Priest lived in Chattanooga for twelve years and it is there she both set her Eden Moore series and wrote the first two books.[2] In May 2012, she and her husband Aric Annear[1] moved back to Tennessee from Seattle, Washington. In 2017, she returned to live in Seattle.
Although Priest was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church, she has no further contact with the church and claims no religious affiliation.[3][4]
In addition to her novels, Priest was a reviewer for the Bram Stoker Award-winning website Chiaroscuro and currently is a staff member of Subterranean Press. She is a regular attendee and panelist at DragonCon and several other genre conventions around the country such as Penguicon and Steamcon. She is also known for giving talks and writing articles about the hobby of urban exploration.[5]
Awards
In March 2006, she won the Lulu Blooker Prize for Fiction for Four and Twenty Blackbirds (Tor Books, 2005), becoming the first ever winner in that category.[6]
Her 2006 short story "Wishbones" was part of the Aegri Somnia anthology by Apex Digest, which was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award.[7]
The Cheshire Red Reports concern a vampire thief called Raylene Pendle. Although she prefers to work alone, she acquires a group of misfits who join her in her adventures. These are two young children, a blind vampire and an ex-Navy Seal/Drag Queen. Bloodshot also features the world of urban exploration. The Cheshire Red reports were originally only commissioned as a two book series. There is the possibility of a third book in this series provisionally entitled Sawbones if sufficient interest is expressed.[18]
'Tanglefoot', a short story, published online by Subterranean Press, 2009. First release of the Clockwork Century universe.[20][21]
'Hell's Bells,' Grant’s Pass, Morrigan Books 2009
'The Catastrophe Box', a short story Son of Retro Pulp Tales, Subterranean Press 2010
'Reluctance', a short story, part of "The Mammoth Book of Steampunk", first published in the UK by Robinson, an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2012
^Davis, Brangien. "2010 Spotlight Award: Cherie Priest". Seattle Magazine. Retrieved February 23, 2012. "Born in Florida, Priest grew up with a penchant for horror and fantasy stories—perhaps because her mother, a Seventh-day Adventist, promised that the Second Coming could happen any minute.
^Priest, Cherie (September 27, 2005). "Damn". CheriePriest.com. United States. Archived from the original on September 12, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2012. Since those halcyon days of yore, I've more or less left the church and gone my own way …
^Priest, Cherie. "The Urban Explorer's Guide to Gently Trespassing". Googobits.com. Archived from the original on January 25, 2013. Retrieved August 11, 2012. Trespassing, or "Urban Exploration" as it is sometimes euphemistically called, has been a hip leisure activity for years. Now this hobby has burgeoned into quite the popular pastime – though as with any field, the influx of trend-surfing amateurs tends to cause problems for the old pros.
