Greetings, hello, and/or Cheeble!

No, wait, come back, I didn't mean to scare you away if you've somehow found yourself here as a result of random web-ramble.

If you don't know who I am, pleased to meet you, I'm Esther M. Friesner. The M stands for "My publishers are free to drop my middle initial whenever it darn well suits their whim du jour."

I write (and edit) science fiction, fantasy and horror.

I really did name one of my anthologies Chicks In Chainmail. (So? The first anthology I ever edited was called Alien Pregnant By Elvis. And the most recent one out was Blood Muse, which was a distinctly un-funny anthology of vampire-and-artist stories.)

I've got a reputation for writing funny fantasy, but that's nowhere near the limit of what I can and do write. If you need some proof, check out my two Nebula Award-winning stories, "Death and the Librarian" and "A Birthday." Or if serious alternate history's your cuppa, Child of the Eagle and Yesterday We Saw Mermaids will serve as a good counter-examples to the lighter fare of Majyk By Accident, Majyk By Hook Or Crook and Majyk By Design.

I am deathly allergic to pigeonholes, especially the sort that limit any author to one narrow strip of the genre. (Unless s/he wants to be tucked away into said pigeonhole, that is.)

I've raised teenagers, cats, and hamsters, plus I've been a Brownie troop leader and hosted Tupperware parties. You don't scare me.

Wipe your feet and come on in.