Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 17:32, 3 October 2006

Barbara Hambly (August 28, 1951 – ) is an award winning American fantasy author.

Biography

She was born in San Diego, California and grew up in Montclair, California and has an older sister Mary and younger brother Ed. She went to the University of California at Riverside, earning a Masters degree in Medieval History in 1975. She spent a year in Bordeaux, France as part of her studies. Her first novel to be published was Time of the Dark by Del Rey in 1982.

She has been, at various times, a high-school teacher, a model, a waitress, a technical editor, an all-night liquor store clerk, and a karate instructor.

Her interests include dancing, painting, historical and fantasy costuming, and carpentry. She holds a black belt in Shotokan Karate.

She was married to George Alec Effinger in the last years of his life.

Themes

Given her diverse portfolio, there are few themes that run throughout all of her novels. Hambly is said to have a penchant for genre-twisting characters, such as the menopausal witch and reluctant scholar-lord in the Winterlands trilogy, or philologist secret service agent in the vampire novels. Characters also tend to suffer and pay heavy penalties for their adventures and deeds. Hambly tends towards rich descriptions and vivid characters filled with doubt and sadness.

Bibliography

The Darwath series

1. The Time of the Dark (1982)
2. The Walls of Air (1983)
3. The Armies of Daylight (1983)

• Mother of Winter (1996)
• Icefalcon's Quest (1998)

Sun Wolf and Starhawk

1. The Ladies of Mandrigyn (1984)
2. The Witches of Wenshar (1987)
3. The Dark Hand of Magic (1990)

Winterlands

1. Dragonsbane (1985)
2. Dragonshadow (1999)
3. Knight of the Demon Queen (2000)
4. Dragonstar (2002)

The Windrose Chronicles

1. The Silent Tower (1986)
2. The Silicon Mage (1988)
3. Dog Wizard (1993)

• Stranger at the Wedding/Sorcerer's Ward (1994) -

Star Trek

• Ishmael (1985)
• Ghostwalker (1991)
• Crossroad (1994)

Vampire Novels

1. Those Who Hunt The Night (1988)
2. Traveling With The Dead (1995)

Beauty and the Beast

• Beauty and the Beast novelisation (1989)
• Song of Orpheus (1990)

Sun-Cross

1. The Rainbow Abyss (1991)
2. The Magicians of Night (1992)

Star Wars

• Children of the Jedi (1995)
• Planet of Twilight (1997)

The Benjamin January Mysteries

1. A Free Man of Color (1997)
2. Fever Season (1998)
3. Graveyard Dust (1999)
4. Sold Down the River (2000)
5. Die upon a Kiss (2001)
6. Wet Grave (2002)
7. Days of the Dead (2003)
8. Dead Water (2004)

Raven Sisters

1. Sisters of the Raven (2002)
2. Circle of the Moon (2005)

Other Fiction

• Search the Seven Hills/Quirinal Hill Affair (1983)
• Bride of the Rat God (1994)
• Stranger at the Wedding (1994)
• Magic Time (2002) (with Marc Zicree)
• Renfield (Due September 2006)

Historical Fiction

• The Emancipator's Wife (2005)

References

1. Books and awards
2. Review of several novels

External links

• The Barbara Hambly Page
• Bibliography at SciFan
• Barbara Hambly at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Barbara Hambly at IMDb

• 1951 births
• Living people
• American fantasy writers
• California writers
• People from Riverside, California