"But in fantasy, you can make a complete break, and you can put people in a situation where they are confronted with things that they would not confront in the real world.""Hard to be a physics major at Rice University if you have flunked calculus.""Having a mother who had been an aeronautical engineer convinced me that more things should be open to women.""I actually feel that the different kinds of stories come out of different parts of my brain.""I can become very emotional about math, although I'm not that good at it.""I had, of course, no model for that sort of woman being married, but I can make that up as I go along.""I like the Beatles, of course, but that's when I grew up.""I love biomedical science, I love astronomy, and you can't really do much with those in a fantasy setting.""I regarded drugs as somewhat like rattlesnakes - it's possible to pick one up without getting bit, but why bother?""I used to not back down from a challenge.""I was writing fiction, but not finishing fiction.""I've taught Sunday school, I've sung in the choir, I directed a choir.""In a novel, I could submerge my ego in a character's and let his perceptions take over.""It may be far in the future, but there's some kind of logical way to get from where we are to where the science fiction is.""My first degree came years before my second. I had wanted to be a physicist, but I flunked calculus.""My personal feeling about science fiction is that it's always in some way connected to the real world, to our everyday world.""No, but a cello is the perfect string bass for an accordion. Works with it beautifully.""Now my mother, interestingly enough, was not a feminist in her own mind.""One of my degrees was a science degree in biology.""Other people, including me, have written books with main characters who were old and rich. Or old and brilliant. Old sages, old wizards, old rich people.""So when I got out of the military, I went back to school in biology, and earned a biology degree at the University of Texas, and then did some graduate work in it.""There are relatively few science fiction or fantasy books with the main character being an old person.""When a person responds emotionally to intellectual things, or emotionally only to traditional emotional things - I find that an interesting break between myself and some other writers and fans.""When I was quite young, she was working in a hardware store, so I grew up knowing about hardware.""When I was starting out, I did not do short fiction well, because I kept wanting to write books.""You can also make explicit certain social problems which, again, would be prejudged or not encountered at all in real life, because people have set up defenses against it. Fantasy allows you to get past defenses."
Moon was born Susan Elizabeth Norris and grew up in McAllen, Texas. Moon started writing when she was a child and attempted her first book, which was about her dog, at age 6. Because of this, she was inspired to write creatively and began writing science fiction in her teens (while still considering it a sideline).
She earned a Bachelor's degree in History from Rice University in Houston, Texas in 1968. She later earned a second B.A. degree in Biology. In 1968, she joined the United States Marine Corps, attaining the rank of 1st Lieutenant while on active duty. She married Richard Sloan Moon in 1969 and they have a son, Michael, born in 1983.
She first got serious about writing in her mid-thirties and had a newspaper column in a county weekly newspaper. Her first novel was The Sheepfarmer's Daughter which won the Compton Crook Award. Most of her writings contain military science fiction themes, though biology, politics and personal relationship issues also feature strongly. The Serrano Legacy is a space opera. The Speed of Dark is a Nebula Award-winning near-future story told from the viewpoint of an autistic computer programmer, inspired by her own autistic son Michael.
Elizabeth Moon has many interests outside of writing. She has a musical background, having played the accordion during her university days as well as singing in choirs.
Moon is also an experienced paramedic and has served in various capacities in local government.
Sheepfarmer's Daughter...1989 Compton Crook Award (winner)
Remnant Population...1997 Hugo Award for Best Novel (nomination)
The Speed of Dark...2003 Nebula Award for Best Novel (winner); 2003 Arthur C. Clarke Award (nomination)
Moon was awarded the 2007 Robert A. Heinlein Award, which honors "outstanding published works in hard science fiction or technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space".
“Those Who Walk in Darkness” (March 1990)...short story set during Oath of Gold, included in the collections Lunar Activity and Phases
The Deed of Paksenarrion (February 1992)...paperback omnibus
The Deed of Paksenarrion (October 2003)...hardcover omnibus
The Deed of Paksenarrion (January 2010)...paperback omnibus
The Legacy of Gird Novels
Surrender None (June 1990)...prequel to The Deed of Paksenarrion
Liar's Oath (May 1992)...sequel to Surrender None
The Legacy of Gird (September 1996)...paperback omnibus
: to be available as A Legacy of Honour (paperback omnibus) in November 2010
Paladin's Legacy Novels
Oath of Fealty (March 2010)...sequel to Oath of Gold
Kings of the North (March 2011)...sequel to Oath of Fealty
Familias Regnant universe
Heris Serrano trilogy
Hunting Party (July 1993)
Sporting Chance (September 1994)
Winning Colors (August 1995)
:Heris Serrano (July 2002)...Baen omnibus edition
:The Serrano Legacy: Omnibus One (December 2006)...Orbit GB omnibus
Esmay Suiza continuation
Once a Hero (March 1997)
Rules of Engagement (December 1998)
:The Serrano Connection: Omnibus Two (September 2007)...Orbit GB omnibus
:The Serrano Connection (October 2008)...Baen omnibus edition
Suiza and Serrano
Change of Command (December 1999)
Against the Odds (December 2000)
:The Serrano Succession: Omnibus Three (February 2008)...Orbit GB omnibus
Vatta's War
Trading in Danger (September 2003)
Marque and Reprisal (September 2004)...Moving Target in the UK, New Zealand and Australia
Engaging The Enemy (March 2006)
Command Decision (February 2007)
Victory Conditions (February 2008)
The Planet Pirates Series
The Planet Pirates is based on two books by Anne McCaffrey, Dinosaur Planet and Dinosaur Planet Survivors, (the two are also called The Mystery of Ireta) which also form the core of The Death of Sleep.
Sassinak (March 1990)...Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Moon
The Death of Sleep (June 1990)...Anne McCaffrey & Jody Lynn Nye
Generation Warriors (February 1991)...Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Moon
The Planet Pirates (October 1993)...omnibus edition, McCaffrey, Moon, & Nye
Other novels
Remnant Population (May 1996)
The Speed of Dark (October 2002)
Collections
Elizabeth Moon’s list of her own short fiction
Lunar Activity (ISBN 978-0-671-69870-6, March 1990)...Ten short stories
Phases (ISBN 978-0-671-87855-9, December 1997)...Eight stories from Lunar Activity, and others previously uncollected.
both include “Those Who Walk in Darkness”...a Paksenarrion short story
Moon Flights (hardcover ISBN 1-59780-109-7, paperback ISBN 978-1-59780-110-2, August 2008)...Fifteen stories, including an original "Vatta's War" story, with an introduction by Anne McCaffrey
The limited edition hardcover (ISBN 978-1-59780-108-9, September 2007) contains an additional rare bonus story entitled "Fencing In"
