Moon was born Susan Elizabeth Norris and grew up in McAllen, Texas. She started writing when she was a child and first tried a book, which was about her dog, at age six. She was inspired to write creatively, and says that she began writing science fiction in her teens, considering it a sideline.[2]
She earned a Bachelor's degree in History from Rice University in Houston, Texas in 1968 and later earned a second B.A. in Biology. In 1968, she joined the United States Marine Corps as a computer specialist, attaining the rank of 1st Lieutenant while on active duty.[3] She married Richard Sloan Moon in 1969 and they have a son, Michael, born in 1983.[2]
Moon began writing professionally in her mid-thirties and had a newspaper column in a county weekly newspaper. In 1986, she published her first science fiction in the monthly magazine Analog and the anthology series Sword and Sorceress.[4] Her stories appeared regularly in Analog the next few years. Her first novel The Sheepfarmer's Daughter (1988)[4] won the Compton Crook Award and inaugurated the Paksenarrion series.[3]
Most of her work has military science fiction themes, although biology, politics, and personal relationships also feature strongly. The Serrano Legacy is a space opera. Her Nebula-winning novel The Speed of Dark (2003) is a near-future story told from the viewpoint of an autistic data analyst, inspired by her own autistic son Michael.[5]
Other interests
Elizabeth Moon has many interests besides writing. She has a musical background, having played the accordion during her university days[6] and sung in choirs.[2][6] She is an accomplished fencer, and captain of the SFWA Musketeers, a group of published speculative fiction authors who also fence.[7]
Moon is also an experienced paramedic and has served in various capacities in local government.
2007: Robert A. Heinlein Award for "outstanding published works in hard science fiction or technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space"[9][10]
The Planet Pirates trilogy is based on two books by Anne McCaffrey, Dinosaur Planet and Dinosaur Planet Survivors (1978 and 1984, jointly reissued as The Ireta Adventure in 1985 and The Mystery of Ireta in 2004), which also form the core of The Death of Sleep. ISFDB catalogs all five novels as the Ireta series.[11]
Phases (ISBN978-0-671-87855-9, 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 ISBN1-59780-109-7, paperback ISBN978-1-59780-110-2, August 2008)—Fifteen stories, including an original "Vatta's War" story, with an introduction by Anne McCaffrey
The limited edition hardcover (ISBN978-1-59780-108-9, September 2007) contains an additional rare bonus story entitled "Fencing In".
Deeds of Honor: Paksenarrion World Chronicles (ISBN9781625671141, June 2015)—Eight stories set in the world of Paksenarrion.
