Lillian Stewart Carl

Lillian Stewart Carl
Lillian Stewart Carl (photo by Laura Domitz).
Born	1949

Lillian Stewart Carl (born 1949) is an American author of mystery, fantasy and science-fiction novels.

Carl resides in North Texas. She has been a friend of Lois McMaster Bujold since childhood; both authors credit Carl with getting Bujold started writing. This is described in the introduction to Bujold's collection Dreamweaver's Dilemma. Bujold's second novel, The Warrior's Apprentice, is dedicated to Carl. Both authors are friends with fantasy and sci-fi author Patricia Wrede. Lillian co-edited The Vorkosigan Companion, a retrospective on Lois McMaster Bujold's science fiction work, with John Helfers. It was published by Baen Books in December 2008 and nominated for a Hugo Award in the "Best Related" category at Anticipation, the 2009 Worldcon.

In her biographical statement on her website and in her publicity materials, Carl says:

Lillian has lived for many years in North Texas, in a book-lined cloister cleverly disguised as a tract house. Therefore she's developed a passion for mountains and seacoasts, especially the ones in Scotland. Lillian is a member of The Author's Guild, Novelists Inc., Science Fiction Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime.

Carl originally wrote science fiction and fantasy, then branched out in later years to romantic suspense and mystery. Many of her books also cross genres, containing touches of what she calls her own genre mix of all the above with touches of the paranormal.

Carl states that: "It was she [Bujold] who introduced me to science fiction and fantasy in general and Tolkien in particular." and "Recently I re-read my first published fantasy novels. I was appalled to discover I'd used several Tolkien-esque phrases — quite unconsciously, as so much of his prose is now lodged deep in my subconscious."

Jayme Lynn Blaschke writes:

Lucifer's Crown is not an easy book to describe or classify. It tries to be many things at once, but first and foremost, it's a novel of Biblical apocalypse. In a time where Christian fiction with an apocalyptic bent — led by the wildly popular Left Behind series — is a multi-million dollar industry, it was inevitable that more traditional fantasy writers would eventually turn their hand to these tropes and themes. Lillian Stewart Carl, in taking up this challenge, has responded with her most complex and ambitious novel to date. What's more important, it's also by far her best.