Lisa Smedman | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Period | 1997 - |
| Genre | |
| Notable work | Extinction |
| Website | |
| lisasmedman | |
Lisa Smedman is ascience fiction andfantasy author and journalist. Her novelExtinction, set in theForgotten Realms universe, was aNew York Times bestseller. Smedman first became known forgaming adventure novels, and later published her own independent fantasy novels.
Smedman was born and raised inNorth Vancouver,British Columbia, Canada.[1] She earned aBachelor of Arts Degree inanthropology from theUniversity of British Columbia and a journalism diploma fromLangara College in Vancouver.[1]
After her first job as atypesetter for a local publisher, Smedman has spent her whole career working as a reporter and editor at Vancouver-area weekly newspapers.[1] She has worked at theRichmond Review, theLangley Times, andSounder magazine.[1] She has written extensively on local history, having worked as an editor at theVancouver Courier writing local history articles,[2] and having published two non-fiction books on the history of Vancouver.[3]
Smedman lives inRichmond, British Columbia.[4]
Smedman is one of the most prolific authors of science fiction and fantasy gaming tie-in novels in Canada.[5] She first began writing stories in elementary school.[1] In 1981, she discoveredDungeons & Dragons and soon became aDungeon Master.[1]
By 1987, Smedman had become convention spokesperson for the 15th year of theVancouver Science Fiction Convention (V-Con), the annual convention of the British Columbia Science Fiction Association. The Convention attracted about six hundred people.[6]
In the late 1980s, Smedman began to write forDragon magazine. This enabled her to write her first gaming adventure forTSR, Inc.—the creators ofDungeons & Dragons—in 1993.[1] AfterDragon's Crown was released, Smedman wrote ten more adventures for TSR in the next three years.[1] In 1993 she was a finalist in theWriters of the Future contest.[7]
Smedman's first novel,The Lucifer Deck, was set in theRoc BooksShadowrun universe and was published in 1997. Smedman used her own childhood experiences with homosexuality to fashion a child protagonist who, after changing into a magical creature and being rejected by her family, finds herself homeless on the streets.[1] Although Smedman says that her family is supportive and loving, "I have known people who came out as gay in their teens and were utterly rejected by their families. Because I'm also gay, it's easy for me to imagine what they must have felt."[1]
Smedman wrote eight more books afterThe Lucifer Deck.Extinction, set inWizards of the Coast'sForgotten Realms universe, madeThe New York Times Best Seller list in 2004.[1][5] She also wrote the novelThe Playback War, set in FASA'sVor: The Maelstrom universe.[7]
In 2004, Smedman's tenth novel appeared. It was her first entirely independent work.[1]The Apparition Trail is an alternate-history fantasy which posits an 1884 Western Canada where the power imbalance between theFirst Nations and European settlers exists in a universe with magic and alternate physics.[1][5][8]
