Present Writers: Caroline Stevermer

[mrissa]

This is the latest in a recurring series! For more about the series, please read the original post on Marta Randall, or subsequent posts on Dorothy Heydt, Barbara Hambly, Jane Yolen, Suzy McKee Charnas, Sherwood Smith, Nisi Shawl, Pamela Dean and Gwyneth Jones.

This is also one of the times when I should put in a disclaimer that the person I'm writing about is a personal friend. She is! She is one of the nicest people in SFF. We even have a running commentary when we're trying to be positive that instead of complaining about what some other person in the field has screwed up, we should just send Caroline a fruit basket for being Caroline. (Caroline would have gotten so many fruit baskets, but I digress.)

We would be totally willing to keep Caroline around because she's a nice person, but it turns out that she also writes thoughtful, funny books that look carefully at characters who don't show up enough in fantasy worldbuilding. She iterates on this tendency: first young women of means, in Sorcery and Cecelia (co-written with Patricia C. Wrede), then bluestockings in A College of Magics and A Scholar of Magics, and finally to their young servant in Magic Below Stairs. Caroline is not content with one angle on overlooked fantasy ideas but insists on scooching herself--and her eager readers--around to find another.

Her work shines in passages both introspective and funny. Her characters can be thoughtful but also impulsive, in ways that make even the quieter plots an adventure--and they are by no means all quiet plots. One of the things that I think of when I think of Caroline's fiction is balance--emotional, tonal, plot, social focus--she has a beautiful ability to juggle it all without looking like she's juggling.

Comments

[mirlacca]

I did not know about Magic Below Stairs. Thank you!

[ndrosen]

Neither did I. I can’t make reading it a priority, but it’s something to consider getting one of these days.

[aamcnamara]

Oh, hurrah, yes. What a good summary of her work. (I am also quite fond of When the King Comes Home, which is doing a few things I haven't seen in many other places, and I remember liking River Rats but I haven't reread it in years.) I miss Caroline, I should send her an email.

[mrissa]

Excellent plan! :)

[sillylilly_bird]

Caroline is one of my mom's and my favorites and I'm very pleased that I've been able to share that with her in person.

[themagdalen]

sold