Gene O'Neill is best known as a multi-award nominated writer of science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

, fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

, and horror fiction

Horror fiction

Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...

.

O'Neill's professional writing career began after completing the Clarion West Writers Workshop

Clarion West Writers Workshop

Clarion West Writers Workshop is an intensive six-week program for writers preparing for professional careers in science fiction and fantasy. It runs yearly late June through the end of July. The workshop is limited to 18 students per year. Each of the six weeks is instructed by a different...

 in 1979. Since that time, over 100 of his works have been published. His short story work has appeared in Cemetery Dance Magazine, Twilight Zone Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and many more.

O'Neill has had many occupations besides writing including postal worker

Postal worker

A postal worker is one who works for a post office, such as a mail carrier. In the U.S., postal workers are represented by the and the American Postal Workers Union, part of the AFL-CIO. In Canada, they are represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and in the United Kingdom by the...

, contract specialist for AAFES, college basketball

College basketball

College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....

 player, amateur boxer, United States Marine, right-of-way agent, and vice president of a small manufacturing plant. He also holds two degrees from California State University, Sacramento

California State University, Sacramento

California State University, Sacramento, popularly known as Sacramento State, is a public university located in the city of Sacramento, California. It is part of the California State University system...

 and University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

. He currently writes full time and lives in the Napa Valley with his wife, Kay.

Awards and honors

Besides having his stories reprinted worldwide, including Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, and France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, he has received many other honors including:

• The Taste of Tenderloin received a 2009 starred review in Publishers Weekly
  Publishers Weekly
  Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
  
  

• The Confessions of St. Zach received a "Best Small Press Chill" Black Quill Award nomination from Dark Scribe in 2009

Bram Stoker Awards

• Taste of Tenderloin won the Bram Stoker Award
  Bram Stoker Award
  The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented by the Horror Writers Association for "superior achievement" in horror writing. The awards have been presented annually since 1987, and the winners are selected by ballot of the Active members of the HWA...
  
   for Best Fiction Collection
  Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection
  The Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection is an award presented by the Horror Writers Association for "superior achievement" in horror writing for best fiction collection.-Winners and nominees:...
  
   in 2010
• The Confessions of St. Zach received a Bram Stoker Award nomination for Best Long Fiction
  Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction
  The Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction is an award presented by the Horror Writers Association for "superior achievement" in horror writing for long fiction.-Winners and nominees:...
  
   in 2009
• "Balance", received a Bram Stoker Award
  Bram Stoker Award
  The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented by the Horror Writers Association for "superior achievement" in horror writing. The awards have been presented annually since 1987, and the winners are selected by ballot of the Active members of the HWA...
  
   nomination for Best Short Fiction in 2007

Novels and novellas

• The Confessions of St. Zach (Bad Moon Books
  Bad Moon Books
  Bad Moon Books is a publishing company owned by Roy K. Robbins in Garden Grove, California. In the middle of 1986, they began as a bookseller only, but in 2007 they began publishing. Their works include many Black Quill Award and Bram Stoker Award winners and nominees...
  
  , 2008)
• Collected Tales of the Baja Express (Delirium Books
  Delirium Books
  Delirium Books, launched in the Summer of 1999 by Shane Ryan Staley, is currently recognized as one of the premiere horror publishers in the collector's market, producing low print run limited editions intended for both collectors and readers alike...
  
  , 2006)
• White Tribe (Elder Signs Press
  Elder Signs Press
  Elder Signs Press, Inc is a Michigan-based book publisher distributed through the Independent Publishers Group. It specializes in horror, science fiction, and fantasy titles.-History:...
  
  , 2007)
• Lost Tribe (Bad Moon Books, 2009)
• The Grand Struggle (Prime Books
  Prime Books
  Edited by two-time Hugo-nominee and 2006 World Fantasy-winner Sean Wallace, Prime Books is an award-winning independent publishing house, specializing in a mix of literary/commercial anthologies, collections, novels, and two magazines: Fantasy Magazine and Lightspeed Magazine. Some of its...
  
  , 2004)
• Not Fade Away (forthcoming, 2010)

Sacramento detective series

• Shadow of the Dark Angel (Dominion, 2002 / Bad Moon Books, 2009) ISBN 1-894-81525-4
• Deathflash (Bad Moon Books, 2009)
• Double Jack (Bad Moon Books, 2011)

Cal Wild series

• The Burden of Indigo (Prime Books, 2002)
• The Armless Conductor (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction) (September, 1987)
• The Confessions of St. Zach (Bad Moon Books, 2008)
• Doc Good's Travelling Show (Bad Moon Books, 2009)
• The Great Northern Sweetwater Raid novella featured in the collection called Sideshow Exhibits (Sideshow Press, 2010)
• Jade (Bad Moon Books, 2010)

Short stories

Stories from anthologies and magazines:

• "The Burden of Indigo" Twilight Zone Magazine (October, 1981)
• "The Affective Connection" Pulpsmith (1982)
• "Dakota Safari" Twilight Zone Magazine (April, 1983)
• "Alchemy" The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (May, 1983)
• "It's in Their Eyes" from the anthology Damnations edited by R. K. Leming (Miskatonic University Press, 1984)
• "300 S. Montgomery" The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (July, 1984)
• "The Shadow of the Mountain" The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (March, 1985)
• "The White Quetzal" The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (July 1985)
• "The Armless Conductor" The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (September, 1987)
• "Live Oak" from the anthology Men and Women of Letters, edited by John Yewell (1988)
• "With Grace" Tales of the Unanticipated
  Tales of the Unanticipated
  Tales of the Unanticipated, known as TOTU, is a semiprozine that was founded under the auspices of the Minnesota Science Fiction Society , and has since become independent...
  
