Sherwood Smith


Sherwood Smith is an American fantasy and science fiction writer for young adults and adults. Smith is a Nebula Award finalist and a longtime writing group organizer and participant.
Smith's works include the YA novel Crown Duel. Smith also collaborated with Dave Trowbridge in writing the Exordium series and with Andre Norton in writing two of the books in the Solar Queen universe.
In 2001, her short story "Mom and Dad at the Home Front" was a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story. Smith's children's books have made it on many library Best Books lists. Her Wren's War was an Anne Spencer Lindbergh Honor Book, and it and The Spy Princess were Mythopoeic Fantasy Award finalists. Smith was formerly an officer of the Mythopoeic Society under her birth name, Christine Ione Smith, but prefers "Sherwood" both personally and professionally.
WWW sherwoodsmith.net

Biography

Sherwood Smith was born May 28, 1951, in Glendale, California. On her website, Smith describes herself as a middle-aged woman who has been married for over thirty years. Besides writing, she taught part-time at an elementary school, though she is now retired. She has "two kids, rescue dogs, and a house full of books."
Smith began making books out of taped paper towels when she was five years old. When she was 8, she started writing about another world, Sartorias-deles, though she soon switched to making comic books of her stories, which she found to be easier. Although she first tried to send out her novels when she was 13, nothing sold. However, some of the novels Smith first wrote as a teen, including Wren to the Rescue, were sold after she learned to rewrite.
In the years it took her to learn to rewrite, Smith "went to college, lived in Europe, came back to get masters in History, worked in Hollywood, got married, started a family and became a teacher." She received her degrees from the University of Southern California in 1973 and the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1977. In 2010 she became a member of
Smith currently resides in California.

Partial bibliography

Smith has co-written The Change Series with Rachel Manija Brown.

Books written under other pseudonyms

Smith has written some of the books in the Planet Builders series as Robyn Tallis. She has also written four books in the Nowhere High series as Jesse Maguire and one book in the Horror High series as Nicholas Adams.

Novels

Wren books

Sartorias-deles

Sartorias-deles is the name of the fictitious world that is the setting for many of the books by Sherwood Smith. It is one of four inhabited planets in the Erhal system. According to Smith, humans first arrived on Sartorias-deles through world gates untold millennia ago. Occasionally, still more humans arrive. However, in non-canon commentaries the author informs readers that most of the early human history on Sartorias-deles has been lost since the so-called Fall of Sartor approximately 4,000 years before the events of the books such as Senrid. Smith does indeed appear to intend these humans be portrayed as having been Terrans prior to their immigration to the Erhal system. For example, in numerous references throughout the stories, they appear to have brought with them several domesticated animal species, including cattle, horses, and dogs, as well as many foods such as coffee, rice, the tomato, and concepts such as the seven-day week.
Other:

Exordium

  • The Phoenix in Flight
  • Ruler of Naught
  • A Prison Unsought
  • The Rifter's Covenant
  • ''The Thrones of Kronos''

Andre Norton's Solar Queen universe

  • Derelict for Trade
  • ''A Mind for Trade''

Andre Norton's Time Traders universe

  • Echoes in Time
  • ''Atlantis Endgame''

Oz series

Planet Builders Series

  • Rebel from Alphorion, known as Robyn Tallis
  • Visions from the Sea, known as Robyn Tallis
  • Giants of Elenna, known as Robyn Tallis
  • Fire in the Sky, known as Robyn Tallis

TV tie-in novels

Short stories

  • "Monster Mash", in Werewolves anthology
  • "Ghost Dancers", in Things That Go Bump in the Night anthology
  • "Faith", in A Wizard's Dozen anthology
  • "Curing the Bozos", in Bruce Coville's Book of Aliens anthology
  • "Echoes of Ancient Danger", in Orphans of the Night anthology
  • "I Was A Teen-Age Superhero" in Starfarer's Dozen anthology
  • "Daria's Window", in Sisters in Fantasy II anthology
  • "What's A Little Fur Among Friends?", in Bruce Coville's Book of Spinetinglers anthology
  • "Visions", in Bruce Coville's Book of Magic anthology
  • "Illumination", in Nightmare's Dozen anthology
  • "And Horses are Born With Eagles' Wings", in Realms of Fantasy Magazine
  • "Mastery", in Wizard Fantastic anthology
  • "And Now Abideth These Three...", in Realms of Fantasy Magazine
  • "Finding the Way", in Alien Visitors anthology
  • "Mom and Dad at the Home Front", in Realms of Fantasy Magazine, Year's Best Fantasy ed. David Hartwell, and New Magics ed. Patrick Nielsen Hayden
  • "Excerpts from the Diary of a Henchminion", in Faeries magazine
  • "Beauty", in Firebirds anthology
  • "Court Ship", in Firebirds Soaring anthology
  • "Commando Bats" in Athena's Daughters anthology
  • "Zapped", A Tor.com Original