She began her career writing poetry and about poets, including a 1984 book about
James Merrill, who was both her friend and mentor. Moffett still writes for organizations such as the
Academy of American Poets.[3] She did not publish science fiction until 1986, but gained almost immediate attention by winning the first
Theodore Sturgeon Award in 1987. Her first novel, Pennterra (1987), further enhanced her reputation. It is noted both for its treatment of
alien sexuality and as an example of
Quakers in science fiction.[4] In the following year, 1988, she won the
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction. In 1989 her novella Tiny Tango also received award nominations.
The Ragged World (Holy Ground Trilogy, Book 1, St. Martin's Press, 1991; ebook editions: SF Gateway/Orion Publishing Group, 2015)
Time, Like an Ever-Rolling Stream (Holy Ground Trilogy, Book 2, St. Martin's Press, 1992; ebook editions: SF Gateway/Orion Publishing Group, 2015)
The Bird Shaman (Holy Ground Trilogy, Book 3, Bascom Hill Publishing Group, 2008; ebook editions: SF Gateway/Orion Publishing Group, 2015)
Collections
Keeping Time: Poems (LSU Press, 1976, poems)
Whinny Moor Crossing (Princeton University Press, 1984, poems)
Two that Came True (Pulphouse Publishing, Author's Choice Monthly #19, 1991, science-fiction stories; ebook edition: SF Gateway/Orion Publishing Group, 2015)
Tarzan in Kentucky (David Robert Books, 2015, poems)
The Bear's Baby and Other Stories (SF Gateway/Orion Publishing Group, 2017, ebook edition, short stories)
Chapbooks
Tiny Tango (Amazon Digital Publishing ebook, 2014)
Translations from the Swedish
Gentleman, Single, Refined and Selected Poems, 1937-1959 by
Hjalmar Gullberg (LSU Press, 1979)
The North! To The North! Five Swedish Poets of the Nineteenth Century (Southern Illinois University Press, 2001)
Short stories
"After Three Wordsworths" (Shenandoah, March 1980)