Tamora Pierce

Tamora Pierce (born December 13, 1954) is a fantasy author who writes books for young adults. She is an alumna of the University of Pennsylvania.

Best known for writing stories involving young heroines,she made a name for herself with her first quartet (originally written as a single novel for adults) The Song of The Lioness, which followed the main character Alanna through the trials and triumphs of training as a knight.

Books

The Tortall Universe

Tortall is the country in which the Song of the Lioness, Immortals, Protector of the Small and some of the Trickster books take place. Its capital is Corus, located near the western coast on the Emerald Ocean. To the north is Scanra, a wild and somewhat barbaric country with whom Tortall went to war in the last two books of the Protector of the Small quartet. To the east are Galla, Tusaine, and Tyra, and past them are Maren and Sarain. Carthak is south of Tortall across the inland sea, while to the west lie the Yamani Islands and Copper Isles. Most of the Daughter of the Lioness books took place in the Copper Isles, further south than the Yamani Islands.

The Song of the Lioness

The Song of the Lioness Quartet is the story of Alanna of Trebond, a ground-breaking female knight. Although noble-born girls traditionally go to the convent to learn how to be proper noblewomen and wives, Alanna desires to become a knight, a position only given to noble-born boys. In order to achieve her dream, Alanna disguises herself as a boy under the name of Alan and goes to the palace in her twin brother, Thom's, place, while Thom goes to the convent to become a sorcerer. Later she duels with a royal family member and becomes the shaman of a Bazhir tribe. The entire series takes place over the course of ten years.

The Immortals

The story of Veralidaine (Daine) Sarrasri, an orphan with an unusual talent. She has 'wild magic'- a magic unlike the usual kind found in her world, that gives her a special connection with animals. These books follow her as she learns how to use her unpredictable magic under the guidance of the mage Numair Salmalín. She is forced to use her unusual magic to help her friends, animal, human, and immortal, and finally the world itself. The series covers a time span of four years.

Protector of the Small

The story of Keladry of Mindelan, the first girl to follow in Alanna's footsteps -- legally and without disguise, unlike the other female knight. As she begins her training, Kel is constantly plagued by doubters and put on probation by her training master, who thinks a girl will never succeed. Kel discovers "hazing" of the first-years and fights the bullies to put a stop to it.Kel makes memorable friends throughout the series, including the wry Neal of Queenscove and Sir Raoul of Goldenlake, an old friend of Alanna's. She also meets some key enemies, including Joren of Stone Mountain. Throughout her journey, she meets many people and animals alike. These books take the reader through Kel's page and squire years, along with the first year of knighthood. They cover a time span of nine years.

First Test (1999)
Page (2000)
Squire (2001)
Lady Knight (2002)

Daughter of the Lioness

This duology (also known as the Trickster books) is the story of Alianne of Pirate's Swoop, a 16-year-old girl with a knack for the spy game. When her father, Baron George, and mother, Lady Sir Alanna, refuse her a job with Tortall's spy forces, she decides to go sailing for a few days without telling anyone, only to be captured by pirates and sold as a slave in the Copper Isles. She soon discovers the beginnings of a rebellion there, between the dark-skinned raka natives and the light-skinned luarin invaders. She accepts a wager from the Trickster god Kyprioth to keep her masters' children alive in order to help fulfill his plans for the Isles, but is in for much more than she bargained for. Accompanied by an unlikely crew of raka conspirators, Copper Isles nobles, and crows-turned-men, she sets out to put the Isles to right, once and for all. They cover a span of one or two years.

Trickster's Choice (2003)
Trickster's Queen (2004)

The Emelan Universe

The story of four children: Sandry fa Toren, Trisana (Tris) Chandler, Daja Kisobu and Briar Moss, who discover that they are "ambient mages," which means that they use magic from outside themselves. They are all powerful individually, but they discover that together they are even stronger. As children skilled in an uncommon magic, they struggle to earn the respect of the adults they encounter. Also called the Circle Universe.

The Circle of Magic quartet

In which the children discover their magic

Sandry's Book, UK title The Magic in the Weaving (1997)
Tris's Book, UK title The Power in the Storm (1998)
Daja's Book, UK title The Fire in the Forging (1998)
Briar's Book, UK title The Healing in the Vine (1999)

The Circle Opens quartet

In which the children learn about passing their knowledge onwards. In this quartet the original four children decide to travel with their teachers, each taking on a new student.

Magic Steps (2000)
Sandry finds a dance-mage boy in Summersea, the twelve-year-old Pasco Acalon, the son and grandson of two police families (known as "harriers" in Summersea).
Street Magic (2001)
In Chammur Briar discovers a street girl named Evvy, who finds she has stone-magic.
Cold Fire (2002)
Daja travels to Namorn in the far north, and is the one to discover her host's twin daughters' magic: Niamara, whose magic is with carpentry and woodwork, and Jorality, whose magic is with cooking.
Shatterglass (2003)
Tris encounters Kethlun Warder, an undiscovered lightning and glass mage. Also, Glaki, a 4 year old mage.

