Sheri S. Tepper

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Author of many novels (stand-alone and in series) that focus on feminist issues, sexism, and ecofeminism. She is well known for her SF works, including SF, fantasy, and horror, and often a blending of the three. Under her A.J. Orde and B.J. Oliphant pseudonyms she also writes mysteries.

Names

Tepper has published a number of works under various initialisms: A. J. Orde, E. E. Horlak, and B. J. Oliphant. She has also published work, very early in her career, as Sheri S. Eberhart (her name before marriage, perhaps?).

Discussion

Much of Tepper's work deals in some respect with feminist issues. The Gate to Women's Country most directly deals with these issues however. A post-holocaust society has been designed by, and is controlled by, women. The protagonist of this story is a young woman throughout most of the story who has interactions both with the male society outside the gate to "women's country" and a Biblically fundamentalist society outside the territory controlled by the women's cities. The women's society has adopted a re-telling of the Iliad (from the women's perspectives) as one of it's fundamental myths. Tepper has been fairly successful in recent years and this novel has generated quite a bit of controversy in science fiction circles for its biological determinism and the ethical decisions made by the women who control the society.

Feminist strains run through almost all of Tepper's work, however: strong women people her books, and in the societies she envisions, she regularly explores the role of women in patriarchal societies. A dystopian theocratic patriarchal society (a far-future evolution of fundamentalist Christianity and Islam) is a major focus of Raising the Stones; and another dystopian patriarchal society also is depicted in Sideshow. Sexism and the subjugation of women, particularly as a function of religion (Catholicism), also are an important factor in Grass. In her earlier works (Blood Heritage, The Bones, The Revenants, SouthShore and NorthShore), elements of her interest in sexism and religion appear but are not fully developed. In her True Game series and the Marianne series these themes start to play a more important role in the plots, and in her recent fiction these themes become really important to the plots.

Works

Loosely connected, same universe:

The Awakeners

Marianne Trilogy

The Books of the True Game:

Mavin Manyshaped:
Peter:
Jinian:
Mahlia/Badger:

Short fiction

  • "The Gardener" (novella). Night Visions 6. Released as The Bone Yard (1988) in mass market. (vampire story). Collaboration with F. Paul Wilson and Ray Garton.
  • "The Gazebo" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 1990
  • "Someone Like You" in Martin Greenberg's The Further Adventures of the Joker (1990)
  • "Raccoon Music" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1991
  • "The Gourmet" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October/November 1991

Non-SFnal works

Shirley McClintock series as B. J. Oliphant

  • Dead in the Scrub. 3/1990: Fawcett, 0-449-14653-7. (first in series)
  • The Unexpected Corpse. 12/1990: Fawcett, 0-449-14674-X.
  • Deservedly Dead. 6/1992: Fawcett, 0-449-14717-7.
  • Death and the Delinquent. 2/1993: Fawcett, 0-449-14718-5.
  • Death Served Up Cold. 1994: Fawcett, 0-449-14896-3.
  • A Ceremonial Death. 1996: Fawcett, 0-449-14897-1.
  • Here's to the Newly Deads. 1997: Fawcett, 0-449-14992-7.

Jason Lynx series as A. J. Orde

  • A Little Neighborhood Murder: A Jason Lynx Novel. 1989: Doubleday, 0385260377. (1992: Ballantine, ISBN 0-449-22026-5)
  • Death and the Dogwalker: A Jason Lynx Novel. 1990: Doubleday, 03852667153. (1993: Fawcett, ISBN 0-449-22027-3)
  • Dead on Sunday. 1991. (1994: Ballantine/Fawcett, 0-449-22282-9)
  • Death for Old Time's Sake: A Jason Lynx Novel. 1992: Doubleday, 0385419414. (1994: Ballantine, 0-449-22193-8)
  • Looking for the Aardvark. 1993: Doubleday, 0-385-41942-2. (also published in paperback as Dead on Sunday, 1994 ???)
  • A Long Time Dead. 1995: Fawcett. 1994: Collins Crime, London, 000232539X.
  • A Death of Innocents: A Jason Lynx Novel. 1996, 1997. 1997: Fawcett, 449225194.

Poetry

  • "Lullaby, 1990" (poetry) in Galaxy December 1963 as Sheri S. Eberhart
  • "Ballad of the Interstellar Merchants" (in Galaxy December 1964) as Sheri S. Eberhart

Essays / Articles

  • "Extraterrestrial Trilogue" (Galaxy, December 1960, and August 1961) as Sheri S. Eberhart

Published interviews

  • Locus. September, 1989, p. 15.
  • Locus. August 1991, pp. 4, 69.
  • Locus. July 1994, v. 33, no. 1, issue #402. pp. 4, 80-81.

Awards & honors

  • Hugo nomination, 1990 for Grass
  • New York Times Notable Book citation for Grass
  • 1991, Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, for Beauty
  • Edgar nomination, Mystery Writers of America, for Dead in the Scrub
  • 1996, shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, for Gibbon's Decline and Fall
  • WisCon 22, Guest of Honor

Criticism and reviews

  • Fitting, Peter. "Reconsiderations of the Separatist Paradigm in Recent Feminist Science Fiction." Science Fiction Studies Volume 19 no. 1 (56) (March 1992), pages 32-48. Discusses Pamela Sargent's The Shore of Women, Joan Slonczewski's A Door Into Ocean, and Sheri Tepper's The Gate to Women's Country.
  • Levy, Michael. "Green SF and Eco Feminism." Originally published in IAFA Newsletter, Spring 1989 issues. Reprinted in Robert Collins and Robert Latham, editors, Science Fiction and Fantasy book Review Annual, 1989 Edition (Westport, CN: Meckler, 1990). "Review article of recent work by Octavia Butler, Nancy Kress, Pamela Sargent, and Sheri S. Tepper" -- ML.
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