Transcription of page 5 of 16 of Progress Report 1 for SwanCon 16. Although the info about Barbara Hambly is probably well known, we are reproducing it anyway… As usual, all typos are faithfully reproduced.
Biography
Barbara Hambly
Barbara Hambly was born in the Naval Hospital of San Diego, California, on the 28th of August, 1951. From her earliest years she was drawn to fantasy and science fiction, finding it far more interesting than reality in the modest California town where she grew up; reading it or watching it on TV or the movies, and telling it as stories to her brother and sister.
She attended college at the University of California in Riverside, California, and spent one year at the University of Bordeaux in France. After obtaining a Master’s Degree in medieval history, she held a variety of jobs: model, clerk, high school teacher, karate instructor (She holds a black belt in Shotokan Karate), technical writer. During those years she continued to write, and in 1982 was finally published by Ballantine/Del Rey.
Her works are mostly sword-and-sorcery fantasy, many of which have been nominated for Nebula Awards, though she has also written a historical whodunit and novels and novelizations from television shows, notably Beauty and the Beast and Star Trek. At one time she also wrote scripts for animated cartoon shows.
Her interests besides writing include dancing, sewing, painting, and carpentry. She currently resides with two Pekineses in Los Angeles.
Cindy Clarkson
I haven’t the slightest idea which SwanCon was the first one Cindy attended. Like all the really good things, my awareness of her crept up slowly on me, like the appreciation of wine, or the recognition of joy. She must have been around before 9, I think, and was one of the hopes for the future of fandom in W.A. even then. Since then she’s done everything you can do to run a convention, and if she’s ever made an enemy doing it, I would like to meet that person. One so rarely has the chance to be introduced to a real, genuine, certifiable loony, even in fandom, and every experience is valuable.
She sells books, and reads many of them. One expects people who read a lot to be retiring, slightly dry, maybe profound, but conservative. She edits films and cares about film. One expects media people to be manic, off-beat, amusing, and loud. Cindy is retiringly manic, quietly loud, conservatively off-beat. She is profound, without qualifications. She also gives hugs.
My worry is, she’s committed to a carreer – editing film – for which there is little scope in W.A. and that one of these days she and Matt are going to go east or overseas, and we’ll lose them. Appreciate her while you can, folks. I hope she has a radically good time at this Con, because she’s earned it.