Exordium — (1993-1996) With Dave Trowbridge. Publisher: Smith and Trowbridge describe the flavor of their five-book space opera Exordium as a cross between Star Wars and Dangerous Liaisons with a touch of the Three Stooges. With its fast-moving blend of humor and horror, of high-tech skiffy and the deep places of the human heart, The Phoenix in Flight launches the reader into a complex, multi-layered universe as Brandon nyr-Arkad, dissolute youngest son of the ruler of the Thousand Suns, abandons the life of Service planned for him and flees into the lawless Rift. Only slowly does he discover that the world he rejected now lies in smoking ruins as the ritual vengeance of Jerrode Eusabian against Brandon’s father, twenty years in preparation, culminates in an explosion of interstellar violence. With both his brothers dead and his father the Panarch imprisoned, Brandon becomes the Panarchy’s last hope.

The Crown & Court Duel — (1997) Set in the same world as Inda. A Stranger to Command is a prequel to Crown Duel which was originally published in two volumes (Crown Duel and Court Duel). Publisher: A girl in Remalna traditionally spends her Flower Day being feted, dancing with friends, and celebrating her passage to womanhood. Countess Meliara spends hers on the front lines of a war. She and her brother promised their dying father to free Remalna from the oppressive rule of Greedy Galdran and to preserve the vital Covenant with Remalna’s aloof, unhuman Hill People. Courageous, stubborn Meliara, honorable and sharp-tongued, is determined to win or die fighting.

Wren — (1990-1995) Young adult. Publisher: All her life Wren has hoped for an adventure. Now she has one — with a kidnapped princess, a handsome prince, and a magician. What does it matter if the princess is only Tess, her best friend from the orphanage; if the prince is a youngest son with no chance of becoming king; and the magician is an apprentice? Wren leads the other three over mountains and past killing spells, fighting battles along the way. But then she finds herself up against some shape-changing magic that may end her life as a human forever!

Oz — (2005-2016) Publisher: Meet Em and Dori, two modern-day descendants of Dorothy Gale (yes, THAT Dorothy), who follow in her famous footsteps to the magical land of Oz — and adventure. Dori loves reading all of the wonderful old Oz books, imagining what it would be like to meet the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow. Her younger sister, Em, thinks that believing in Oz is for babies and that the magical snow globe Dori claims was left to them by Dorothy Gale is just an old souvenir. But when a tornado suddenly deposits the sisters in a place where unicorns hold beauty contests, Nome princes walk through solid rock, and magic takes care of daily chores, they realize they’re not in Kansas anymore. However, this is a new Oz, different in many ways from how it was when Dorothy traveled down the yellow brick road. Strange dark clouds hover over the Emerald City, Princess Ozma and her people are under an evil spell cast by Bastinda, the new Wicked Witch of the West, and Dorothy is nowhere to be found! It is up to Em and Dori to reverse the spell and save the people of Oz. But to do that they must get hold of the magic wand used to cast it — a wand that belongs to the wicked witch! Whether this is your first trip to Oz or you have visited many times before, prepare to be enchanted by Sherwood Smith’s fresh new adventure!

Sasharia en Garde! — (2008) Young adult. Publisher: Swashbuckling in a magic world — L.A. style! Sasha-s mother, Sun, was once swept away from a Ren Faire to another world by a prince-literally — but there was no happy ending. Sun-s prince disappeared, and a wicked king took the Khanerenth throne. In the years since, Sasha and Sun have been back on Earth and on the run. Mom and daughter don’t quite see eye to eye on the situation — Sasha wants to stand and fight. Sun insists her prince will return for them one day; it’s safer to stay hidden. Then Sasha is tricked into crossing the portal to Khanerenth. She’s more than ready to join the resistance, kick some bad-guy butt, and fix the broken kingdom. But — is the stylish pirate Zathdar the bad guy? Or artistic, dreamy Prince Jehan? Back on Earth, Sun is furious Sasha has been kidnapped. Sun might once have been a rotten princess, but nobody messes with Mom! Warning: This title contains a kick-butt mother-daughter team, a wicked king, a witty pirate with an unfortunate taste for neon colors, inept resistance fighters, a dreamy prince who gallops earnestly hither and yon, and a kick-butt princess in waiting.

