Like Elizabeth Moon’s Paksenarrion series, Tepper’s first series, the True Game, is so obviously based on D&D that it might put one off (the way one could be put off by an author who based a novel on a hoary, over-loved TV show, for example -). I’m reminded of Michael Caine, who wasn’t taken seriously until later in his career because he took every role that was offered whether or not it would advance his gravitas. As to why she’s not considered “top shelf” or whatever you said, my conjecture is that she just worked and published everything she could finish, without caring whether it was perfect. Thanks for such a kind and tasteful eulogy. It’s never too late to write it’s never too late to write a classic novel it’s never too late to be a great writer, whether or not the genre has entirely caught up with you yet.įarewell, Ms. Tepper didn’t publish her first novel until 1983, when she was in her 54th year of life she wrote something like 40 total, the most recent published in 2014. Not everything that Tepper wrote worked for me, which makes her like literally every single writer I admire but the things of hers that did (these two novels, The Fresco, Beauty, The Visitor and others) have stayed with me year in and year out.Īside from her considerable talents as an author, Tepper stands as a reminder that it’s never too late to write. You won’t be disappointed (and if you are, then, well, I don’t know what to tell you). If you haven’t read Grass, I really suggest you find it and put it near the top of your SF/F reading queue.

Her novel Grass has the sort of epic worldbuilding and moral drive that ranks it, in my opinion, with works like Dune and Perdido Street Station and the Earthsea series the (very) loose sequel to Grass, Raising the Stones, is in many ways even better, and the fact that Stones is currently out of print is a thing I find all sorts of appalling. But she was one of my favorite science fiction and fantasy writers, and an influence on my thinking about SF/F writing, so to have her gone on is still a deeply depressing thing.Īlso a bit depressing: That Tepper, while well-regarded, is as far as I can tell generally not considered in the top rank of SF/F writers, which is a fact I find completely flummoxing.

Tepper was in her late 80s, and had an accomplished life outside of her considerable writing career, including being an executive director of the Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood in Colorado, so one can’t precisely say this is an unexpected development. Tepper, who wrote the Hugo-nominated novel Grass among many others, and who was given a lifetime achievement award by the World Fantasy Convention just last year. This is genuinely upsetting news for me: Locus is reporting the death of Sheri S.

Beauty sheri tepper