Janni Lee Simner is an American author of fantasy and adventure novels and short stories. She writes primarily for young adults as teenagers and upper elementary children.
Appearances
She was involved in a number of panels and autograph signings at the 2007 North American Science Fiction Convention. On March 11-12, 2009, she was one of the four special guest authors for the Brandeis Book and Author Events at the Skyline Country Club in Arizona. Simner was interviewed on CNN in relation to the essay she wrote for the anthology Dear Bully that had been a blog post that she had written about being bullied as a child. She discussed how she was contacted later in life online by one of her childhood bullies and they became friends. In response to the multiple child sexual abuse allegations made against by Marion Zimmer Bradley by her own children, Simner announced on June 13, 2014 that she would be donating advances from her two Darkover books, her Darkover royalties and at the request of her husband, Larry Hammer, payment for his sale to Bradley’s magazine to the American anti-sexual assault organization Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.
Personal life
She is married to the author Larry Hammer, and they reside in Arizona.
Fiction novels
Faerie After
Faerie Winter - "Oddly, Liza's tale works despite the jumble of crowd-pleasing elements. Graphic descriptions of murdered children push the story older than the reading level of its prose, but that just leaves it as an entertaining if quick adventure for those impatiently awaiting the next, heftier entry by Cassandra Clare or Julie Kagawa."
Thief Eyes - "Simner’s second book, a fantasy set in modern times but rooted in ancient Icelandic sagas, has great reader appeal. Light, romantic fiction with an engaging fantasy punch."
Bones of Faerie - "The setting, characters and plot are ones every fantasy and science-fiction reader has seen before: the dystopian world, evil faeries, a protagonist with extra-strong, extra-special magic, a hunt for a lost mother. Simner keeps things interesting with a fair amount of action and the constant introduction of new characters. The postapocalyptic environment is haunting but not downright scary—the most frightening things are the people, not the magic. With its dark, sharply imagined world, this will appeal to readers of Holly Black and Cassandra Clare."
The Secret of the Three Treasures, reissued as Tiernay West, Professional Adventurer - "Simner deftly tucks in clues, subplots and enough tongue-in-cheek humor to keep the suspense from turning scary. Fine fare for recent Cam Jansen and Encyclopedia Brown graduates."
