Sherwood Smith

{{short description|American novelist}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2013}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Sherwood Smith

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|5|28}}

| birth_place = Glendale, California, U.S.

| occupation = Author, retired teacher

| education = University of Southern California (BA)
University of California, Santa Barbara (MA)

| genre = Fantasy, science fiction, historical romance

| signature =

| website = {{URL|SherwoodSmith.net}}

}}

Sherwood Smith (born May 29, 1951) is an American fantasy and science fiction writer for young adults and adults. Smith is a Nebula Award finalist and a longtime writing group organizer and participant.

Smith's works include the YA novel Crown Duel. Smith also collaborated with Dave Trowbridge in writing the Exordium series and with Andre Norton in writing two of the books in the Solar Queen universe.

In 2001, her short story "Mom and Dad at the Home Front" was a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story. Smith's children's books have made it on many library Best Books lists. Her Wren's War was an Anne Spencer Lindbergh Honor Book,{{cite web |publisher=The Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation |title=Previous Winners |url=http://www.lindberghfoundation.org/events/previous.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070411160531/http://www.lindberghfoundation.org/events/previous.html |archive-date=April 11, 2007 |access-date=September 10, 2014}} and it and The Spy Princess were Mythopoeic Fantasy Award finalists.{{cite web |url=http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/sherwood-smith/ |title=Sherwood Smith |publisher=Fantastic Fiction|access-date=2016-06-04}} Smith was formerly an officer of the Mythopoeic Society under her birth name, Christine Ione Smith, but prefers "Sherwood" both personally and professionally.

Biography

Sherwood Smith was born May 28, 1951, in Glendale, California.{{citation | contribution = Sherwood Smith | title = Contemporary Authors Online | publisher = Gale | place = Detroit, MI | year = 2015 | contribution-url = https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1000118817/BIC?u=cmlweb&sid=BIC&xid=6f5baa15 |access-date=8 December 2019}} On her website, Smith describes herself as a middle-aged woman who has been married for over thirty years. Besides writing, she taught part-time at an elementary school, though she is now retired.{{Citation | contribution = Sherwood Smith | title = The Writers Directory | publisher = Gale | place = Detroit, MI | year = 2018 | contribution-url = https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1649568261/BIC?u=cmlweb&sid=BIC&xid=acee0dd6 |access-date=8 December 2019}} She has "two kids, rescue dogs, and a house full of books."{{cite web |url=http://www.sherwoodsmith.net/FAQ/FAQ.html |title=Frequently Asked Questions |publisher=Sherwood Smith's Website |access-date=2016-06-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140101194505/http://www.sherwoodsmith.net/FAQ/FAQ.html |archive-date=January 1, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}

Smith began making books out of taped paper towels when she was five years old. When she was 8, she started writing about another world, Sartorias-deles, though she soon switched to making comic books of her stories, which she found to be easier. Although she first tried to send out her novels when she was 13, nothing sold. However, some of the novels Smith first wrote as a teen, including Wren to the Rescue, were sold after she learned to rewrite.

In the years it took her to learn to rewrite, Smith "went to college, lived in Europe, came back to get [her] masters in History, worked in Hollywood, got married, started a family and became a teacher." She received her degrees from the University of Southern California (B.A.) in 1973 and the University of California, Santa Barbara (M.A.) in 1977. In 2010 she became a member of [https://www.sherwoodsmith.net/2014/12/book-view-cafe/ Book View Cafe.]

Smith currently resides in California.

Partial bibliography

Smith has co-written The Change Series with Rachel Manija Brown.

=Books written under other pseudonyms=

Smith has written some of the books in the Planet Builders series as Robyn Tallis.{{cite journal |last1=Weiner |first1=Laurence| date=1989 |title="The Cause and Effect of Daydreaming" |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1925&context=mcircle |journal=The Mythic Circle |volume=20 |issue=8 |access-date=September 14, 2023}} She has also written four books in the Nowhere High series as Jesse Maguire and one book in the Horror High series as Nicholas Adams.{{cite web |publisher=SF Site |url=http://www.sfsite.com/02a/cro50.htm |title=Featured Review: The Crown and Court Duet|access-date=2016-06-04}}

=Novels=

==Wren books==

  • Wren to the Rescue (1990), reissued by Firebird Books (2004) e-book [https://www.sherwoodsmith.net/2014/12/book-view-cafe/ Book View Cafe]
  • Wren's Quest (1993), reissued by Firebird Books (2004)
  • Wren's War (1995), reissued by Firebird Books (2004)
  • Wren Journeymage (2010) [https://www.sherwoodsmith.net/2014/12/book-view-cafe/ Book View Cafe]
  • A Posse of Princesses (March 2008) Norilana Books, e-book corrected, extra chapter (2011) [https://www.sherwoodsmith.net/2014/12/book-view-cafe/ Book View Cafe]
  • Barefoot Pirate (2011) [https://www.sherwoodsmith.net/2014/12/book-view-cafe/ Book View Cafe]
  • Lhind the Thief (2013) [https://www.sherwoodsmith.net/2014/12/book-view-cafe/ Book View Cafe]

==Sartorias-deles==

Sartorias-deles is the name of the fictitious world that is the setting for many of the books by Sherwood Smith. It is one of four inhabited planets in the Erhal system.{{cite web |url=http://www.sherwoodsmith.net/SD/Concept.html |publisher=Official Sherwood Smith Site |title=Sartorias-deles: The Underlying Concept |access-date=2016-06-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140103030420/http://www.sherwoodsmith.net/SD/Concept.html |archive-date=January 3, 2014 |df=mdy-all }} According to Smith, humans first arrived on Sartorias-deles through world gates untold millennia ago. Occasionally, still more humans arrive. However, in non-canon commentaries the author informs readers that most of the early human history on Sartorias-deles has been lost since the so-called Fall of Sartor approximately 4,000 years before the events of the books such as Senrid. Smith does indeed appear to intend these humans be portrayed as having been Terrans prior to their immigration to the Erhal system. For example, in numerous references throughout the stories, they appear to have brought with them several domesticated animal species, including cattle, horses, and dogs, as well as many foods such as coffee, rice, the tomato,Wren to the Rescue, page 38, paragraph 7 (2004 Firebird edition) and concepts such as the seven-day week.{{cite web |url=http://www.sherwoodsmith.net/SD/Inda.html |title=Sherwood Smith's Website: The Inda Books |access-date=2014-09-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140911112005/http://www.sherwoodsmith.net/SD/Inda.html |archive-date=September 11, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}

Other:

==Exordium==

==Andre Norton's Solar Queen universe==

==Andre Norton's Time Traders universe==

==Oz series==

==Planet Builders Series==

==TV tie-in novels==

=Short stories=

References

{{Reflist}}