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For this American writer fantasy fiction is a strong hold. Born Tamora Pierce on December 13, 1954 in South Connellsville Pennsylvania, Fayette County; she cut her own niche with writings that feature young heroines. The name Tamora was born out of a spelling error when her maid was filling her birth certificate, contrary to the mother wanting to name her Tamara. The eldest in a family of three girls, her two other sisters are Kimberly and Malanie who were born when she was five and six respectively. She lived in Dunbar from when she was five but later moved to California at the age of eight, in June 1963 with her family. Initially they settled in San Mateo then moved to Miramar on the other side of Peninsula of San Fransisco. They settled there for six months then later moved to El Granada where they stayed for a year before relocating to Burlingame where they lived for three years.
Her passion for books came at a tender age through reading; her writing began when she was in her sixth grade. What lead to her interest into fantasy writing was when she was exposed to the Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien which influenced her writing of the type of books. With her mother and sisters Tamora Pierce moved back to Fayette County in 1969 following her parents’ divorce. While at Fayette County she went to Albert Gallatin Senior High for two years. The family’s movement did not stop there as they moved again leading her to spend her other school life at Uniontown Area Senior High School. There she was into acting and singing, and her writing got an opportunity to write for the school paper. She later joined Pennsylvania University where she wrote the books that were combined to become ” the song of the Lioness” quartet. In 1983 one of these, ” Alanna (The first adventure) was published by Atheneum Books.
She later got married to Tim Liebe with whom she live with in New York City with their pets then late shifted to Syracuse side of New York. She donated her book archive to the Northern Illinois University’s department of rare books and collections.
Her writing process involves things she comes upon accidentally, for instance the concept of magic being a weave of threads, was inspired by her involvement in crocheting, and in a way every magic work of her is founded upon David Attenborough the British naturalist, which she got after she watched his documentaries. Her fantasy novels were founded upon the type of world she imagined when she was a child. She later included current issues such as crime and youth. For inspiration she sometimes turned to people and animals. For instance the persona Alanna is founded on her sister. The composition of Thayet is related to Pierce’s friend, and Beka’s friends in Provost’s Dog are created from pigeons of Piece’s friends. Her initial writings were as a way to escape the tragedy of her parents’ divorce. Her early fictions had their basis upon stories she loved, even relating her writings to them very closely. What made her write about outstanding feminine characters was the fact that she realized they were missing in the books she read.
One of Tamora Pierce’s interesting works is the fictional Tortall universe: a setting that is found in five of her novels. It is the name of the main county who capital is Corus which finds its location next to the coast of Emerald Ocean. It shares its borders with Country Scanra on the northern side, which is wild and brutal. In the last two Protector books and the first trickster book (the Trickster’s choice), these two countries go to war.Three countries are found to the east: Tusaine, Tyra and Galla, with Maren and Sarain far beyond them. Past the sea down south is Carthak, and heading west is Yamani Islands and the Copper Isles. In some sense it resembles Europe during the middle age which had Monarchy, royalty, courts and among others. In this land magic is alive from every corner from the lowest hedgewitch to the king himself. In her writings gods are respected who occasionally use humans as heroes and other times as means to fulfil their purposes. Gods are displayed to wield power unimagined yet they still depend on humans to mould the world in what they desire.
One of her early books was “Alanna” released in 1983. Aided by her twin brother known as Thom, Alanna a noble girl realizes her dream of becoming a knight, while the brother heads for the temple to become a mage. She ends up attracting some powerful allies including the prince and the king of thieves. She also does not fail to make enemies with powerful and crafty characters such as Duke Rogers who is the prince’s first cousin, who she lacks trust towards. The other of Tamora Pierce’s early books is ” In the Hand of the Goddess” that was released in 1984. Alanna’s life as a Knight under training turns hard yet she still keeps herself disguised. She becomes a squire Prince Jonathan of Conté, even fighting alongside her knight master. Meanwhile she fights the attention of Duke Rogers as she also struggles with her own identity as a woman. She is romantically drawn to George Cooper and the Prince. She struggles to balance her relationship with the prince and her ambition to become a knight.
The fact that none of her books have been turned into a movie has raised a number of questions from her fans as they wish to see at least one of them make it through. She recognizes that for a book to be turned into a movie, the producers must make such a decision. Besides she says due to the nature of her books making movies out of them would be expensive. They are set in a historic period that will lead to incurring a lot of expenses from costumes and suitable locations and they would also need a number of special effects.]
Tamora will forever be one of my favorite childhood authors. shes on the same pedestal as Anne Mccaffrey and JRR Tolkein. I spent many childhood hours immersed in her world, and even wanted to name a future daughter Bekka Cooper after my favorite character in the world.
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Tamora will forever be one of my favorite childhood authors. shes on the same pedestal as Anne Mccaffrey and JRR Tolkein. I spent many childhood hours immersed in her world, and even wanted to name a future daughter Bekka Cooper after my favorite character in the world.