Sheri S. Tepper
Main genre: Fiction / Science Fiction / Mystery / Suspense
Main audience: Young adult on
She's written over 40 novels, and used several pen names, including A. J. Orde, E. E. Horlak, and B. J. Oliphant.
Good Reads write-up
I particularly like how Sheri Tepper approaches her stories. They are very logically built. She has a smooth writing style and often slips in little 'funny bits' which I read and find myself smiling at and then realize what happened and go back and read it again. She is truthful as an author; is not one of the 'clever' authors, attempting to ensnare a person with traps to show how clever she is. I am reminded of Agatha Christie. Perhaps there is no greater compliment that I can write than that.Sheri Stewart Tepper was a prolific American author of science fiction, horror and mystery novels; she was particularly known as a feminist science fiction writer, often with an ecofeminist slant.
Born near Littleton, Colorado, for most of her career (1962-1986) she worked for Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood, where she eventually became Executive Director. She has two children and is married to Gene Tepper. She operated a guest ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Good points: She is a prolific author and if you like one of her books, you will most likely like all or most of them. This means you have a lovely time of reading ahead of you. She has a very good grasp of what makes mankind tick, and uses that knowledge in her stories. Her writing is often about very dark subjects, yet it sparkles with life and hope.
Bad points: I've not run across any myself yet. From what a few GoodReads members say, sometimes there might be a book that the particular issue is extremely of negativity (what mankind does and continues to do) and she dwells on the issue a bit more than they like.
And my book review!
The Family Tree - by Sheri S. Tepper
I've read this book before, many years ago. It was time to read it again and I did so with great delight.
It's a very good read. This is a story of another option of a possible future and what happens when mankind continues on its present path. I read this years ago and the 'surprise' in it, at that time, caught me totally by surprise. I was delighted and happy. This is definitely not your usual dystopian story. Can't say much more -- spoilers.
What Good Reads has to say about The Family Tree -
THE ONCE FERTILE EARTH OF DORA HENRY'S CHILDHOOD HAS BEEN UNDERVALUED AND OVERDEVELOPED. NOW NATURE, APPARENTLY, HAS DECIDED TO FIGHT BACK.
Police officer Dora Henry is investigating the bizarre murders of three geneticists. Meanwhile, strange things are happening everywhere she turns. Weeds are becoming trees; trees are becoming forests. Overnight, a city is being transformed into a wild and verdant place.
And, strangest of all, Dora can somehow communicate with the rampaging flora.
A potential civilization-ending catastrophe is in the making. The nearer Dora gets to a murderer--and to the truth--the more seemingly disparate events begin to entwine. And the answers she seeks today to the salvation of humankind may lie in afar distant future. . .one which is suddenly much closer than anyone imagines.
An exhilarating and enchanting novel that deftly combines fantastic invention with insight and a social conscience, from one of the most lyrical and important voices in contemporary speculative fiction.
