Sheila Finch is a British-American author best known for her contributions to science fiction. Born in London, England, she moved to the United States in 1957 and pursued graduate studies in medieval literature and linguistics at Indiana University. Her debut novel, "Infinity's Web," earned her the Compton Crook Award, while her juvenile fiction work, "Tiger in the Sky," received the San Diego Book Award. Finch's novella "Reading the Bones" won the prestigious Nebula Award in 1998, cementing her reputation as a skilled storyteller in the genre. Her short fiction has appeared in prominent publications such as "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction", "Amazing Stories", and "Asimov's Science Fiction".
A dedicated educator, Finch has taught creative writing and science fiction literature at El Camino College in Torrance, California, where she has resided since 1962. She also conducts summer fiction workshops at Idyllwild Arts Academy. Her academic background in linguistics and medieval literature often informs her writing, lending depth to her worldbuilding and thematic explorations. Finch has published seven science fiction novels alongside numerous short stories and articles, demonstrating her versatility within the genre. Her works frequently examine the intersections of language, culture, and technology.
The Shaper Exile Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
The Garden of the Shaped
1987
2
Shaper's Legacy
1989
3
Shaping the Dawn
1989
Xenolinguist Guild Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Triad
1986
2
Reading the Bones
2003
3
The Guild of Xenolinguists
2007
4
The Evening and the Morning
2011
Standalone Novels
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Infinity's Web
1985
2
Birds
2004
3
A Villa Far From Rome
2016
Short Stories/Novellas
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
A Long Way Home
1982
2
Reichs-Peace
1986
3
Out of the Mouths
1997
4
Reading the Bones
2003
Collections
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Forkpoints
2002
Sheila Finch Teen & Young Adult
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Heart Like A Bear
2021
Conversation Pieces Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Alien Bootlegger ( By: Rebecca Ore)
1993
2
Counting on Wildflowers (By: Kim Antieau)
2005
3
Ordinary People (By: Eleanor Arnason)
2005
4
Candle in a Bottle (By: Carolyn Ives Gilman)
2006
5
Absolute Uncertainty ( By: Lucy Sussex)
2006
6
Knots (By: Wendy Walker)
2006
7
Aliens of the Heart (By: Carolyn Ives Gilman)
2007
8
Voices from Fairyland (By: Theodora Goss)
2008
9
Three Observations and a Dialogue ( By: Sylvia Kelso)
2010
10
Through the Drowsy Dark (By: Rachel Swirsky)
2010
11
Slightly Behind and to the Left (By: Claire Light)
2010
12
With Her Body (By: Nicola Griffith)
2011
13
The Red Rose Rages (By: L. Duchamp)
2011
14
The Grand Conversation (By: L. Duchamp)
2011
15
Distances (By: Vandana Singh)
2011
16
Shotgun Lullabies (By: Sheree Renée Thomas)
2011
17
Of Love and Other Monsters (By: Vandana Singh)
2011
18
De Secretis Mulierum (By: L. Duchamp)
2011
19
A Brood of Foxes (By: Kristin Livdahl)
2011
20
The Adventures of the Faithful Counselor (By: Anne Sheldon)
2011
21
Writing the Other (By: Cynthia Ward)
2011
22
The Bone Spindle (By: Anne Sheldon)
2011
23
Talking Back (By: E.C. Myers)
2011
24
The Last Letter (By: Fiona Lehn)
2011
25
Making Love in Madrid (By: Kimberly Todd Wade)
2012
26
We Wuz Pushed (By: Lee Mandelo)
2012
27
The Traveling Tide (By: Rosaleen Love)
2012
28
The Receptionist (By: Lesley Wheeler)
2012
29
Birds and Birthdays (By: Christopher Barzak)
2012
30
Naomi Mitchison (By: Lesley A. Hall)
2012
31
The Queen, the Cambion, and Seven Others (By: Richard Bowes)
2013
32
Spring in Geneva (By: Sylvia Kelso)
2013
33
The XY Conspiracy (By: Lori Selke)
2013
34
Myths, Metaphors, and Science Fiction
2014
35
Numa: An Epic Poem with Photo Collages (By: Katrinka Moore)
2014
36
NoFood (By: Sarah Tolmie)
