Sheri Tepper

Sheri Tepper is my third favourite writer (and I also collect all of her books).

She mainly writes Fantasy and Sci/Fi books (although she has written other genres, mostly under other names).

She is quite famous as a feminist writer, but she also tackles other worldwide issues such as over population and animal rights. What makes her very good is that she tackles these issues in very subtle ways, promoting her messages just within the great stories and characters (she normally has strong women leads) and not preaching.

Teppers stories are also on the weird/unusual side, which I like. Not massively but just enough to make them a bit more interesting.

I was introduced to Tepper by a work colleague, Dave Ufton, at work when I was in my early twenties. He lent me The True Game trilogy. This is a fantasy series about a world where the privileged people have limited magic like 'talents' which they use to play real life chess like games (with real people). It is still one of my favourite Tepper stories. There are also 2 follow up trilogies Mavin Manyshaped (the 2nd book is also one of my favourites) and Jinian, which are also good.

My favourite Tepper book, and one of my favourite books of all time, is Beauty. This is one of her stand alone novels. It features a lot of the classic fairy tales, linked together in a more real and gritty world (It did this before the current trend in the retelling of fairy stories). It is a sci-fi/fantasy cross and does get quite weird in places, but it is very atmospheric, has great characters and a good story. It has a lot of Teppers usual messages, feminism, over population etc, woven well into the story.

I also really like Plague of Angels. This is a Dystopia/Sci-Fi/Fantasy which has elements of The True Game. It is a very good story which twists and turns. One of Tepper's more recent novels The Waters Rising is a follow up book, but it is not as good (her most recent books are not to the same quality as the earlier books, they are still quite good though). Her latest book Fish Tails is very interesting as it brings together the True Game world with the Plague of Angels with an overarching storyline, again not her best but very interesting and its not bad.

The Gate to Women's Country is perhaps Tepper's most well known novel about a female dominated dystopian world. It was the one which started her feminist reputation as it features a strong woman lead and covers various sexism issues. Normally she does this quite subtlely within a good story, however this book puts forward quite strong messages. This it no tonne of my favourites.

I like the Marjorie Westriding/Arbai set of books Grass, Raising the Stones and Sideshow. These are sci-fi books and, although connected they are quite individually different. They all have strong characters and are atmospheric if not a little weird. Grass received a lot of critical praise.

Another book I really like is The Awakeners (originally published as two books Northshore and Southshore). This story is a sci-fi/fantasy cross and it is typical Tepper, atmospheric and obscure, with great characters and subtle messages.

The Revenants is one of Tepper's earliest books and its messages are subtlely woven into the story. It's fantasy/myth based with a questing story in typical Tepper atmospheric style. It's not bad, not her best but nowhere near the worst. After Long Silence (also published as The Enigma Score) is also within this ok category. It is more sci-fi based and typical Tepper. As is Shadow's End which has an over population, arrogant human message. Also in this mid range group is Gibbon's Decline and Fall, although technically sci-fi it is not a space/alien book, it is set on earth in the near future and features a lot of Teppers messages. It is not a bad story.

The Marianne trilogy are earlier books and are more magical realism stories. They are a bit weird, which I like, but overall in the mid range of the Tepper books. These books are quite rare. I do have all 3 books and also a trilogy copy.

The following are Teppers more recent books. I have to say that they are not quite as good as her early ones, but they are not bad. These tend to be a bit more drawn out and some are a bit overly long. Also also some of her messages are not so subtlely woven into the stories as in her earlier books, they are a bit more bluntly stated.

The Family Tree

Six Moon Dance

Singer from the Sea

The Fresco

The Visitor

The Companions

The Margarets

Tepper has also written other genres of book, under different names. Although I have most of these (I am a collector) I have only read a few of them. They are ok, but I am not a fan of the genre's. 