The Will of the Empress

Sandry's cousin, the Empress of Namorn, has been begging her to come visit her for years. Finally the stitch witch agrees, but she will not go alone: her best friends will come as well. Sandry expects to visit her aunt for the summer and go back home to her uncle in Emelan, but the Empress has other plans. And as the four soon find out, the will of the Empress is considered law.

The Will of the Empress (UK October 2005, ISBN 0439441714; US November 2005, ISBN 0439441714)

It is hinted at throughout this book and finally explained that Briar and Rosethorn have had significant adventures in Gyongxe, first home of the Living Circle temples: although Tamora Pierce's website lists the publication of this book as 2009, she has mentioned on Sheroes Central that it will be released in 2007.

The reader is also informed that Tris will be enrolling at the mages' university in Lightsbridge under an assumed name, in an attempt to become an ordinary mage practicing normal academic magic (spells, charms, potions) with no one knowing her real name or power: this story is also to be told in a later book listed for release in 2009.

Melting Stones

Set at the same time as The Will of the Empress, this will tell the story of Rosethorn and Evvy when they travel to the Battle Islands: the inhabitants report that their plants and trees and the animals who live around them are dying off in patches, for no reason that they can work out. They are accompanied by a dedicate initiate from Winding Circle, named Myrrhflower, and Evvy's strange rock friend named Luvo, whom she met while she, Rosethorn, and Briar were traveling in Yanjing.

This story will appear first as a full-cast audio book (produced by Full Cast Audio) to be followed by paper versions. The recording date is set for May 2006, with publication in November 2006.

Short stories

Plain Magic (1999) (published in Flights of Fantasy)
Testing (2000) (published in Lost and Found)
Elder Brother (2001) (published in "Half Human," an anthology edited by Bruce Coville)
Student of Ostriches (2005) (published in YOUNG WARRIORS: Stories of Strength, an anthology edited by Tamora Pierce and Josepha Sherman)
Huntress (2006) (published in Firebirds Rising, an anthology edited by Sharyn November)
Hidden Girl (2006) (published in Visions and Dreams, an anthology edited by Jerry Weiss)

Comics

On February 24th at New York Comicon, Marvel Comics announced that Pierce will be writing a new series , starring former FBI agent Angela Del Toro as the new White Tiger. She will be co-writing the series with her husband, Tim Liebe. White Tiger will launch as a six-issue series in September 2006.

Further books planned

2006:

TERRIER, book one of The Provost's Dog trilogy, three books which detail the adventures of Rebakah (Rebba) Cooper, a street girl raised to be a manhunter by Tortall's Lord Provost, set 200 years before ALANNA: THE FIRST ADVENTURE, in Random House hardcover in the U.S. and Canada—October

2007:

untitled Circle universe book, in which Tris enrolls at the mages' university in Lightsbridge under an assumed name, in an attempt to become an ordinary mage practicing normal academic magic (spells, charms, potions) with no one knowing her real name or power, Scholastic hardcover in the U.S. and Canada—March
BLOODHOUND, book two of The Provost's Dog trilogy, detailing the further adventures of Rebba Cooper, nicknamed "the Provost's Dog", as she rises through the ranks of the Lord Provost's command, in Random House hardcover in the U.S. and Canada—September
TERRIER, book one of The Provost's Dog trilogy, in Random House paperback in the U.S. and Canada—Fall

2008:

ELKHOUND, book three of The Provost's Dog trilogy, the ultimate task set for Rebba Cooper, nicknamed "the Provost's Dog", in Random House hardcover in the U.S. and Canada—September
BLOODHOUND, book two of The Provost's Dog trilogy, in Random House paperback in the U.S. and Canada—Fall

2009:

untitled Circle universe book, set in the months after STREET MAGIC, in which Briar, Rosethorn, and Evvy continue their journey eastward to distant Yanjing, where they discover a danger that threatens the home temple of the Living Circle religion, Scholastic hardcover in the U.S. and Canada—March
NUMAIR: THE EARLY YEARS (very tentative title), in which we learn of Numair's last years at the university of Carthak, the beginning of his conflict with the newly-made Emperor Ozorne (Numair's best friend), his quick departure from Carthak, and how he survives afterward, in Random House hardcover in the U.S. and Canada—September
ELKHOUND, book three of The Provost's Dog trilogy, in Random House paperback in the U.S. and Canada--Fall

2010:

untitled Tortall universe book, about the coming-of-age of Maura of Dunlath, and how she finds her own unique place in the realm, in Random House hardcover in the U.S. and Canada--May
NUMAIR: THE EARLY YEARS (very tentative title), in which we learn of Numair's early days, in Random House paperback in the U.S. and Canada—Fall"

References

External links