Sandra Tayler (born 1973) is an American short story and children's book writer and blogger. She edits, formats, and publishes her husband Howard Tayler's ''

Schlock Mercenary ''Schlock Mercenary'' is a comedic webcomic written and drawn by Howard Tayler. It follows the tribulations of a star-travelling mercenary company in a satiric, mildly dystopian 31st-century space opera setting. After its debut on June 12, 200 ...

'' comic compilations and related works. She has published science fiction and fantasy short stories, essays on parenting and mental illness, and has presented at conventions on writing and geek parenting. Her blog, ''One Cobble at a Time'', received an

award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...

in 2009 from the Association for Mormon Letters.

Biography

Sandra Owens was born 1973. She married Howard Tayler in 1993 and they are the parents of four children. The writer

Nancy Fulda Nancy Fulda (née Owens) is an American science fiction writer, editor, and computer scientist. She is an alumna of Brigham Young University in the fields of artificial intelligence and machine learning. She has won multiple awards for her scienc ...

is her sister.

Career

Tayler began blogging to "rediscover who I was when I wasn't Mom." Her blog entries received the Association for Mormon Letters award for online writing in 2009. She published selections from her 2011 blog entries in a compilation entitled ''Cobble Stones: Year 2011''. Her fantasy short story, "Immigrant", was published in ''Ages of Wonder'', an anthology from Daw Books edited by

Julie E. Czerneda Julie E. Czerneda (born April 11, 1955) is a Canadian science fiction and fantasy author. She has written many novels, including four Aurora Award for Best Novel winners (''In the Company of Others'', ''A Turn of Light'', ''A Play of Shadow'', an ...

and

Rob St. Martin Rob or ROB may refer to: Places * Rob, Velike Lašče, a settlement in Slovenia * Roberts International Airport (IATA code ROB), in Monrovia, Liberia People * Rob (given name), a given name or nickname, e.g., for Robert(o), Robin/Robyn * Rob (s ...

. She edited the 2009

roleplaying game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...

book, '' XDM: X-Treme Dungeon Mastery'', written by Tracy and

Curtis Hickman Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin from the Old French ''curteis'' (Modern French ''courtois'') which derived from the Spanish Cortés (of which Cortez is a variation) and the Portuguese and Gali ...

and illustrated by her husband,

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also prob ...

. Sandra felt inspired to write ''Hold on To Your Horses'' and ''The Strength of Wild Horses'' to help her daughter "visualize and control her impulsive ideas." Roger Sutton, editor-in-chief of ''The Horn Book'', said ''Strength'' was "purposive but lightened with humor." Two of Tayler's essays have been featured on ''The Mighty'', a website that spotlights experiences with mental health issues. Tayler has presented at many conventions. She moderated a panel on geeky parenting at the 2014 Salt Lake Comic Con. She was a panelist at the 2016 Salt Lake ComiCon FanXperience about how to share and moderate media consumption. At the

Gen Con Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...

Writer's Symposium in 2016, she presented on self-publishing, writing author bios, how to avoid writer's block, and how to support a creative lifestyle. In a presentation at Life, the Universe, & Everything in 2013, she recommended setting aside a physical space for creative work and working in small bits of time as they become available.

''Schlock Mercenary''

Tayler directs the publication of her husband Howard Tayler's ''

'' comic compilations, completing editing, layout, and design. She was the primary editor and a contributor to ''

Planet Mercenary ''Schlock Mercenary'' is a comedic webcomic written and drawn by Howard Tayler. It follows the tribulations of a star-travelling mercenary company in a satiric, mildly dystopian 31st-century space opera setting. After its debut on June 12, 2000, ...

'', a tabletop RPG set in the ''Schlock Mercenary'' universe. She completed the formatting and design for ''Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries'', which was available in two editions to Kickstarer backers: a "defaced" version with comments written by characters and a "pristine" version without handwritten comments. Tayler formatted the notes in the "defaced" edition using handwritten notes.

Works

Books

* ''Hold on to Your Horses'' (2008, The Tayler Corporation) * ''Cobble Stones'' (2012, Hypernode Press) * ''The Strength of Wild Horses'' (2014, Hypernode Press)

Short fiction works

* "Immigrant" in ''Ages of Wonder'' edited by

and

(2009, Daw Books, ) * "Bethan's Garden" in ''The Mind of the Beholder'' (2012, AnthologyBuilder, ) * "The Road Not Taken" in ''2012 Mormon Lit Blitz'' (2012, online only)

Roleplaying games

* '' XDM: X-Treme Dungeon Mastery'', editor (2009, The Tayler Corporation, ) * ''

'', editor (2017)

Essays

* "The Non-Fictional Sense of Wonder" in ''Locus Roundtable'' (2011, online only) * "Married to Depression" in ''Altered Perceptions'' edited by

Brandon Sanderson Brandon Winn Sanderson (born December 19, 1975) is an American author of high fantasy and science fiction. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the '' Mistborn'' series and '' Th ...

, Dan Wells, and Robison Wells (2014, Fearful Symmetry) * "When Mental Illness Is in Disguise" on ''The Mighty.com'' (2016, online only) * "When You’re the Wife of a Man With Depression" on ''The Mighty.com'' (2016, online only)

Awards and recognition

References

External links

One Cobble at a Time
Tayler's blog
Folksinging in the Owens family
a collection of family folk songs collected by Sandra Tayler {{DEFAULTSORT:Tayler, Sandra American children's writers 1973 births Living people Latter Day Saints from Utah Harold B. Lee Library-related 21st century articles