Sheri Stewart Tepper (July 16, 1929 – October 22, 2016) 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. 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), A Plague of Angels (1993), The Family Tree (1997), Six Moon Dance (1998), and Singer from the Sea (1999). 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.
She was born Shirley Stewart Douglas near Littleton, Colorado. 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."
Tepper recalled that she "spent ten years ... working all kinds of different jobs" as a single mother of two. This included time working as a clerical assistant for the international relief agency, CARE. From 1962 to 1986, she worked for Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood, eventually as its executive director.
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.
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. 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.
In November 2015, Tepper received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. Her fantasy novel Beauty won a Locus Award in 1992.
Tepper married in her 20s and had two children. In the late 1960s, about 10 years after her divorce, she was married to Gene Tepper.
She died on October 22, 2016 at age 87.
The True Game (a trilogy of trilogies)
The Peter series was the first published. The Mavin series takes place earlier. The Jinian series takes place during and after the same time period as the Peter 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