{The article presented here is more-or-less as it first appeared in print in The Southern Fandom Confederation Bulletin Vol. 7, No. 9, April, 2001, Julie Wall, Editor. Comments by Julie appear {{like this}}.}
This rough list came as a result of a query from Roland Mann, who was doing a paper in grad school about regional influence on genre literature. Somewhat to my surprise, there was more than I thought there would be. But this just inspired me, and the large list below includes those skiffy authors who live in the South, have lived in the South and may thus can be considered to have been influenced by Southern culture, and those for whom the South has played an important part in their art. So far the list includes authors known to me from my own reading, the list of Phoenix winners, and those listed in the SFWA guide as resident in the South and who are, to my knowledge, active members (who may or may not actually reflect place of residence in their work). I'm not sure if the Virginia-Washington DC area counts, but I've given authors there the benefit of the doubt. The list is in alphabetical order now, for ease of scanning, and not by order of importance to SF or to the South. This is obviously a work in progress: contributions to the list very much solicited, either in the form of more names or additional notes to writers already mentioned. My apologies to anyone I might have inadvertently overlooked. Please send additions to Julie Wall -- see colophon for submission addresses and guidelines. She'll also pass on to me any comments y'all care to make.
--Toni Weisskopf
Athens, GA
April, 2001
Piers Anthony lives in Florida and is the author of the bestselling "Xanth" series of fantasies (check out the map of "Xanth" for regional influence) and numerous SF novels. Phoenix winner.
Robert Asprin has lived in New Orleans for many years now and his latest with Jody Lynn Nye is a fantasy set in New Orleans and is full of atmosphere (License Invoked, Baen).
Eric T. Baker lives in Virginia and writes SF.
Margaret Ball is from Texas, and her "Chicks in Chainmail" novel, Mathemagics (Baen), has got wonderful satire on its public school system (see also stories about that same character in the "Chicks" anthologies edited by Northerner Esther Friesner). Also see her first SF novel (she'd done romance, too) for pointed satire of late 1980s contemporary Austin.
Gregory Benford is from Alabama though now living in California. Writes hard SF, and darn well, too.
Nancy Varian Berberick is a new writer and lives in NC. ("New," by the way, as I use it here means that the author has come into my awareness within the last five years or so, and may not necessarily reflect the real career path.--TKFW)
Michael Bishop is from Georgia and still lives here, and though I'm not familiar with all of his works those I've read had a pretty strong sense of place, especially Brittle Innings (Bantam). {Phoenix winner.--SAS}
Terry Bisson is from Kentucky though living up North; see award-winning story "Bears Discover Fire". He's also a Phoenix winner.
Nelson S. Bond, the prolific pulp writer, lives in Virginia.
Orson Scott Card: don't know where he's from {{Charlotte says Utah}}, but he's lived in NC forever -- might want to check out his "Alvin Maker" fantasies (Tor) to see where they are set. Phoenix winner.
Hugh B. Cave is a prolific pulp writer still alive and publishing at 90+. Phoenix winner.
Brenda Clough lives in Virginia and writes fantasy.
David B. Coe is contemporary fantasy writer. He lives in Tennessee, and is not to be confused with David Allen Coe, the "outlaw" country singer....
Mary Elizabeth Counselman. Wrote fantasy for Weird Tales. Phoenix winner.
Barbara Delaplace lives in Florida.
Andy Duncan is a new author who lives in Alabama.
David Drake is from Iowa, but has lived in North Carolina for most of his adult life. The "Old Nathan" series of stories are direct homage to Wellman's "Silver John" stories. Some other short stories of his (see collections All the Way to the Gallows and Military Dimension: Mark II (both Baen)) also are set in the South. Phoenix winner.
Doranna Durgin's new novel Seer's Blood (Baen) is set in an alternate Appalachia. She's from Tennessee originally, I believe.
George Alec Effinger is from New Orleans. Phoenix winner.
P.N. Elrod writes mostly vampire fantasy; her latest with Nigel Bennett, His Father's Son (Baen), is partially set in Texas.
Linda Evans lives in Florida. Her titles are not particularly regionally inspired but include the "Time Scout" series written with Robert Asprin.
Sharon Farber is perhaps better known professionally as "S.N. Dyer." She lives in Tennessee.
Eric Flint in his time-travel novel 1632 (Baen) takes a modern West Virginia mining town and plunks it down in the middle of the Thirty Years war, which allows for some interesting cultural comparisons.... He lives in the Midwest now but has lived in Alabama and West Virginia.
Daniel Galouye, whose short story was recently adapted to the movie The 13th Floor (I think that's the title), was from New Orleans.
