Susan R. Matthews

Background

Susan R. Matthews was born in July 1952 in Fort Benning, Georgia, United States. The fourth of six children in a military family, she was born in the army barracks.

Education

Matthews traveled with her family as her father - a Full Colonel in the Airborne Infantry and then the Special Forces - was assigned to posts in Kentucky, Germany, Idaho, North Carolina, and India. Matthews was thirteen when her father retired in Seattle, Washington.

There she was educated and received a Bachelor of Science degree. Then she obtained a Master of Business Administration degree in accounting at Seattle University.

Career

Despite Susan Matthews' interest in writing, thinking she wanted to be a Presbyterian minister, Matthews enlisted in the army so the GI bill would help pay for her education. She served in the United States Army as operations and security officer of the fifteenth Combat Support Hospital and chemical officer specializing in treatment under conditions of nuclear, biological, and radiological warfare. By the time she completed active duty, she discarded the idea of the ministry, deciding her temperament would not suit the profession. She became a janitor instead. In her career, Susan Matthews grew from janitor to an auditor at Boeing Defense and Space Company.

After leaving the army, she wrote her first novel, which became the fifth in the "Jurisdiction Universe" series. While still holding a day job as an accountant, Matthews continued to write. The first book in the series, An Exchange of Hostages (1997), introduces protagonist Andrej Koscuisko, a young and talented surgeon who, against his will, becomes an inquisitor in a military orientation center in deep space. The first book is followed by Prisoner of Conscience (1998), Hour of Judgment (1999), Angel of Destruction (2001), The Devil and Deep Space (2002), Warring States (2006), Blood Enemies (2017), and Crimes Against Humanity (2019).

Matthew's other works include stand-alone novels Avalanche Soldier and Colony Fleet and the most recent The High Pamir series, written as Zarabeth Abbey. She is also a contributor of short stories to Women Writing Science Fiction as Men, New Faces in Science Fiction, SF & Magic, and Janis Ian's Universe among others.

Achievements

• Susan Matthews is a known and recognized author of science fiction. She received wide acclaim for her books which received good reviews. She wrote the popular Jurisdiction Universe series, books from which were nominated for various awards, including the 1997 Philip K. Dick Award, 1998 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and 1998 Locus Award for Best First Novel.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Colony Fleet

    (With dreams of establishing a utopian colony of Earth ref...)

    2000
  • Avalanche Soldier

    (When her brother runs away to embrace a new faith that is...)

    1999
  • The Wild High Places

    (Jefferji Tamisen has lived a sheltered existence. Raised ...)

    2020

• books

  • Jurisdiction Universe

    (The Jurisdiction's Bench has come to rely on the institut...)

Views

Matthews said that moving every two years or so taught her to adjust to all types of environments, noting that geographic changes helped to increase social skills.

Matthews was introduced to science fiction by a brother who subscribed to a science fiction book club, and one of the first books she read was Isaac Asimov's I, Robot. Next came books like The Voyage of theSpace Beagle by A. E. Van Vogt. As an adolescent, she became a Star Trek, Dark Shadows, and Strange Paradise follower.

Quotations: "Being exposed to sometimes radically different ways of life stretches a person's brain at an early age, and gives you an immediate experience of the range of human suffering and potential."

Connections

Susan Matthews is married and has a wife, Maggie.