My friend, fellow author, and editing collaborator passed away on December 24th after a more than four year struggle with cancer. We met through the Hourlings, the writing group that we’d both been part of for the last twelve or more years. Over the years, she’s copyedited, and sometimes edited, just about every story I’ve published, and that’s after critiquing them in our writing group. She was my go-to fixer whenever I had a story that wasn’t working…she’d tell me, with stunning accuracy, exactly what was wrong.
We collaborated on three anthologies together: Fantastic Defenders, Fantastic Detectives, and the upcoming The Forever Inn. Not to mention the somewhat more uneven anthologies that our writing group put out (that didn’t have our professional names attached to them). I even bought two of her Chinese-flavored fantasy stories for a couple of my anthologies.
While I knew of her ongoing medical struggles, and thus her passing wasn’t a complete surprise, it’s still shocking to me that she’s not with us in 2025. No more will we hear her calm voice critiquing our stories at our Hourlings meetings, her low chuckle at our literary shenanigans, her dry wit, and her dependable friendship. She’s going to be missed by a lot of people.
From the obituary that her husband, John Skowronski released:
Donna Faye Royston was born in 1955 in Winchester VA, daughter of James R. Royston and Wanda G. Royston.
She attended James Madison University in Harrisonburg VA, earning a BA and MA in English literature.
She married John J. Skowronski in 1991 in Middletown VA.She worked as an editor on academic publications, most recently for 17 years on Variance, the journal of the Casualty Actuarial Society. She published several fantasy stories in online magazines and in the anthologies of her writing group, The Hourlings. She also loved spending her spare time gardening.
She is predeceased by her parents.
She is survived by her husband John, sister Phyllis Gamble (Vernon) of Winchester, nephew Stephen Gamble of Winchester, half-sister Jane Devereaux of Roanoke, and faithful canine companion Luke.
Please consider a memorial contribution in Donna's memory to the American Cancer Society or Capital Caring Hospice of Falls Church VA.
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