Owl Goingback lives in Florida.
Kathleen Goonan lives in Florida and writes sf.
{Sharon Green lives in Tennessee and writes fantasy. Phoenix winner.--TKFW}
Joe & Jack Haldeman are from Alaska, I believe, but also have lived in Florida for their adult lives. {Phoenix winners.--SAS}
James P. Hogan is from England, but has lived in Florida for several years now, and been a fixture at Southern SF cons for longer. {Phoenix winner.--SAS}
Holly Lisle is a Southerner and her "Devil's Point" series were set in NC. Writes mostly fantasy.
John Kessel lives in North Carolina and writes SF.
Daniel Keyes, author of the classic SF story "Flowers for Algernon," lives in Florida.
Brad Lineweaver writes libertarian SF and lives in Georgia. Phoenix winner.
Rick McCammon, the horror writer, is from Alabama, and has also featured the South in his books.
Richard Meredith wrote SF in the 1960s. Phoenix winner.
Elizabeth Moon is from Texas and her novel Remnant Population really draws on her experiences there, as, to a lesser extent, do some of the works in the Heris Serrano and Esmay Suiza saga (see Once a Hero and Change of Command, Rules of Engagement and Against the Odds for a future Texas culture).
Andre Norton, Grandmistress of SF, is from the Midwest (see a post-Apocalypse Cleveland in her first novel, Star Man's Son), but has lived in Florida and settled in Tennessee and established a writer's retreat and library in its hills. {Phoenix winner.--SAS}
Andrew J. Offutt lives in Kentucky and writes SF and fantasy; his son is the one who can be accused of writing "regional" fiction, though. Phoenix winner.
Gerald W. Page writes fantasy and is from Georgia. Phoenix winner.
Richard Parks writes mostly short stories, I believe, and lives in Mississippi, the sole SFWA writer with that distinction.
John Maddox Roberts writes SF and mysteries and is from Georgia, though not living here anymore.
John Ringo is an Army brat and a Georgia boy. His first novel came out in October 2000: A Hymn Before Battle (Baen). In Gust Front, the sequel, Fredricksburg, Virginia is destroyed by alien invasion and the mountains of Georgia play a part, as does Key West.
Rick Shelley wrote mostly military SF and lived in Tennessee.
Wm. Mark Simmons lives in Louisiana and writes sf and fantasy. His novel One Foot in the Grave is set partially in the South.
Allen Steele writes hard SF novels and is from Tennessee though now living up North. Phoenix winner. {Sorry, Toni. But according to my records Allen Steele has never won the Phoenix.--SAS}
Brad Strickland lives in Georgia and writes fantasy. {Phoenix winner.--SAS}
Thomas Burnett Swann wrote myth-inspired fantasies, and died too soon of cancer. Phoenix winner.
Harry Turtledove is from California, but he's got a new series, (Sentry Peak and in late 2001 Marching Through Peachtree), that is a fantasy re-telling of the Civil War, (Sentry Peak = Lookout Mountain, etc.) and another series about an alternate Civil War that started with Guns of the South (Del Rey). Phoenix winner. {Sorry, Toni. But according to my records Harry Turtledove has never won the Phoenix.--SAS}
Karl Edward Wagner, a fantasy writer (the "Kane" series and others) and small press publisher, was from NC. Phoenix winner. World Fantasy Award winner.
David Weber is a contemporary SF author, and one novel, The Apocalypse Troll, takes place partially in the South (okay, rampaging all over it--but it has good portraits of regional characters). He's from South Carolina. {Phoenix winner.--SAS}
Bud Webster lives in Virginia and writes SF.
Sharon Webb lives in Georgia and has had several SF novels and short stories published. {Phoenix winner.--SAS}
Manly Wade Wellman wrote a very regional sort of fantasy in his "Silver John" Appalachian mountain stories, influencing generations of writers. {Phoenix winner.--SAS}
The special case of Texas: Since it is sometimes considered Southern, sometimes Western, I haven't listed above all the SF authors resident there, just those I know have Texas influence their works. But the list includes: Carole Nelson Douglas (also writes romance and mysteries), Ardath Mayhar, Michael Moorcock (an expatriate Brit, best known for the "Elric" fantasy series), Martha Wells (writes SF), Arlan Andrews (writes hard SF), Bruce Sterling (of Wired fame), Aaron Allston (writes mostly fantasy & is a professional in the gaming industry), Katherine Eliska Kimbriel, James Stoddard (writes sf), John Steakley (SF and fantasy), C. Dean Andersson, and Alexis Glynn Latner (SF short stories in Analog).