The Ghost of My Father – Memoirs of Suzy McKee Charnas

This is a review of the memoir, My Father’s Ghost, (Tarcher, 2002) by well-known science fiction/fantasy writer Suzy McKee Charnas.

When Suzy McKee Charnas was eight years old, her father, Robin McKee, left her, her mother, and her sister to dedicate his life to being an artist. She had a spectacular failure. Her contact with her children was intermittent but never interrupted. Several years later, realizing that Robin was living a precarious existence in Manhattan and having trouble taking care of himself as he aged, Charnas invites him to live with her and her husband in New Mexico. He surprisingly agrees.

Charnas writes eloquently and honestly about life with a father who was in many ways a stranger to her. Robin was taciturn, difficult, and not prone to sentimentality, but there were times when he and Suzy connected in ways she had never imagined possible.

The second section of these memoirs covers the last three years of Robin’s life. His health has deteriorated to such an extent that Charnas must find him a nursing home. After a long search, he finds an affordable place with attentive staff. The transition for both father and daughter is difficult, but even here, in the most unlikely places, there is a glimmer of light and hope that no one could have imagined. The truth really is stranger than fiction.

I have long been an admirer of Charnas’ science fiction and fantasy work. Here, her novelist’s eye paints a fascinating portrait of herself, her father, and other fascinating characters in her life. I sat down one afternoon to read a few chapters and found myself so engrossed in this true and complex story that I literally couldn’t put it down. It is really a remarkable work.

Note: Charnas is the author of two critically acclaimed vampire novels: The Vampire Tapestry and The Ruby Tear (written as Rebecca Brand), as well as Stagestruck Vampires and Other Phantasms, a collection of short stories and essays.