Sandra McDonald

Sandra McDonald is an American science fiction and fantasy author born in Revere, Massachusetts. She served eight years as a U.S. Navy officer, with postings in Guam, Newfoundland, and England, before working in Hollywood production and later teaching college composition. A graduate of Ithaca College with an MFA from the University of Southern Maine, she attended the Viable Paradise writers' workshop early in her career. Her military background informs The Outback Stars trilogy — The Outback Stars, The Stars Down Under, and The Stars Blue Yonder — a science-fiction series following a naval officer navigating shipboard politics and alien mystery. Her story collection Diana Comet and Other Improbable Stories won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and her short fiction has also been recognized by the James Tiptree, Jr. Award.