2014
37
The Haunted Girl (By: Lisa M. Bradley)
2014
38
Three Songs for Roxy (By: Caren Gussoff)
2015
39
Ghost Signs (By: Sonya Taaffe)
2015
40
The Prince of the Aquamarines (By: Ruth Berman)
2015
41
Back, Belly, and Side: True Lies and False Tales (By: Celeste Rita Baker)
2015
42
A Day in Deep Freeze (By: Lisa Shapter)
2015
43
Marginalia to Stone Bird (By: R.B. Lemberg)
2016
44
Unpronounceable (By: Susan diRende)
2016
45
Sleeping Under the Tree of Life (By: Sheree Renée Thomas)
2016
46
Other Places (By: Karen Heuler)
2016
47
Monteverde (By: Lawrence Schimel)
2016
48
The Adventure of the Incognita Countess (By: Cynthia Ward)
2017
49
Boundaries, Border Crossings, and Reinventing the Future (By: Beth Plutchak)
2017
50
A Field Guide to the Spirits (By: Jean LeBlanc)
2017
51
Liberating the Astronauts (By: Christina M. Rau)
2017
52
In Search of Lost Time (By: Karen Heuler)
2017
53
We, Robots (By: Sue Lange)
2017
54
Cosmovore (By: Kristi Carter)
2017
55
Helen's Story (By: Rosanne Rabinowitz)
2017
56
Liminal Spaces (By: Beth Plutchak)
2018
57
Feed Me the Bones of Our Saints (By: Alex Dally MacFarlane)
2018
58
If Not Skin (By: Toby MacNutt)
2018
59
Changeling (By: Nancy Jane Moore)
2018
60
The Adventure of the Dux Bellorum (By: Cynthia Ward)
2018
61
People Change (By: Gwynne Garfinkle)
2018
62
Invocabulary (By: Gemma Files)
2018
63
The Green and Growing (By: Erin K. Wagner)
2019
64
Everything is Made of Letters (By: Sofía Rhei)
2019
65
Midnight at the Organporium (By: Tara Campbell)
2019
66
Algorithmic Shapeshifting (By: Bogi Takács)
2019
67
The Rampant (By: Julie C. Day)
2019
68
Mary Shelley Makes a Monster (By: Octavia Cade, Crista Kempton)
2019
69
Articulation (By: Cesi Davidson)
2019
70
City of a Thousand Feelings (By: Anya Johanna DeNiro)
2020
71
The Adventure of the Naked Guide (By: Cynthia Ward)
2020
72
Ancient Songs of Us (By: Jean LeBlanc)
2020
73
Sacred Summer (By: Cassandra Clarke)
2020
74
Disease (By: Sarah Tolmie)
2020
75
Goddess Bandit of the Thousand Arms (By: Hal Y. Zhang)
2020
76
Resistance and Transformation (By: Mari Ness)
2021
77
The Silences of Ararat (By: L. Duchamp)
2021
78
Cabinet of Wrath (By: Tara Campbell)
2021
79
The Adventure of the Golden Woman (By: Cynthia Ward)
2021
80
Fricatives (By: Cesi Davidson)
2021
81
We’ve Been Here Before (By: Anne Carly Abad)
2022
82
Bilabials (By: Cesi Davidson)
2022
83
When Home, No Need to Cry (By: Erin K. Wagner)
2022
84
Apollo Weeps (By: Xian Mao)
2023
85
To the Woman in the Pink Hat (By: LaToya Jordan)
2023
86
From Voyages Unreturning (By: Deborah L. Davitt)
2023
Out Of Time Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Yanked! (By: David Brin, Nancy Kress)
1999
2
Tiger in the Sky (With: David Brin)
1999
3
The Game of Worlds ( By: David Brin)
1999
4
The Archimedes Gambit (By: Patrick Freivald)
2021
5
Boondoggle (By: David Brin, Tom Easton, Torion Oey)
2025
Year's Best SF Anthology Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Year's Best SF
1996
2
Year's Best SF 2
1997
3
Year's Best SF 3
1998
4
Year's Best SF 4
1999
5
Year's Best SF 5
2000
6
Year's Best SF 6
2001
7
Year's Best SF 7
2002
8
Year's Best SF 8
2003
9
Year's Best SF 9
2004
10
Year's Best SF 10
2005
11
Year's Best SF 11
2006
12
Year's Best SF 12
2007
13
Year's Best SF 13
2008
14
Year's Best SF 14
2009
15
Year's Best SF 15
2010
16
Year's Best SF 16
2011
17
Year's Best SF 17
2012
18
Year's Best SF 18
2013
Sheila Finch Anthologies
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Tarot Tales
1989
2
New Eves
1994
3
Women of Wonder, the Contemporary Years
1995
4
Year's Best SF
1996
5
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1996
1996
6
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
1997
7
Year's Best SF 2
1997
8
Year's Best SF 3
1998
9
Year's Best SF 4
1999
10
Nebula Awards 34 (2000)
2000
11
Year's Best SF 5
2000
12
Year's Best SF 6
2001
13
Year's Best SF 7
2002
14
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction Volume 104 Number 2, February 2003