LEE, Sharon 1952-

PERSONAL: Born 1952, in Baltimore, MD; married Steve Miller (a writer), 1980. Education: Attended University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Hobbies and other interests: Cats.

ADDRESSES: Home—ME. Agent—c/o Author Mail, SRM Publications, P.O. Box 179, Unity, ME 04988-0179. E-mail—rolanni@mint.net.

CAREER: Science fiction writer. Worked in the secretarial field, c. 1970-76; University of Maryland Professional Schools, administrative aide to dean, School of Social Work, 1976-78; Book Castle (book store), founder and owner, beginning 1978; also worked delivering tractor trailers, selling cider, and as an advertising copy writer.

WRITINGS:

(With husband, Steve Miller) The Tomorrow Log (novel), Meisha Merlin Publishing (Decatur, GA), 2003.

Barnburner (mystery), SRM Publications (Winslow, ME), 2003.

"LIADEN UNIVERSE" NOVELS; WITH STEVE MILLER

The Naming of Kinzel, General Avocations, 1987, SRM Publications (Winslow, ME), 1998.

Agent of Change (see also below), Ballantine (New York, NY), 1988.

Conflict of Honors (see also below), Ballantine (New York, NY), 1988.

Carpe Diem (see also below), Ballantine (New York, NY), 1989.

Gnothi-Kairon (adaptation of Space Rogue, a computer game), 1990.

Two Tales of Korval: Adventures in the Liaden Universe, No. 1, SRM Publications (Winslow, ME), 1995.

Variations Three, SRM Publications (Winslow, ME), 1996.

Plan B, Meisha Merlin Publishing (Decatur, GA), 1999.

Partners in Necessity (includes Agent of Change, Conflict of Honors, and Carpe Diem,) Meisha Merlin Publishing (Decatur, GA), 2000.

Pilots Choice (includes Local Custom and Scout's Progress,) Meisha Merlin Publishing (Decatur, GA), 2001.

I Dare, Meisha Merlin Publishing (Decatur, GA), 2002.

Balance of Trade, Meisha Merlin Publishing (Decatur, GA), 2004.

Contributor to periodicals, including Absolute Magnitude, Amazing Stories, Owlflight, A Distant Soil, Fantasy Book, Dragonfields, Pulphouse, and Star Triad. Webmaster of several Web sites, including Bloo KangaRue and Liad.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Crystal Soldier, another "Liaden Universe" novel for Meisha Merlin Publishing, 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: In 1988, with the collaboration of her husband, Steve Miller, science-fiction writer Sharon Lee began her interstellar trilogy involving the Korval clan of Liad. In 1996, two more stories from that fictional setting were published as Two Tales of Korval: Adventures in the Liaden Universe, No. 1.

Agent of Change and Carpe Diem both involve an interstellar agent. In Carpe Diem, Liaden Val Con, the Korval clan leader, and his love, Miri of Terran, crash in a prohibited primitive world while escaping from villains. They attempt to learn the language after reaching inhabitants of this world. Back on Liad, Shan, Val Con's brother, and his sweetheart, Priscilla, mount a search for Val and Miri while others plot to displace Val Con's clan leadership. Eventually the shipwrecked Val Con and Miri return to the clan and defeat the scheme of the Department of the Interior to subvert Val Con. However, as Analog reviewer Tom Easton recounted, "the Department remains, its nefarious anticlan plots intact, and Korval still faces its greatest battles." Easton praised the book, especially for its excellent development of the characters' relationships.

In another Lee-Miller effort, Conflict of Honors, a starship crewperson in the same galaxy is on a quest to become a pilot. The stories in Two Tales of Korval, noted Easton in another Analog review, "are strong on characters, clever, humane, and smooth." The first tale, "To Cut an Edge," describes a young man on an alien world attempting to prove his qualifications to become a Scout. "A Day at the Races," a science-fiction comedy of manners, is also a pleasure to read, according to the reviewer.

Part of the reason Lee and Miller published stories set in the Liaden universe in magazines and chapbooks is that Ballantine dropped the novels in 1990. In 1998, however, the first three books were picked up by Meisha Merlin Publishing of Decatur, Georgia, and eventually issued them together in an omnibus edition in 2000. Sequels to the first three novels also appeared through Meisha Merlin, including Plan B in 1999 and Pilots Choice in 2001, which was actually composed of two separate novels. Though 2002's I Dare is the last novel in the sequence about Val Con, Lee and Miller have started other Liaden novels set in different time periods. Carolyn Cushman, reviewing Plan B in Locus, praised it as "great adventure, hard to beat for fans of fast-paced space opera," while Booklist reviewer Diana Tixier Herald described I Dare as "enticing enough to captivate readers new to Lee and Miller's series."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Clute, John, and Peter Nicholls, editors, Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993.

Reginald, Robert, Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature, 1975-1991, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1992.

PERIODICALS

Analog Science Fiction & Fact, April, 1990, pp. 180-181; August 1996, p. 152; October, 1999, Tom Easton, review of Plan B, p. 134.

Booklist, December 15, 2001, Diana Tixier Herald, review of I Dare, pp. 709-710.

Locus, August, 1999, Carolyn Cushman, review of Plan B, p. 31.

Publishers Weekly, November 26, 2001, review of I Dare, p. 43.

ONLINE

Bloo KangaRue Web site,http://www.sff.net/people/sharon.lee/ (1998), author profile.

Liaden Universe Web site,http://www.korval.com/liad.htm/ (May 10, 2002), author biography, information, and reviews of author's works.*