VJ Books Presents Author Barbara Hambly!
 Barbara Hambly was born in the Naval Hospital of San Diego, California, on the 28th of August, 1951. She grew up in Montclair (in southern California), except for one high school semester spent in New South Wales, Australia. She attended University of California at Riverside, specializing in Medieval History and eventually earning a masters degree in 1975. She also spent time in Bordeaux, France as part of her studies.
She searched for a job that would allow her time to write, trying various positions: a high-school teacher, a model, a waitress, a technical editor, a professional graduate student, an all-night clerk at a liquor store, and a karate instructor. She also wrote scripts for cartoons at one time, including three for the show Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and one for He-Man. She has been contacted about writing an adventure/fantasy Comix series, and has contributed a graphic novel to The Victorian, a comic series produced by Pennyfarthing Press.
In 1982, Del Rey published her Time of the Dark, and the Darwath Trilogy was born. From there, she proceeded to a historical mystery - The Quirinal Hill Affair, now out of print - a format that she returns to with the Benjamin January murder mysteries. Her first volume of "straight" historical fiction - a book about Mary Todd Lincoln called The Emancipator's Wife - is already gaining her a new audience. Not too many years ago, Barbara Hambly could be defined as a fantasy author, but her very successful foray into historical mysteries has earned her a whole new set of mystery-loving fans.
In fact, even her fantasy books are hard to pigeonhole into any given category. Several have definite historical themes (The Magicians of Night, an excellent blending of fantasy with the Nazis of WWII, and Bride of the Rat God - Chinese culture and turn-of-the-century Los Angeles and Hollywood).
Dragons are another theme; the excellent story Dragonsbane is often cited as a "favorite" Hambly book; a trilogy revisiting the Winterlands appeared more recently, with the further adventures of Jenny, John, and Morkelb concluding in Dragonstar.
Another theme is vampires; Those Who Hunt the Night and Traveling With the Dead, as well as the short-story collection she's edited (Sisters of the Night), deal with the stalkers of the night. Those Who Hunt the Night has been optioned for a film a few times (with Harrison Ford as James Asher, or at least Hambly would like it that way, and Johnny Depp as Ysidro). This leads to one of her writing techniques, which involves "casting" the main characters. This way, she can hear and see them, thus making them more alive.
Oh yes, and we mustn't forget romance. This generally is worked into the plot line, subtly and well, and has earned her some accolades from fans of science-fiction-romance. In the fall of 2004, Harlequin will publish Barbara's first foray into "straight" romance, a contemporary romance novella, called Someone Else's Shadow.
One common theme of her fantasy works is that of cross-over, where a character from one universe, often from California, crosses through the Void to another (The Windrose Chronicles, The Darwath Trilogy, Sun-Cross) - this category could conceivably be extended to include Ishmael. Another theme seems to be estrangement of (adult or young adult) children from their families (Stranger at the Wedding's Kyra, The Quirinal Hill Affair's Marcus, Gil and the Icefalcon, and Joanna). She also manages to get a good bit of humor into her books; not of the rolling-on-the-floor variety, but generally more wry or sarcastic humor. You can find Barbara Hambly author signed books and a complete list of her works below this bio.
She has been the President of the Science Fiction Writers of America (1994-1996), has been a Locus award winner, and a multiple Nebula award nominee, and Guest of Honor at many conventions over the years. She enjoys many non-writing hobbies, including karate (she holds a black belt in Shotokan Karate), dancing, painting, historical and fantasy costuming (something she's enjoyed since high school), tarot card reading, and the occasional bout of carpentry.
Currently, Barbara lives in Los Angeles with cats, lizards, and two "of the cutest Pekinese in the world."
Her website: www.barbarahambly.com
Homeland
Signed First Edition  |
Renfield
Signed First Edition  |
Dead Water
Signed First Edition  |
Wet Grave
Signed First Edition  |
Graveyard Dust
Signed First Edition  |
Traveling With the Dead
Signed First Edition  |
To see Barbara Hambly's bibliography, click here or scroll to the bottom of the page.
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