(1945-1980) US author, solely of stories, which she began to publish with "Spareen Among the Tartars" for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in September 1979, the first of seven Varkela tales. All these, with two standalone stories including "Spidersong" (September 1980 F&SF), are collected in Gifts of Blood (coll 1990). Varkela are non-supernatural Vampires: Spareen, protagonist of all but one of the series tales, is an ethical Varkela who works as a healer on the old Russian steppes, living on small agreed payments of blood in exchange for his services. Petrey showed considerable promise but died young. A scholarship fund set up in her memory [see links below] helps aspiring writers meet the expense of attending the Clarion Science Fiction Writers' Workshop. [JC/DRL]

Susan Candace Petrey

born Seattle, Washington: 7 April 1945

died 5 December 1980

works

• Gifts of Blood: The Collected Stories of Susan C. Petrey (Portland, Oregon: Oregon Science Fiction Convention Inc, 1990) [coll: edited by Paul M Wrigley and Debbie Cross: introductory essays by Ursula K Le Guin, Vonda McIntyre and Kate Wilhelm: hb/nonpictorial]

links

• Susan C Petrey Clarion Scholarship Fund
• Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Picture Gallery

Previous versions of this entry

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