Howard Waldrop

Howard Waldrop (September 15, 1946 – January 14, 2024) was an iconic and highly influential American science-fiction author celebrated as a master of short fiction and speculative alternate histories. Born in Mississippi and primarily based in Austin, Texas, he emerged as a prominent voice in the "Texas school" of science fiction. After his professional debut with “Lunchbox” in Analog in 1972, Waldrop went on to publish widely in prestigious venues like Omni and Playboy, developing a distinctively playful style that seamlessly blended alternate history, pop culture, old movies, and Southern folklore. Though he authored the notable time-travel novel Them Bones, he garnered a profound cult following through acclaimed collections like Howard Who? and Night of the Cooters—the latter being a famously bizarre pastiche of The War of the Worlds told from a Texas sheriff's perspective. His landmark dodo-extinction novelette, “The Ugly Chickens” (1980), earned him both the Nebula and World Fantasy awards. Revered as a "writer's writer" and a lifelong friend of George R.R. Martin, Waldrop was honored with the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2021, cementing his legacy as an uncompromising, national treasure of American letters.