   (Spring/Summer/Fall, 1990)
• "Awaken Dragon" The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction(May, 1990)
• "The Beautiful Stranger" Starshore (Spring, 1991)
• "The City Never Sleeps" from the anthology Dead End: City Limits edited by David B. Silva and Paul F. Olson (St. Martin's Press
  St. Martin's Press
  St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in the Flatiron Building in New York City. Currently, St. Martin's Press is one of the United States' largest publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under eight imprints, which include St. Martin's Press , St...
  
  , 1991)
• "New Kicks" Cemetery Dance Magazine #13 / Volume 4, #3 (Summer, 1992)
• "Undercover" Science Fiction Age (November, 1992)
• "In the Big Window" Eldritch Tales #29 (Fall, 1993)
• "Down on the 01 Level" Science Fiction Age (May, 1994)
• "The Ishikawa Proliferation" Tomorrow Speculative Fiction (October, 1995)
• "Groundling Dancer" Science Fiction Age (July, 1997)
• "The Hitchhiking Effect" Science Fiction Age (May, 1998)
• "Flange Turner" from the anthology Hideous Dreams edited by L. H. Maynard, M. P. N. Sims (Cosmos Books/Wildside Press, 2001)
• "The Apotheosis of Nathan McKee" from the anthology Unnatural Selection edited by Gord Rollo (Cosmos Books, 2001)
• "Dead Cat Meets Frankenpup" from the anthology Dead Cats Bouncing edited by Gerard Houarner & GAK (Necro Publications/Bedlam Press, 2002)
• "The Faceless Man" Redsine #8 (April, 2002)
• "You Do the Math" Redsine #10 (October, 2002)
• "When Legends Die" from the anthology Decadence edited by Monica J. O'Rourke (Prime Books, 2002)
• "Jackie" from the anthology Darkness Rising Volume 5: Black Shroud of Fear edited by M. P. N. Sims and L. H. Maynard (Prime Books, 2002)
• "Magic Numbers" from the anthology Borderlands 5
  Borderlands 5
  Borderlands 5 is an anthology edited by Thomas F. Monteleone and Elizabeth Monteleone that was published in 2004 by Borderlands Press. Including a new story by Stephen King, the anthology featured over a dozen new horror stories. It was also published as From the Borderlands from Warner...
  
   edited by Elizabeth E. Monteleone and Thomas F. Monteleone
  Thomas F. Monteleone
  Thomas F. Monteleone is an American science fiction author and horror fiction author. His first novel, Seeds of Change was the lead-off title in the critically unsuccessful Laser Books line of science fiction titles , but he went on to become a popular writer of supernatural thrillers...
  
   (Borderlands Press, 2003)
• "Masquerade" from the anthology Bare Bone #6 edited by Kevin L. Donihe (Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2004)
• "White Tribe" from the anthology New Dark Voices edited by Shane Ryan Staley (Delirium Books
  Delirium Books
  Delirium Books, launched in the Summer of 1999 by Shane Ryan Staley, is currently recognized as one of the premiere horror publishers in the collector's market, producing low print run limited editions intended for both collectors and readers alike...
  
  , 2004)
• "Dance of the Blue Lady" Cemetery Dance Magazine #53 (2005)
• "Balance" Cemetery Dance Magazine #55 (2006)

Collections

• Rockers, Shamans, Manikins & Thanathespians (Silver Lake Publications, 2001) ISBN 1-931-09523-X
• Ghost, Spirits, Computers and World Machines (Prime Books, 2001) ISBN 1-894-81504-1
• "Introduction" by Kim Stanley Robinson
• "Awaken, Dragon"
• "The White Quetzal"
• "Dakota Safari"
• The Burden of Indigo"
• "The City Never Sleeps"
• "Undercover"
• "The Beautiful Stranger"
• "Shadow of the Mountain"
• "Afterword" by Scott Edelman
• The Grand Struggle
• The Taste of Tenderloin (Apex Publishing, 2009) ISBN 978-0-9816390-0-0
• "Introduction" by Gavin O'Neill (Gene O'Neill's son)
• "Lost Patrol"
• "Magic Words"
• "Tombstones in His Eyes"
• "Bushido"
• "Balance"
• "The Apotheosis of Nathan McKee"
• "Bruised Soul"
• "5150"
• Dance of the Blue Lady and Other Stories (forthcoming, 2010)

Additional references and external links

• Gene O'Neill's entry on Fantastic Fiction
• Gene O'Neill's section at Fictionwise
• Interview with Gene O'Neill by Apex Publishing
• Interview with Gene O'Neill by Fear Zone'
• Interview with Gene O'Neill by Really Scary
• Interview with Gene O'Neill by Horror Seek