Horror:
as Sheri Tepper:

Ettison Duo:

Blood Heritage

The Bones

as E. E. Horlak:

Still Life

Mysteries:

as B. J. Oliphant:

Shirley McClintock Mysteries:

Dead in the Scrub

The Unexpected Corpse

Deservedly Dead

Death and the Delinquent

Death Served Up Cold

A Ceremonial Death

Here's to the Newly Dead

as A. J. Orde:

The Jason Lynx Mysteries:

A Little Neighborhood Murder

Death and the Dogwalker

Death for Old Time's Sake

Looking for the Aardvark (also published in paperback as Dead on Sunday)

A Long Time Dead

A Death of Innocents

I also have a few other Tepper rated items:

Lucus Magazine, Sept 1998 - Tepper Interview.

Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine, Oct 1990 - short story "The Gazebo".

Strange Dreams book - short story "Prince Shadowbow"

Night Visions 6 book - short story "The Gardener"

Here is Teppers official website http://sheri-s-tepper.com

Collecting

This entry is a summary of my various collecting obsessions, I will hopefully go into more detail of each of these in the future.

Firstly, I must say that the world is split into two types of people, those that understand collecting and those that don't. If you don't then you will probably think I am crazy, like most of my family.

Why do I collect? It's an interesting question which I find hard to answer. I am a natural hoarder which I think is a big factor (is collecting just channelled hoarding?). I think I like the hunt, trying to find unusual and interesting things, on a subject I'm interested in, and then owning it. Although I am not so obsessed as to spend silly money, it's not a case of must have.

I have various collections, most of which are related to each other in some way.

Also, each of my collections is routed in my early years.

Collection 1, also my main obsession: Anything J R R Tolkien related. As my previous blog entry on Reading explained, my Tolkien obsession came first from reading the Hobbit and then Lord Of The Rings. You will be surprised at how big the world of Tolkien collecting can be.

Collections 2, 3 and 4 also stem from reading.

Collection 2: Anything Terry Pratchett/Discworld related. My second favourite author. There is quite a lot of Pratchett stuff to collect but it is nowhere near as big as Tolkien.

Collection 3: The works of author Sheri Tepper. My third favourite author. This collection is not big in scope as it is only books, but my collection is quite comprehensive.

Collection 4: Fantasy books. A very wide subject, although my definition of Fantasy (hopefully a future blog entry) limits it a bit. Note: I also have quite a few Sci-Fi books, but this is just some additional books I have accumulated, so I lump these in with my Fantasy collection.

Collection 5: Board Games. This again is also a huge subject area, so my collection is limited to a few sub areas a; board games from my early nerdy years (and variations on some of these), b; Fantasy based board games, a spin off from my fantasy book collection, c; Horse Racing based board games, because my work is horse racing based, d; Golf based board games, I'm not really sure why!

Collection 6: Home computing/gaming. This is not actually a real collection as I don't seek out things to add too it. It is mainly an accumulation of the old games/home computing bits and pieces I have had, although there are quite a few. Again it's roots are in my early nerdy years.

Collection 7: Model Trains. Similarly this is also more an accumulation sparked from my early years. I haven't developed or pursued this collection since a very early interest, I have just sporadically added to it. I would like to develop this more but really need some space for it, maybe when/if the children leave home.

Collection 8: McDonalds Happy Meal Toys. This don't actively add to this collection any more. I was interested in it whilst I was a keen car boot sale goer. I do however have my collection, in storage.

Collection 9: Puzzles. Not Jigsaw puzzles, but physical challenges like Rubics Cube. Again this is a collection I haven't actively added to for a while.

To go with my Fantasy books and board games, I also have a few other Fantasy bits, Videos and Records etc, but these are not big enough to be considered collections.

I also have a reasonable Stamp collection, but this is just left over from my youth, so I don't really include it.

At this point I must say that my collections are currently in storage as I have any room to display them, a future aspiration.

Am I obsessive? Maybe, but none of my collections is all consuming, most of them I just add too as I come across stuff. I think I am more of a hoarder than an obsessive collector.