Sheri S. Tepper
{{Short description|American science fiction, horror and mystery novelist (1929–2016)}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Sheri S. Tepper
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| image = Sheri S. Tepper.jpg
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| birth_name = Shirley Stewart Douglas
| birth_date = {{birth date|1929|7|16}}
| birth_place = near Littleton, Colorado, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2016|10|22|1929|7|16}}
| death_place = Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.[https://www.sfwa.org/2016/10/memoriam-sheri-s-tepper/ "In Memoriam: Sheri S. Tepper"]
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| genre = Horror, mystery fiction, feminist science fiction
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| notableworks = The Gate to Women's Country,
Beauty, Grass
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| awards = World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement,
Locus Award in 1992 for Beauty
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Sheri Stewart Tepper (July 16, 1929 – October 22, 2016){{cite web| title= In Memorium: Sheri S. Tepper Leaves a Legacy of Stunning Science Fiction & Fantasy| first= Ceridwen| last= Christensen| url= http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/sheri-s-tepper-obituary/| work= B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy blog| publisher= Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Inc.| date= October 25, 2016 | access-date= October 28, 2016}} 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. Some of her novels fall into the category of climate fiction, in which the changing environment of a planet affects the life of its colonists (or vice versa) in the form of a mystery to be solved; examples include Grass (1989), Beauty (1991),{{cite web |last1=Nicholls |first1=Peter |last2=Clute |first2=John |last3=Langford |first3=David |date=2011 |title=Tepper, Sheri S |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/tepper_sheri_s |work=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |publisher=Orbit Books |quote=...this is a book about despoliation as a consequence of Climate Change and other Disasters, including, again, the incapacity of male humans to change their behaviour: in the end, the planet has no chance. |access-date=February 5, 2025}} A Plague of Angels (1993), The Family Tree (1997), Six Moon Dance (1998), and Singer from the Sea (1999).{{cite web |last=Valentine |first=Genevieve |date=November 5, 2016 |title=Remembering Sheri S. Tepper, Eco-Feminist Sci-Fi Firebrand |url=https://www.npr.org/2016/11/05/500668072/remembering-sheri-s-tepper-eco-feminist-sci-fi-firebrand |work=Book News & Features |publisher=NPR |access-date=February 5, 2025}}{{cite web |last=Kumari |first=R. Janatha |date=April 3, 2020 |title=Women and Nature: An Ecofeminist Study on the Select Novels of Sheri S. Tepper |url= https://ssrn.com/abstract=3642479 |publisher=SSRN |access-date=February 5, 2025}}{{cite web |last=Łaszkiewicz |first=Weronika |date=November 2023 |title=Analyzing Humanity's Fate Beyond the Anthropocene in the Works of Sheri S. Tepper |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/347/article/910327/pdf |work=Science Fiction Studies |access-date=February 5, 2025}} 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.{{Cite web|title = Sheri S. Tepper (1929-2016)|url = http://www.locusmag.com/News/2016/10/sheri-s-tepper-1929-2016|website = LocusMag.com|access-date = 2016-10-24|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161025045010/http://www.locusmag.com/News/2016/10/sheri-s-tepper-1929-2016|archive-date = 2016-10-25}}
Early life and education
{{expand section|date= October 2016}}
She was born Shirley Stewart Douglas near Littleton, Colorado. 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."
Career
{{expand section|date= October 2016}}
Tepper recalled that she "spent ten years...working all kinds of different jobs" as a single mother of two. This included time working as a clerical assistant for the international relief agency, CARE. From 1962 to 1986, she worked for Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood, eventually as its executive director.
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).
As of 1998, she operated a guest ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico. That year saw her first and possibly only appearance at a science fiction convention, when she was Guest of Honor at the 25th WisCon, the feminist science fiction convention held annually in Madison, Wisconsin.[http://wiscon.net/about/past-wiscons/ "Past WisCons" Society for the Furtherance and Study of Fantasy and Science Fiction (SF3), Inc.]
