Pierce, Tamora
From Dajuroka
The Life and Works of Tamora Pierce
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- A Bibliography of Tamora Pierce's Works
- Quotations by Tamora Pierce
- Internet Links about Tamora Pierce and her Works
An Essay from Tamora Pierce
Sixteen-year-old Beka Cooper lives far removed from knights, palaces, and the nobility. Her world revolves around thieves, beggars, taverns, and the lowest of the low. She's a trainee for the Provost's Guard—a rookie cop, in a world where a cop makes her own name based on her personality, her attitude toward money, and her love of the law. Beka means to prove that she is out to make her mark in this hard and physical world.
She does face a large obstacle. She's shy. Painfully shy. Left to her own devices, she would have no friends. It's hard for her to talk to people she doesn't know. It's a problem for the Guards who train her, a real problem for Beka—unless she can figure out that a uniform is a kind of costume, one she can hide behind. One that will make her a more outspoken person. It will help a lot if people come to realize that under her shyness is a clever, determined young woman. It will help even more if she can make friends who can give her good advice. Luckily, she has one such friend living with her in her slum apartment: a purple-eyed black cat named Pounce. He can make himself understood in human speech if he wishes to. He's capable of doing weirdly intelligent things to help his young companion Beka. With Pounce to assist her, Beka cannot have an ordinary career.
Beka tells her own story in a journal that she keeps from her very first day as a Puppy. The Guards are dubbed "Dogs" in her time and their trainees are called "Puppies." In its pages she writes of her days with her training Dogs, the pair who are to teach her what they know of survival on the streets in the city's toughest slum. Both are veterans. Tunstall is an easygoing, funny man who can be a little crazy in a fight. Goodwin is a small, tough woman who is opposed to Beka's presence at the beginning, a hard Dog and a smart one. They take charge when Beka brings them word of two vicious sets of crimes. Like everyone else in Beka's life, her partners find out that once Beka gets a case in her teeth, she hangs onto it like a terrier until it's been solved.
I have all kinds of reasons why I went to the past of the Alanna books. In part I wanted to show how present-day Tortall came to be. I also knew George's fans would welcome any kind of return to the Lower City, even if it wasn't the Lower City of his time. I wanted to get away from the courts and nobility, the setting for so many of the Tortall books thus far. Since I didn't want to show any of the characters I've come to love as being old or even dead, I couldn't write books in the future of the current Tortall. I turned to the past, and I'm pretty sure my readers will be glad I did! --Source: Tamora Pierce
Biography
Tamora Pierce was born in Fayette County Pennsylvania, in 1954. Her father worked for the telephone company while her mother went to college for her degree in English, intending to become a teacher. Pierce grew up surrounded by books — World Book encyclopedias, Winnie the Pooh books and lots of Dr. Seuss. As a young person, Pierce wrote "Star Trek" stories, "Here Come the Bride" stories, "Time Tunnel" stories and when one of Pierce's English teachers introduced her to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, she was hooked on Fantasy.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Psychology, Pierce moved to Manhattan to work in publishing and on her own writing. To help make ends meet, Pierce earned extra money doing all sorts of odd jobs — reviewing martial arts movies; editing Silhouette Romances; and writing, acting and directing programs for a radio company. In 1992 Pierce's books had developed such an following that she was able to quit her other jobs and focus on her writing full-time.
In contrast to a lot of science fiction and fantasy, Pierce's books, like Trickster's Queen, The Will of the Empress, and The Song of the Lioness quartet, include females characters who are fearless, bold, athletic creatures, not powerless victims or love interests.
Pierce relishes her book tours and the chance to meet her fans and thank them in person for reading her books. Source: Adolescent Literature
Tamora Pierce is the author of several young adult fantasy series. They take place in a fictionary world. Some are set in Tortall. These are The Song of the Loiness quartet about Alanna of Trebond, The Immortals books about a wildmage named Daine, and the Protector of the Small quartet about Keladry of Mindelan. She has also written the Cirlce of Magic and The Circle Opens books. Her most recent book is The Will of the Empress (the Circle Reforged).
She was born in South Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, on December 13, 1954. she is a Sagittarius, and was born in the Year of the Horse. Her mother wanted her to be named "Tamara," but the nurse who filled out the birth certificate had never heard of the name and misspelled it. She legitimately became Tamora (pronounced like "camera").She actually likes Tamora better than Tamara, which means "graceful" and "a palm tree," and is the name of a Russian saint. She is the oldest child in her family and has two younger sisters, named Kimberly and Melanie. When she was 10, Tammy and her family moved to California and settled in the San Francisco area. Tamora fell in love with fantasy and science fiction after her sixth grade teacher, , introduced her to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. This same teacher, along with Tammy's father, also gave her her inspiration to write. In 1969, Tammy and her mother and sisters moved back to Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where she stayed until she graduated high school. After high school, Tammy recieved a full scholarship to Penn University in Philadelphia. At Penn, she studied a wide variety of subjects, including psychology, film, social work, education, French, German, and sociology. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Tammy wrote a 732-page novel, intended for adults, entitled Song of the Lioness. Sound familiar? This same book was split into four parts and released as the Song of the Lioness quartet, the first book being published in 1983. Since 1983, and especially since she began writing full-time in 1992, Tammy has written 20 books, and published three short stories. She now lives in Manhattan with her Beloved Spouse-Creature, Tim Liebe four cats, and two budgies.
Videos
Tamora Pierce is a prolific writer of young (and for anyone who enjoy's a story) people's adventure and fantasy fiction. She loves to give girls a major heroine role in the books. Her publications are rich and well crafted. More Links here enjoy!
Here she talks on YouTube.
She talks here about her novel Terrier, concerning Beka Cooper.
And more about Bloodhound and more about Beka Cooper!
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