Kate Wilhelm (1928-2018), “Malice Prepense” (“For the Defense”), 1996

Kate Wilhelm, who died on March 8, 2018 at the age of 89, was probably best known as a science fiction and fantasy author., winning the Hugo Award for best novel in 1977 for Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang, and the Nebula Award three times for her shorter fiction.

Along with her work in science fiction and fantasy, she was also an acclaimed mystery and suspense author, with fourteen novels in the Barbara Holloway courtroom series, six novels in the Leidl and Mickeljohn series, and ten stand alone mystery and suspense novels.  She was also one of the first teachers at the Clarion Writers Workshop, which began in 1968 and according to Wikipedia, still active following a two year Covid break.

Malice Prepense, renamed For The Defense for its paperback release, was the third Barbara Holloway novel. She would follow with eleven more. Her final novel, Mirror, Mirror, another in the series, was published in 2012. Her final science fiction short story, “The Bird Cage” was published in a collection in 2012.

This interview was digitized, remastered, and edited on February 3, 2024 by Richard Wolinsky.