In November 2015, she received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.{{Cite web|title = World Fantasy Awards Winners 2015|url = http://www.locusmag.com/News/2015/11/world-fantasy-awards-winners-2015/|website = locusmag.com| date=8 November 2015 |access-date = 2015-11-14}}{{Cite web|title = World Fantasy Convention 2015 -- Life Achievement Awards|url = http://www.wfc2015.org/wf-lifetimeawards01.html|website = WFC2015.org|access-date = 2015-11-14}}
Personal life
Works
=Novels=
==Series==
- The True Game (a trilogy of trilogies)
- 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 Books of the True Game: Peter
- King's Blood Four (Ace Books, 1983) (first novel)
- Necromancer Nine (Ace Books, 1983)
- Wizard's Eleven (Ace Books, 1984)
- The True Game (omnibus edition) (1985)
- The Books of the True Game: Mavin Manyshaped
- The Song of Mavin Manyshaped (Ace Books, 1985)
- The Flight of Mavin Manyshaped (Ace Books, 1985)
- The Search of Mavin Manyshaped (Ace Books, 1985)
- The Chronicles of Mavin Manyshaped (omnibus edition) (1985)
- The Books of the True Game: Jinian
- Jinian Footseer (Tor Books, 1985)
- Dervish Daughter (Tor Books, 1986)
- Jinian Star-Eye (Tor Books, 1986)
- The End of the Game (omnibus edition)
- The Marianne Trilogy
- Marianne, the Magus, and the Manticore (Ace Books, 1985)
- Marianne, the Madame, and the Momentary Gods (Ace Books, 1988)
- Marianne, the Matchbox, and the Malachite Mouse (Ace Books, 1989)
- The Marianne Trilogy (omnibus edition)
- Ettison Duo, featuring Badger Ettison
- Blood Heritage (Tor Books, 1986)
- The Bones (Tor Books, 1987)
- The Awakeners:
- Northshore (Tor Books, 1987)
- Southshore (Tor Books, 1987)
- The Awakeners (omnibus edition, 1989. A later omnibus edition erroneously claims to be first)
- Plague of Angels:
- A Plague of Angels (Bantam, 1993)
- The Waters Rising (Eos, 2010) - Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee, 2010
- Fish Tails (2014),{{cite web
|url = http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/sheri-s-tepper-fish-tales-cover-art-and-synopsis
|title = Upcoming4.me
|work = Sheri S Tepper - Fish Tales cover art and synopsis
|access-date = 2014-03-09
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140426095600/http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/sheri-s-tepper-fish-tales-cover-art-and-synopsis
|archive-date = 2014-04-26
}} a crossover into the True Game series
- The Arbai Trilogy
- Grass (Doubleday, 1989) – Hugo and Locus Awards nominee, 1990{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1990
| title = 1990 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| access-date=2009-06-30
}}
- Raising the Stones (Doubleday, 1990)
- Sideshow (Doubleday, 1992) – John W. Campbell Award nominee, 1993{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1993
| title = 1993 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| access-date=2009-06-30
}}
==Non-series==
- The Revenants (Berkley Publishing, 1984)
- After Long Silence (1987) (UK: The Enigma Score, 1989)
- The Gate to Women's Country (1988)
- Beauty (Doubleday, 1991; revised UK edition is author's preferred text) – Winner, Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, 1992{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1992
| title = 1992 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| access-date=2009-06-30
}}
- Shadow's End (1994)
- Gibbon's Decline & Fall (1996) – Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee, 1997{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1997
| title = 1997 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| access-date=2009-06-30
}}
- The Family Tree (1997) – Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee, 1998{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1998
| title = 1998 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| access-date=2009-06-30
}}
- Six Moon Dance (1998)
- Singer from the Sea (1999)
- The Fresco (2000) – John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee, 2001{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2001
| title = 2001 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| access-date=2009-06-30
}}
- The Visitor (2002) – John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee, 2003{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2003
| title = 2003 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| access-date=2009-06-30
}}
- The Companions (2003) – John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee, 2004{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2004
| title = 2004 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| access-date=2009-06-30
}}
