Lisa Smedman

Lisa Smedman
Born North Vancouver, BC
Occupation novelist
Nationality Canadian
Period 1997 -
Genre Science fiction and fantasy

Lisa Smedman is a science fiction and fantasy author and journalist. Her most well-known work is Extinction, a novel set in the Forgotten Realms universe, which was a New York Times bestseller. Smedman first became known for gaming adventure novels and later published her own, completely independent, fantasy novels.

Background

Smedman was born and raised in North Vancouver, BC, Canada; a suburb of Vancouver.[1] She earned a BA in anthropology from the University of British Columbia and a journalism diploma from Langara College in Vancouver.[1] After her first job as a typesetter for a local publisher, Smedman has spent her entire career working as a reporter and editor at Vancouver-area weekly newspapers.[1] She has worked at the Richmond Review, the Langley Times, and Sounder magazine.[1] She has worked as an editor at the Vancouver Courier, writing local history articles.[2] Smedman writes extensively on local history and has had two non-fiction books published on the history of Vancouver.

Smedman lives in Richmond, British Columbia, a Vancouver suburb. She has bookshelves filled with novels and books on science, history, forensics, religion, and mythology, as well as a vast collection of gaming boxes.[1]

Writing

Smedman is one of the most prolific authors of science fiction and fantasy gaming tie-in novels in Canada.[3] She began writing her own stapled-together stories in elementary school.[1] In 1981, she discovered Dungeons & Dragons and soon became a Dungeon Master.[1]

By 1987, Smedman had become convention spokesperson for the 15th year of V-Con, the annual convention of the B.C. Science Fiction Association, that attracted about six hundred people.[4]

In the late 1980s, Smedman began to write for Dragon magazine, which led to her writing her first gaming adventure for TSR, Inc.—the creators of Dungeons & Dragons—in 1993.[1] After Dragon's Crown was released, Smedman wrote ten more adventures for TSR in the next three years.[1] In 1993 she was a finalist in the Writers of the Future contest.[5]

Smedman's first novel, The Lucifer Deck, was set in the Roc Books Shadowrun universe and published in 1997. She used her own childhood experiences with homosexuality to fashion a child protagonist who, after changing into a magical creature and being rejected by her family, finds herself homeless on the streets.[1] Although Smedman says that her family is supportive and loving, "I have known people who came out as gay in their teens and were utterly rejected by their families. Because I'm also gay, it's easy for me to imagine what they must have felt."[1]

Eight more books followed The Lucifer Deck. Extinction, set in Wizards Of The Coast's Forgotten Realms universe, made the New York Times bestseller list in 2004.[1][3] She also wrote the novel The Playback War, set in FASA's Vor: The Maelstrom universe.[5]

In 2004, Smedman's tenth novel appeared; it was her first entirely independent work.[1] The Apparition Trail is an alternate-history fantasy which posits an 1884 Western Canada where the power imbalance between the First Nations and European settlers exists in a universe with magic and alternate physics.[1][3][6]

Books

Forgotten Realms

Shadowrun

VOR: The Maelstrom

Other novels

Non-fiction

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 McMahon, Donna (11 Sep 2004). "An author prolific to a fault" (newspaper). The Vancouver Sun. pp. D18.
  2. ↑ Smedman, Lisa. "History's Lens (series)" (newspaper). Vancouver Courier.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ursula, Pflug (13 November 2004). "Perpetual motion in alternate history novel" (newspaper). Peterborough Examiner (Peterborough, Ont). pp. C 5.
  4. ↑ Peter, Wilson (15 May 1987). "Sci-fi buffs offered a trip back in time" (newspaper). The Vancouver Sun. pp. E 2.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Lisa Smedman". Archived from the original on Feb 24, 2009.
  6. ↑ Arinn, Dembo (4 August 2004). "Fast-paced Trail walks tightrope between history and fantasy" (newspaper). Vancouver Courier. p. 32.

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External links