Deborah Chester is an American author and professor of creative writing. Chester has been writing professionally since 1978, primarily science fiction and fantasy novels, and has used three pseudonyms — Jay D. Blakeney and Sean Dalton, and C. Aubrey Hall.
In 2004, she was inducted into the Writers Hall of Fame of America.
Deborah Chester was born in Illinois and reared in northeastern Arkansas. She attended the University of Oklahoma for its professional writing program and won the Dwight V. Swain Award in 1978 for outstanding graduating senior. Both novels written for senior class assignments, plus her master’s thesis, were published.
Since then, Chester has written over 40 books of science fiction, fantasy, and romance. Deborah also has written Regency romances, historical romances, and young adult.
Her historical young adult novel, The Sign of the Owl, made the American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults list in 1981, and in 1983 it was named to the Mark Twain Award master list in Missouri public school libraries.
In 1985, she was named Oklahoma Writer of the Year. In 1994, she was inducted into the Oklahoma Professional Writers Hall of Fame. In 2002, she received the JayMac Distinguished Teaching Award and a faculty research award in 2003 from the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Some of her famous sci-fi works include the Ruby Throne trilogy (1996–97) and the Alien Chronicles series (1997–99).
Chester is also known for her non-fiction work, including The Fantasy Fiction Formula (2016), which offers guidance and insights for aspiring fantasy writers.
Deborah Chester wrote thirteen science fiction novels for Ace Books under the pseudonym Sean Dalton. These novels include the Operation Star Hawks series and the Time Trap series, as well as a tie-in novel for the Earth 2 television show produced by Steven Spielberg.
She also wrote four science fiction novels under the pseudonym Jay D. Blakeney.
In addition to her writing career, she is a professor of creative writing at the University of Oklahoma.