- The Margarets (released June 1, 2007 by Eos) – John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee, 2008;{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2008
| title = 2008 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| access-date=2009-06-30
}} Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee, 2009{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2009
| title = 2009 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| access-date=2009-06-30
}}
=Short works=
- "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)
- The "Crazy" Carol Stories
- "The Gazebo" in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1990
- "Raccoon Music" in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1991
- "The Gourmet" in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October/November 1991
=Poetry=
- "[https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v19n06_1961-08#page/n42/mode/1up Extraterrestrial Trilogue on Terran Self-Destruction]" in Galaxy, August 1961 (as Sheri S. Eberhart)
- "[https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v22n02_1963-12#page/n61/mode/1up Lullaby, 1990]" in Galaxy, December 1963 (as Sheri S. Eberhart)
- "[https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v23n02_1964-12#page/n91/mode/2up Ballad of the Interstellar Merchants]" in Galaxy, December 1964 (as Sheri S. Eberhart)
=Essays/articles=
Educational pamphlets for Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood:
- The People Know (1968)
- The Perils of Puberty (1974)
- The Problem with Puberty (1976)
- This Is You (1977)
- So Your Happily Ever After Isn't (1977)
- The Great Orgasm Robbery (1977)
- So You Don't Want to Be a Sex Object (1978)
=Pseudonymous works=
- as E. E. Horlak (horror):
- Still Life (Bantam, 1987/1988)
- as B. J. Oliphant (mystery):
- Shirley McClintock Mysteries, featuring a Colorado rancher and former Washington, DC "advisor":
- Dead in the Scrub (1990)
- The Unexpected Corpse (1990)
- Deservedly Dead (1992)
- Death and the Delinquent (1993)
- Death Served Up Cold (1994)
- A Ceremonial Death (1996)
- Here's to the Newly Dead (1997)
- as A. J. Orde (mystery):
- The Jason Lynx Mysteries, featuring a Colorado antiques dealer and his significant other, a female cop:
- A Little Neighborhood Murder: A Jason Lynx Novel (1989)
- Death and the Dogwalker: A Jason Lynx Novel (1990)
- Death for Old Time's Sake: A Jason Lynx Novel (1992)
- Looking for the Aardvark (1993) (also published in paperback as Dead on Sunday, 1994)
- A Long Time Dead (Fawcett, 1994)
- A Death of Innocents: A Jason Lynx Novel (1996, 1997)
References
{{reflist|25em |refs=
"Sheri S. Tepper". Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Literature Resource Center. Web.{{full citation needed|date=August 2014}} Retrieved 2014-06-10.
{{cite web| url= http://www.locusmag.com/1998/Issues/09/Tepper.html | title=Sheri S. Tepper interview| work=Locus Online; locusmag.com| access-date= August 2, 2014| publisher= Excerpt from "Sheri S. Tepper: Speaking to the Universe", Locus 41:3 (September 1998), pp. 4–8}}
}}
External links
{{Wikiquote}}
- {{Cite web|url = http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/articles/of-preachers-and-storytellers-an-interview-with-sheri-s-tepper/|title = Of Preachers and Storytellers: An Interview with Sheri S. Tepper|date = 2008-07-21|access-date = 2023-06-13|website = Strange Horizons|last = Szpatura|first = Neal}}
- {{isfdb name|173}}
- {{LCAuth|n87909711|Sheri S. Tepper|34|}}
- [http://lccn.loc.gov/n2007024316 E. E. Horlak], [http://lccn.loc.gov/no91001521 B.J. Oliphant], and [http://lccn.loc.gov/n88099674 A. J. Orde] at LC Authorities (one, five, and seven records)
{{World Fantasy Award Life Achievement}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tepper, Sheri S.}}
Category:20th-century American essayists
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:20th-century American short story writers
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:21st-century American essayists
Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:21st-century American short story writers
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:American fantasy writers
Category:American horror writers
Category:American mystery writers
Category:American science fiction writers
Category:American women essayists
Category:American women novelists
Category:American women short story writers
Category:Environmental fiction writers
Category:Novelists from Colorado
Category:People from Littleton, Colorado
Category:American women horror writers
Category:American women mystery writers
Category:American women science fiction and fantasy writers