Carol Severance

Carol Severance (1944 – February 19, 2015) was a U.S. science fiction writer.

Life

Carol Severance was a Hawaii-based Science Fiction and Fantasy writer known for her strong female characters. As an artist she had a special interest in Pacific Island peoples and their environments. In high school she held the Amateur Rocketry Association’s High Altitude Record. After growing up in Denver and earning an art degree, she served with the Peace Corps on remote atolls in Micronesia and traveled interisland on traditional sailing canoes. She found that her oil paints were too dull to capture the vivid colors of the reefs and lagoons, so she began “painting with words” by keeping a detailed journal of people and cultural events. She later assisted with anthropological field work in Micronesia, and went on to earn an M.A. in Journalism at the University of South Carolina. She was a news editor and feature writer and did many feature stories for the Hawaii Tribune Herald. She graduated from the 1984 Clarion West Science Fiction Writer’s Workshop. Carol wrote short stories, a prize-winning play and published four novels. Reefsong won the 1992 Compton Crook Award for the Best First Novel in the Field. The Island Warrior Series; Demon Drums, Storm Caller, and Sorcerous Sea are based partly on Pacific Island folklore, environments, and the conflict between good and evil. All her novels are available through Open Road Media.

Severance was born in Ohio and grew up in Denver, Colorado. She served with the Peace Corps from 1966-1968[http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/stories/stories.cfm?psid=131 Everyone Everywhere Has Tales to Tell] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090826080329/http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/stories/stories.cfm?psid=131 |date=August 26, 2009 }} (biographical story published on the Peace Corps web site. Accessed 2009-09-02.) and later assisted in anthropological fieldwork in the remote coral atolls of Chuuk, Micronesia.{{cite book |last=Severance |first=Carol |title=Demon Drums |year= 1992|publisher=Ballantine Books |location=New York |isbn=0-345-37448-7}} She lived in Hilo, Hawaii with her husband, former Peace Corps volunteer Craig J. Severance.[http://www.hawaii.edu/cpis/old-newsletters/Newsletter.apr-jun07.html#craig CRAIG SEVERANCE RETIRES FROM UH HILO] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724222519/http://www.hawaii.edu/cpis/old-newsletters/Newsletter.apr-jun07.html#craig |date=July 24, 2008 }} Pacific News from Mānoa. Accessed 2009-09-02.)

Writing

Much of Severance's writing includes references to Pacific Island lore and lifestyle.

Severance won the Compton Crook Award for her debut novel, Reefsong, in 1991.{{cite web |publisher=Baltimore Science Fiction Society |title=Compton Crook Award Winners |url=http://www.bsfs.org/bsfsccw.htm |accessdate=June 25, 2012}}