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Sheri Stewart Tepper (July 16, 1929 – October 22, 2016)<ref name= stunning>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name=CAO/> 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),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A Plague of Angels (1993), The Family Tree (1997), Six Moon Dance (1998), and Singer from the Sea (1999).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name=locus_obit>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Early life and educationEdit

Template:Expand section She was born Shirley Stewart Douglas near Littleton, Colorado.<ref name= locus /> 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."<ref name= locus />

CareerEdit

Template:Expand section Tepper recalled that she "spent ten years...working all kinds of different jobs" as a single mother of two.<ref name=locus/> This included time working as a clerical assistant for the international relief agency, CARE.<ref name=locus/> From 1962 to 1986, she worked for Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood, eventually as its executive director.<ref name=locus/>

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.<ref name=locus/> 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.<ref>"Past WisCons" Society for the Furtherance and Study of Fantasy and Science Fiction (SF3), Inc.</ref>

In November 2015, she received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal lifeEdit

She married at 20, and divorced in her late twenties.<ref name= locus_obit /> She married Gene Tepper in the late 1960s.<ref name=locus_obit/>

She died on October 22, 2016<ref name= locus_obit /> at age 87.<ref name= stunning />

WorksEdit

NovelsEdit

SeriesEdit

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  • The Arbai Trilogy
    • Grass (Doubleday, 1989) – Hugo and Locus Awards nominee, 1990<ref name= stunning /><ref name="WWE-1990">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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    • Raising the Stones (Doubleday, 1990)
    • Sideshow (Doubleday, 1992) – John W. Campbell Award nominee, 1993<ref name="WWE-1993">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Non-seriesEdit

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  • The Family Tree (1997) – Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee, 1998<ref name="WWE-1998">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • The Visitor (2002) – John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee, 2003<ref name="WWE-2003">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • The Companions (2003) – John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee, 2004<ref name="WWE-2004">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee, 2009<ref name="WWE-2009">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Short worksEdit

  • "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

PoetryEdit

Essays/articlesEdit

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 worksEdit

  • 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)

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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