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, October 1975.
* "The Tripper," ANALOG, October 1975.
* "Time Waits For No Man," Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, November 1975.
* "Shattered Hopes, Broken Dreams," Galaxy, January 1976.
* "A Matter of Pride," ANALOG, February 1976.
* "Hunger on the Homestretch," Galaxy, March 1976.
* "Brief Respite," Cavalier, June 1976.
* "Next Door Neighbor," Galileo, September 1976.
* "Border Crosser," Cavalier, October 1976.
* "In Xanadu," Galaxy, November 1976.
* "Night Shift," ORBIT 19, Damon Knight, ed., Harper & Row, 1977.
* "The Night Callers," Galileo, April 1977
* "A Meeting of Minds," Galaxy, June 1977.
* "Low Grade Ore," Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine, Summer 1977.
* "Information Station Sabbath," ANALOG, August 1977.
* "Report to the Director," EMPIRE #11, Fall 1977.
* "Shadow Play," Swank, December 1977.
* "The Gift of Prometheus," ANALOG, January 1978.
* "The Looking Glass of the Law," Amazing/Fantastic, January 1978.
* "Quinera 3," ANALOG, February 1978.
* "Do Not Go Gentle," Galileo, March 1978.
* "Far From the Madding Crowd," Galileo, May 1978.
* "Stalking the Timelines," ANALOG, September 1978.
* "Tunnels of the Minds," Galileo, September 1978.
* "Listen to the Rain," (with Al Sirois), Tesseract, Fall, 1978.
* "The Dead of Winter," Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine, May 1979.
* "Temple Guardian," ANALOG, June 1979.
* "An Equivalent Reality," (with Robert P. King), Confrontation, Fall/Winter 1979.
* "Three Aliens," Destinies, Vol I, #5, Oct/Dec 1979.
* "Old Friends," ANALOG, November 1979.
* "The Raindrop's Role," Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine, November 1979.
* "Judo and the Art of Self-Government," Destinies, Vol II, #1, Feb/Mar 1980.
* "Marchianna," OMNI, June 1980.
* "Bloodsong," (with Barry B. Longyear), Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine, Dec. 1980.
* "Tears for Emily," DESTINIES, Vol III, #1, April 1981.
* "Younggold," BERKLEY SHOWCASE, Vol 4, July 1981.
* "Encroachment," BERKLEY SHOWCASE, Vol 5, October 1982.
* "Oft in Offwana," (with Al Sirois), Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine, Feb. 1983.
* "Linehan Alone," Amazing/Fantastic, July 1984.
* "Thy Neighbor's Assets," ANALOG, April 1985.
* "Raccoons," AMAZING Stories, July 1986.
* "Rock Garden," OMNI, July, 1986.
* "The Million Dollar Day," ANALOG, October 1987.
* "Fradero Goes Home," ANALOG, May 1988.
* "Alone and Lame in Diidekland," PULPHOUSE, Issue Four, Summer 1989.
* "Future's Puppet," ANALOG, September 1989.
* "Useful Life," ANALOG, October 1989.
* "A Question of Balance," ANALOG, July 1990.
* "The Original Magic," AMAZING Stories, September 1990.
* "The Important Things in Life," New Destinies, Volume IX/Fall 1990.
* "The Pieces of the Puzzle," The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November, 1990.
* "Who's the Boss?," (by "Thomas Bolton") Variations, March 1992 (Vol. 14, #3).
* "Little Brother's Turn to Watch," AMAZING Stories, June 1992 (Vol. LXVII, No. 3).
* "Moss Under Bamboo: Twilight," MIDNIGHT ZOO, September 1992 (Vol. 2, #3)
* "'Saur Spot," DINOSAUR FANTASTIC, Mike Resnick & Martin H. Greenberg, Eds., DAW, July 1993
* "Cold Encounter," Pulphouse: A Fiction Magazine, not yet scheduled for publication.
* "Finders, Keepers," Multitude, unpublished due to magazine's demise.
* "Above The Throng," COSMOS, unpublished due to magazine's demise.
ARTICLES
* "Writer's Guide to Income Tax Deductions," EMPIRE #13, April 1978.
* "Organization, Quirkiness, and Creativity," EMPIRE #14, Fall 1978.
* "Bander Who? Snatch What?," EMPIRE #16, July 1979.
* critique of Matt Shelby's "Caravan of Souls," in "The Metamorphic Pencil," the critical section of SKEWED, Vol I, #1, 1982.
* critique of Joan Vander Putten's "The Wages of Sin," for PROMISES, PRO- MSS (a publication of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Workshop) Volume 1, Whole Number 3, undated but released July 1986.
* critique of Leslie Lupien's "Return of the Exogi," for PROMISES, PRO- MSS (a publication of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Workshop); Volume 4, Whole Number 16, undated but released March 1989.
* "Tomatoes: A Tragedy," Organic Gardening, September, 1989.
* "Crunch," Midnight Zoo, Vol. #1, Issue #4, July, 1991
* "How Thor Power Hammered Publishing," SFWA BULLETIN, Spring 1993.
