Nicholas Benjamin O’Donohoe

Background

Nicholas O’Donohoe was born on October 31, 1952 in Charles City, Iowa, United States, into the family of James E. and Beth (Larson) O’Donohoe.

Education

Nick O'Donohoe studied at Carleton College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1975. In 1983 O'Donohoe earned a Ph.D. at Syracuse University.

Career

Nick O’Donohoe started his academic career at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1981 when he was appointed an instructor. In two years he was promoted to an assistant professor. But soon he understood that he wanted to devote his life to writing books. O’Donohoe’s first published novel, April Snow, appeared in 1984. It was followed by the mystery novels Wind Chill (1985) and Open Season (1986), which feature the exploits of wisecracking Minneapolis private investigator Nathan Phillips.

His next book Too, Too Solid Flesh, published in 1989, crosses the boundaries of the mystery and science fiction genres with a murder mystery involving a theater company of J/aw/er-performing sentient androids (the title is taken from act 1, scene 2 of Hamlet: “O! that this too too solid flesh would melt, / Thaw and resolve itself into a dew”). When their creator is murdered, a human investigator, Horatio, joins forces with the android Hamlet to solve the crime.

The Magic and the Healing (1994) and its sequels, Under the Healing Sign (1995) and The Healing of Crossroads (1996), compose O’Donohoe’s “Crossroads” series of fantasy novels. The Magic and the Healing introduces the character of B. J. Vaughan, a student veterinarian who has discovered that she may soon be a victim of the fatal Huntington’s Disease. In Under the Healing Sign B. J. has become a qualified vet and a permanent resident of Crossroads. As the story unfolds, B. J. gains access to the secret lore of Crossroads, and in return teaches human veterinary medicine to the inhabitants. In The Healing of Crossroads, B. J. has been given custody of the Book of Strangeways, the volume that holds the hidden knowledge of how to reach Crossroads. Roland Green in Booklist and Sister Avila Lamb in Kliatt both gave this third Crossroads novel an appreciative review.

Achievements

• Nicholas O’Donohoe is highly famous as the author of science fiction books Too, Too Solid Flesh, The Magic and the Healing, Under the Healing Sign, and The Healing of Crossroads.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Gnomewrench in the Dwarfworks

    (At the height of World War II, Grady Cavanaugh, a young A...)

    1999
  • Healing of Crossroads

    (Traveling throughout different realms, both real and imag...)

    1996
  • The Magic And The Healing

    (About to give up veterinary school because of a family cr...)

    1994
  • Under the Healing Sign

    (In the sequel to The Magic and the Healing, veterinarian ...)

    1995
  • Too, Too Solid Flesh

    (Hamlet, an android and star and director of an android re...)

    1989
  • The Gnomewrench in the Peopleworks

    (A group of talented dwarves contributes its expertise in ...)

    2000
  • April Snow

    (He followed a cold trail to a chilling finish. But on the...)

    1979
  • Wind Chill 1986
  • Open Season 1986

Views

Quotations: “You musn't neglect your education in favor of your studies.”

“If I've learned anything this trip, it's that you have to take responsibility for what you don't do, as well as what you do.”

Membership

• Mystery Writers of America

• Newman Community

Connections

Nicholas O’Donohoe married Lynn Anne Evans on August 5, 1978.

Father:

James E. O’Donohoe

Mother:

Beth (Larson) O’Donohoe

Spouse:

Lynn Anne Evans