Tanith Lee

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Tanith Lee (1947–2015) was a prolific SF writer, who had written over 50 novels and over 200 short stories. She had written science fiction, fantasy, and horror, for adults and for children.

Her first novel, The Dragon Hoard (1971), is a comic fantasy that takes the mickey out a wide range of Fairy Tale and Mythology tropes while telling the story of how Prince Jasleth was forced to go on a quest after his family was cursed by a sorceress who wasn't invited to his birthday party. Other notable works for younger readers include the Unicorn Trilogy (1991-1997) and the Piratica series (2004-?).

Lee's first novel for adults was The Birthgrave (1975), which was nominated for a Nebula Award. Other notable works for adults include The Silver Metal Lover (1981); the Biting the Sun duet (1976-1977); and the Flat Earth cycle (1978-1986).

Tanith Lee also wrote two episodes of the 1970s science fiction TV series Blake's 7.

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Works by Tanith Lee with their own trope page include

• Biting the Sun Duet
• The Dragon Hoard
• Unicorn Trilogy
• White as Snow

Tanith Lee provides examples of the following tropes:

• Awesome McCoolname: Tanith Lee.
• Abusive Parents
• Berserk Button: In Vivia, Vaddix was in peace negotiations with a defeated enemy when one of the disarming soldiers accidentally discharged his crossbow, killing Vaddix's horse. He crucified the lot of them right there and then.
• Chariot Race
• Cinderella Circumstances
• City of Canals: The Books of Venus.
• Clothing Damage / Defeat by Modesty: Vivia hides inside the flames after an attempt to burn her at the stake only succeeded in reducing her clothes to ash.
• Country Matters: In case the brutal murders were not enough to tell the readers that Vivia's father is a nasty man, he also swears a lot and calls his underlings rude words.
• Cry for the Devil: "The Demoness"
• Dead All Along
• Deal with the Devil
• Denied Food as Punishment
• Disease Bleach
• Fisher King
• Gender Bender
• Grimmification
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: To Vivia
• The Hunter
• Horny Devils: "The Demoness" Sex with the title character leaves men completely insane. Made all the more tragic by the fact that she doesn't really understand what she is most of the time.
• Implausible Fencing Powers
• Interspecies Romance
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
• Orifice Invasion
• Our Vampires Are Different: Vivia
• Perspective Flip
• Pirate Girl: The Piratica series.
• Power Perversion Potential
• Quest for Identity: The Birthgrave, Prince on a White Horse
• Revenge SVP
• Show Within a Show: The entirety of Electric Forest, which isn't revealed until the final chapter that completely turns the preceding events upside-down and purple, creating a last minute Mind Screw while simultaneously acting as a Mind Screwdriver.
• So Beautiful It's a Curse
• Taken for Granite: The witch in Prince on a White Horse has an annoying habit of paralysing people at random, fortunately temporarily.
• Talking Animal: In Prince on a White Horse, the Prince has reason to suspect that the horse can talk, but the horse denies it.
• Tomato in the Mirror
• Twice-Told Tale
• Vagina Dentata
• Wicked Stepmother:
  • Subverted in "Red As Blood".
  • Subverted majorly in "The Reason For Not Going To The Ball" Turning her stepdaughter into a scullery maid was to shield her from the notice of her molester father. The story/letter is to offer her stepdaughter a safe home and a way to escape the prince, a man who'd make the Marquis de Sade proud -- the reason for trying to prevent her from going to the ball in the first place.