Tamora Pierce

A Young Adult fantasy writer best known for her aversion of The Smurfette Principle by chiefly casting females as the main characters. Action Girl females, at that. Sets her books in two universes, the Tortall Universe and the Circle Universe. She also edited the short story anthology Young Warriors, and wrote a White Tiger miniseries for Marvel Comics, following Angela del Toro, niece of the original hero to bear the name.

She has a LiveJournal account, Dare To Be Stupid, appropriately subtitled "Strong Opinion Zone." As her writing suggests, it has a strongly liberal slant. Her website is here, and she has another, more lighthearted fan LJ here.