Coronets and Steel (Dobrenica) — (2010) Young adult. Publisher: In this new fantasy series, a young woman takes her own destiny by the hand — and the hilt. California girl Kim Murray is unsatisfied with grad school and restless in life. Modern men disappoint her, and she studies ballet and fencing because they remind her of older, more romantic times. She lives with her parents and her beloved but secretive aristocratic grandmother, who speaks only French and refuses to share stories about the mysterious family she left behind in Europe, inspiring Kim to travel there and find her roots. Kim soon finds herself swept up in an adventure of fantastic deceptions and passionate intrigue — and a shocking realization about her own bloodline that leaves her reeling.

The Spy Princess — (2012) Publisher: When twelve-year-old Lady Lilah decides to disguise herself and sneak out of the palace one night, she has more of an adventure than she expected — for she learns very quickly that the country is on the edge of revolution. When she sneaks back in, she learns something even more surprising: her older brother Peitar is one of the forces behind it all. The revolution happens before all of his plans are in place, and brings unexpected chaos and violence. Lilah and her friends, leaving their old lives behind, are determined to help however they can. But what can four kids do? Become spies, of course!

Stand-alone novels:

Senrid — (2007) A young adult novel set in the same world as Inda and Crown and Court. Publisher: SENRID is a story of swashbuckling boys and girls, royal stakes, mysterious villains, high adventure and strange magic, set in the universe of CROWN DUEL and INDA, in the tradition of Lloyd Alexander’s WESTMARK and Megan Whalen Turner’s THE THIEF. Teen-aged king Leander Tlennen-Hess has barely ruled a year when he and his step-sister Kitty (or Princess Kyale, as she wishes to be known) are surprised by two visitors. The first is an adventure-loving girl, Faline, who helps Leander defend his tiny kingdom from invasion by the menacing warrior kingdom Marloven Hess, using only imagination and a bit of magic. The second visitor is a nice, friendly boy… who asks too many questions about the recent defeat of those evil Marlovens. The nice, friendly visitor turns out to be Senrid, king of Marloven Hess. But Senrid is king in name only. His uncle, the regent, holds power and Senrid must prove himself to be sufficiently strong by abducting for execution the two kids who thwarted the invasion. The only way to save them is to enter the stronghold of the enemy, in flimsy disguise…

A Posse of Princesses — (2008) A romantic fantasy for young adults set in the same world as Wren. Publisher: Rhis, princess of a small kingdom, is invited along with all the other princesses in her part of the world to the coming of age party of the Crown Prince of Vesarja, which is the central and most important kingdom. When Iardith, the prettiest and most perfect of all the princesses, is abducted, Rhis and her friends go to the rescue. What happens to Rhis and her posse has unexpected results not only for the princesses, but for the princes who chase after them. Everyone learns a lot about friendship and hate, politics and laughter, romantic ballads and sleeping in the dirt with nothing but a sword for company. But most of all they learn about the many meanings of love.

The Trouble with Kings — (2008) A romantic fantasy set in the same world as Inda and Crown and Court. Publisher: Princess Flian finds herself the unwilling object of desire of three royals. Is the one she wants a villainor a hero? Waking up in a strange place, Flian Elandersi at first doesnt know who she is. One wicked prince tells her she is secretly engaged to an even more wicked king who wants to marry her right away. But before that happens, yet another wicked prince crashes through a window on horseback to sweep her off her feet. Memory returns, and Flian realizes that all any of them seem to want is her considerable wealth, not her pleasant-but-ordinary self. She longs to escape the barracks-like, military atmosphere and return to civilization and her musical studies. Flian endures another abduction, this time in the middle of a poetry reading. Who is the villain? Prince Garian Herlesterlanguid, elegant, sarcastic? Prince Jaimhe of the dashing horsemanship? Or King Jason Szinzar, whose ambiguous warning might be a threat? Flian decides its time to throw off civilization and take action. The problem with action is that duels of wit turn into duels of steeland love can’t be grabbed and galloped away.

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