A two page bio and bibliography of the Swancon 16 GoH. As per our semi-policy we’ll put things in CAPS as bold.
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 at the movies, and telling it as stories to her brother and sister, and, alone among her contemporaries, always knew what she wanted to do when she grew up. Unfortunately, every one told her that becoming a writer a) was difficult to break in to and b) didn’t pay.
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, mostly in quest of a job that would leave her with enough time to write. During those years she continued to write, and in 1982 was finally published by Ballantine/Del Rey.
She discovered that the people who had been telling her not to be a writer all those years were wrong.
She is of the Sedentary or Dirty-Bathrobe School of Writers, and, to the surprise of many writers of her acquaintance, actually enjoys writing. Her works are mostly sword-and-sorcery fantasy, though she has also written a historical whodunnit and novels and novelizations from television shows, notably Beauty and the Beast and Star Trek. Her latest book (Song of Orpheus) and her next one (Star Trek 54: Ghost Walker), are both tie-ins to those series. She has also made an excursion into vampire-literature with Those Who Hunt the Night, and at one time she wrote scripts for animated cartoon shows. Her next real fantasy after the Beast and Trek novels, The Rainbow Abyss, is due out in August.
Her interests (besides writing) include dancing, painting, historical and fantasy costuming, and carpentry. She resides in Los Angeles with the two cutest Pekineses in the world.
Bibliography
Fantasy:
| Darwath Trilogy: | The Time of the Dark (1982) The Walls of Air (1983) The Armies of Daylight (1984) |
| Sun Wolf and Starhawk: | The Ladies of Mandrigyn (1985) The Witches of Wenshar (1987) The Dark Hand of Magic (1990) |
| The Darkmage: | The Silent Tower (1986) The Silicon Mage (1988) |
| Dragonsbane (1986) | |
| Those Who Hunt The Night (1989) | (Immortal Blood in UK) |
Television Novels and Novelizations:
Ishmael (1985) (Original Star Trek novel)
Beauty and the Beast (1989) (Novelization of pilot episode)
Mystery:
Search the Seven Hills (1987) (Published in hardcover in 1983 under the title The Quirinal Hill Affair)
All these books are currently in print from Ballantine/Del Rey with the exception of Ishmael, which is put out by Pocket Books (and is now out of print), and Beauty and the Beast, which is published by Avon. A second novelization of Beauty and the Beast episodes is due out sometime in late 1990.