Sheri S. Tepper
Born	Shirley Stewart Douglas (1929-07-16)July 16, 1929 nearLittleton, Colorado, U.S.
Died	October 22, 2016(2016-10-22) (aged 87) Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.[1]
Genre	Horror,mystery fiction,feminist science fiction
Notable works	The Gate to Women's Country, Beauty,Grass
Notable awards	World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, Locus Award in 1992 forBeauty

Sheri Stewart Tepper (July 16, 1929 – October 22, 2016)^[2] was an American writer of science fiction,horror andmystery novels. She is primarily known for herfeminist science fiction, which explored themes of sociology, gender and equality, as well as theology and ecology. Often referred to as aneco-feminist of science fiction literature, Tepper personally preferred the label eco-humanist.^[3] Some of her novels fall into the category ofclimate 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 includeGrass (1989),Beauty (1991),^[4]A Plague of Angels (1993),The Family Tree (1997),Six Moon Dance (1998), andSinger from the Sea (1999).^[5][6][7] 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 severalpen names during her lifetime, includingA. J. Orde,E. E. Horlak, andB. J. Oliphant.^[8]

She was bornShirley Stewart Douglas nearLittleton,Colorado.^[9] As a child, she read science fiction and fantasy byA. Merritt andC. S. Lewis, as well as Frank Baum's'Oz' books, William Hope Hodgson'sThe Night Land andIslandia by Austin Tappan Wright. She later commented, "These were the books I went back to again and again."^[9]

Tepper recalled that she "spent ten years ... working all kinds of different jobs" as a single mother of two.^[9] This included time working as a clerical assistant for the international relief agency, CARE.^[9] From 1962 to 1986, she worked for Rocky MountainPlanned Parenthood, eventually as its executive director.^[9]

She wrote poetry and children's stories as Sheri S. Eberhart, then took a break from writing. She published her first novels after she turned 50.^[2]

By the mid-1980s, she was publishing science fiction novels, includingThe Revenants (1984), and the books of theTrue Game series, includingKing's Blood Four (1983),Necromancer Nine (1983), andWizard's Eleven (1984). Other related works followed, including her ecofeminist novelsThe Gate to Women's Country (1988) andGrass (1989), which were part of the Arbai Trilogy. Later novels in the 1990s and 2000s includedBeauty (1991), which won aLocus Award;Shadow's End (1994);The Family Tree (1997);Six Moon Dance (1998);Singer from the Sea (1999);The Visitor (2002);The Companions (2003); andThe Margarets (2007).

As of 1998, she operated a guest ranch nearSanta Fe,New Mexico.^[9] That year saw her first and possibly only appearance at ascience fiction convention, when she wasGuest of Honor at the 25thWisCon, the feminist science fiction convention held annually inMadison, Wisconsin.^[10]

In November 2015, Tepper received theWorld Fantasy Award forLife Achievement.^[11] Her fantasy novelBeauty won a Locus Award in 1992.

Tepper married in her 20s and had two children.^[8] In the late 1960s, about 10 years after her divorce, she was married to Gene Tepper.^[8]

She died on October 22, 2016 at age 87.^[2]

Source^[12]

• The True Game (a trilogy of trilogies)
  • ThePeter series was the first published. TheMavin series takes place earlier. TheJinian series takes place during and after the same time period as thePeter 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),^[13] a crossover into the True Game series
• The Arbai Trilogy
  • Grass (Doubleday, 1989) – Hugo and Locus Awards nominee, 1990^[2][14]
  • Raising the Stones (Doubleday, 1990)
  • Sideshow (Doubleday, 1992) – John W. Campbell Award nominee, 1993^[15]

• 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^[16]
• Shadow's End (1994)
• Gibbon's Decline & Fall (1996) – Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee, 1997^[17]
• The Family Tree (1997) –Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee, 1998^[18]
• Six Moon Dance (1998)
• Singer from the Sea (1999)
• The Fresco (2000) –John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee, 2001^[19]
• The Visitor (2002) – John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee, 2003^[20]
• The Companions (2003) – John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee, 2004^[21]
• The Margarets (released June 1, 2007 by Eos) –John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee, 2008;^[22]Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee, 2009^[23]

• "The Gardener" (novella) inNight Visions 6. Released asThe Bone Yard (1988) in mass market. Collaboration with F. Paul Wilson and Ray Garton.World Fantasy Award—Long Fiction finalist (1989)
• "Someone Like You" inThe Further Adventures of the Joker (ed. Martin Greenberg) (1990)
• The "Crazy" Carol Stories
  • "The Gazebo" inThe Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1990
  • "Raccoon Music" inThe Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1991
  • "The Gourmet" inThe Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October/November 1991

• "Extraterrestrial Trilogue on Terran Self-Destruction" inGalaxy, August 1961 (as Sheri S. Eberhart)
• "Lullaby, 1990" inGalaxy, December 1963 (as Sheri S. Eberhart)
• "Ballad of the Interstellar Merchants" inGalaxy, December 1964 (as Sheri S. Eberhart)

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)

• 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 asDead on Sunday, 1994)
    • A Long Time Dead (Fawcett, 1994)
    • A Death of Innocents: A Jason Lynx Novel (1996, 1997)

Wikiquote has quotations related toSheri S. Tepper.

• Szpatura, Neal (2008-07-21)."Of Preachers and Storytellers: An Interview with Sheri S. Tepper".Strange Horizons. Retrieved2023-06-13.
• Sheri S. Tepper at theInternet Speculative Fiction Database

• 1929 births
• 2016 deaths
• 20th-century American essayists
• 20th-century American novelists
• 20th-century American short story writers
• 20th-century American women novelists
• 21st-century American essayists
• 21st-century American novelists
• 21st-century American short story writers
• 21st-century American women novelists
• American fantasy writers
• American horror writers
• American mystery writers
• American science fiction writers
• American women essayists
• American women horror writers
• American women mystery writers
• American women science fiction and fantasy writers
• American women short story writers
• Ecofeminists
• Environmental fiction writers
• Novelists from Colorado
• People from Littleton, Colorado
• World Fantasy Award–winning writers
• Writers from Santa Fe, New Mexico

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