Ardath Mayhar Writer

Ardath Frances Hurst Mayhar (February 20, 1930 – February 1, 2012) was an American writer and poet. She began writing science fiction in 1979 after returning with her family to Texas from Oregon. She was nominated for the Mark Twain Award, and won the Balrog Award for a horror narrative poem in Masques I.She had numerous other nominations for awards in almost every fiction genre and has won many awards for poetry. In 2008 she was honored by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America as an Author Emeritus.Mayhar has written over 60 books ranging from science fiction to horror to young adult to historical to westerns; with some work under the pseudonyms Frank Cannon, Frances Hurst, and John Killdeer. Joe R. Lansdale wrote simply: "Ardath Mayhar writes damn fine books!"Mayhar also shared her knowledge of the skills of writing with many people through the Writer's Digest correspondence courses.