Official Author Photo

Alternate sizes and resolution of this photo available upon request.

Randy Henderson: photo by Folly Blaine — Photo by Folly Blaine

BIO

The short version (good for programs, websites, blogs, online interviews and articles, etc.):

Randy Henderson is author of the darkly humorous contemporary fantasy trilogy that includes Finn Fancy Necromancy, Bigfootloose & Finn Fancy Free, and Smells Like Finn Spirit, published by Tor (US)/Titan (UK). He is a Writers of the Future grand prize winner, Clarion West graduate, sometime TTRPG livestreamer, and frequent cat pillow. Socials: @randyauthor. Web: www.randy-henderson.com

Additional note on workshop, lecture and convention experience:

Randy has experience as a workshop leader, lecturer, and panel participant on the subjects of writing and speculative fiction at events such as Cascade Writers Workshop, Clarion West One-Day Workshops, Willamette Writers Conference, Bay Area Book Festival, Tucson Festival of Books, WorldCon, World Fantasy Convention, Wondercon, Emerald City Comicon, Denver Comicon, Miscon, Norwescon, publisher book tours, and more.

A wordy “biography” version (for the curious):

Randy was born in the States of wonder, awe, and Washington. He quickly learned the joy of escaping to fantasy worlds, from Middle Earth to Earth Sea, from Amber to Pern, from Valdemar to Midkemia. He took some amazing vacation photos of these places (in his head), that he shares with all the friends he made (also in his head). His head has become rather cluttered.

After toying with such impressive creative pursuits as Latch Hook and recording really clever answering machine messages, Randy realized that what he wanted most was to write that which had brought him much joy. It was not as easy as it looked.

Many years of dabbling followed, during which Randy studied social sciences and worked a variety of jobs such as weight loss counselor, Alaska factory-boat worker, and writing tax sob stories for CPA clients (his first paid fiction), before finally settling in IT. Randy decided to get serious about his writing, and attended the Clarion West writing workshop where he learned things– dark, mystical things– about the art of writing. Things best left unspoken. Ask him, and he’ll gladly speak of them.

Randy then wrote new stories, faster stories, stronger stories, and was published in wondrous places like Realms of Fantasy and Escape Pod before winning the grand prize in Writers of the Future. He now has a humorous urban fantasy series available from TOR (US) and Titan (UK), including Finn Fancy Necromancy, Bigfootloose & Finn Fancy Free, and Smells Like Finn Spirit.