Sheri Stewart Tepper (July 16, 1929 – October 22, 2016)[2] was an American writer of science fiction, horror and mystery novels. She is primarily known for her feminist science fiction, which explored themes of sociology, gender and equality, as well as theology and ecology. Often referred to as an eco-feminist of science fiction literature, Tepper personally preferred the label eco-humanist.[3] Though the majority of her works operate in a world of fantastical imagery and metaphor, at the heart of her writing is real-world injustice and pain. She employed several pen names during her lifetime, including A. J. Orde, E. E. Horlak, and B. J. Oliphant.[4]
Early life and education
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2016)
She was born Shirley Stewart Douglas near Littleton, Colorado.[5] As a child, she read science fiction and fantasy by A. Merritt and C.S. Lewis, as well as Frank Baum's 'Oz' books, William Hope Hodgson's The Night Land and Islandia by Austin Tappan Wright. She later commented, "These were the books I went back to again and again."[5]
Career
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2016)
Tepper recalled that she "spent ten years...working all kinds of different jobs" as a single mother of two.[5] This included time working as a clerical assistant for the international relief agency, CARE.[5] From 1962 to 1986, she worked for Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood, eventually as its executive director.[5]
She wrote poetry and children's stories as Sheri S. Eberhart, then took a break from writing. By the mid-1980s, she was publishing science fiction novels, including The Revenants (1984), and the books of the True Game series, including King's Blood Four (1983), Necromancer Nine (1983), and Wizard's Eleven (1984). Other related works followed, including her ecofeminist novels The Gate to Women's Country (1988) and Grass (1989), which were part of the Arbai Trilogy. Later novels in the 1990s and 2000s included Beauty (1991), which won a Locus Award; Shadow's End (1994); The Family Tree (1997); Six Moon Dance (1998); Singer from the Sea (1999); The Visitor (2002); The Companions (2003); and The Margarets (2007).
The Peter series was the first published. The Mavin series takes place earlier. The Jinian series takes place during and after the same time period as the Peter series, often giving a different perspective on the same events.
This series has a crossover with the Plague of Angels series.
"The Gardener" (novella) in Night Visions 6. Released as The Bone Yard (1988) in mass market. Collaboration with F. Paul Wilson and Ray Garton. World Fantasy Award—Long Fiction finalist (1989)
"Someone Like You" in The Further Adventures of the Joker (ed. Martin Greenberg) (1990)
^ abcdef"Sheri S. Tepper interview". Locus Online; locusmag.com. Excerpt from "Sheri S. Tepper: Speaking to the Universe", Locus 41:3 (September 1998), pp. 4–8. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
