History Creator / BarbaraHambly

Barbara Hambly is an American SF and mystery writer. Her works include several otherworld fantasy series, a historical fantasy series with vampires, and a series of [[HistoricalDetectiveFiction historical mysteries]].

Two good starting points for Hambly are ''Literature/BrideOfTheRatGod'', in which an actress in [[SilentAgeOfHollywood 1920s Hollywood]] becomes the unwitting target of an ancient Chinese curse, and ''Literature/StrangerAtTheWedding'' (aka ''Sorcerer's Ward''), a mixture of Regency romance and murder mystery with the added twist that the protagonist has foreseen the murder magically and is trying to solve it ''before it happens''. Both are standalone novels, and feature smaller-scale problems that admit of relatively neat happy endings, but are still sufficiently characteristic to give you an idea of whether this is the kind of thing you like.

In addition to her self-originated work she has written three Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novels (''Ishmael'', ''Ghost-Walker'' and ''Crossroad''), two Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse novels (the first and third books in ''Literature/TheCallistaTrilogy''), and two tie-in novels for the ''Series/BeautyAndTheBeast'' TV series, as well as episodes of ''WesternAnimation/JayceAndTheWheeledWarriors'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Centurions}}''. She also collaborated on the first ''Literature/MagicTime'' novel with the franchise's creator, Marc Scott Zicree.

* ''Literature/SearchTheSevenHills'' (aka ''The Quirinal Hill Affair'')

* ''Literature/SearchTheSevenHills

** Tertullia Vara's arranged marriage to a 'greasy' Syrian merchant is an important plot point in ''Search the Seven Hills''.

* HistoricalDetectiveFiction: Apart from the ''Literature/BenjaminJanuary'' series, there's the one-off ''To Search The Seven Hills'' aka ''The Quirinal Hill Affair'', set in classical Rome.

* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Ingold Inglorion is very obviously the late Sir Alec Guiness as [[StarWars Obi-Wan Kenobi]], brown robes, beautiful voice and all.

* PurpleProse: Her ''StarWars'' novels have a, shall we say, ''mauve-ish'' tinge to them. [[TropesAreNotBad Done fairly well, though]].

In addition to her self-originated work she has written three StarTrekExpandedUniverse novels (''Ishmael'', ''Ghost-Walker'' and ''Crossroad''), two StarWarsExpandedUniverse novels (the first and third books in TheCallistaTrilogy), and two tie-in novels for the ''Series/BeautyAndTheBeast'' TV series, as well as episodes of ''WesternAnimation/JayceAndTheWheeledWarriors'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Centurions}}''. She also collaborated on the first ''Literature/MagicTime'' novel with the franchise's creator, Marc Scott Zicree.

* ''TheCallistaTrilogy'': ''Children of the Jedi'' and ''Planet of Twilight''

Barbara Hambly is an American SF and mystery writer. Her works include several otherworld fantasy series, a historical fantasy series with vampires, and a series of historical mysteries.

* HistoricalFiction: ''To Search The Seven Hills'' aka ''The Quirinal Hill Affair''.

* IntercontinuityCrossover: Her Star Trek tie-in novel ''Ishmael'' is an extended crossover with the 1968-1970 ABC series ''Here Come The Brides'', including several {{Mythology Gag}}s spanning both series.

* CorruptChurch: The "Darwath" series has a generic "The Church" that has no discernible reason for existing other than to make Our Heroes miserable, as it has no connection with the real life of the rest of the population, and no visible theology other than "wizards are evil".

* ComicBookFantasyCasting:
** Ingold Inglorion is very obviously the late Sir Alec Guiness as [[StarWars Obi-Wan Kenobi]], brown robes, beautiful voice and all.
** Antryg Windrose is likewise blatantly TomBaker as [[DoctorWho the Fourth Doctor]]

* CombatPragmatist: ''Dragonsbane'' goes into some detail about how incredibly difficult it is to kill a dragon. John uses tactics that Gareth finds appalling (including shredding the dragon's wings with poisoned harpoons), but John knows that trying to fight a dragon "honorably" is pure suicide.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of classic fantasy clichés: Often. {{Lampshaded}} [[UpToEleven all to hell]] in ''Dragonsbane''.
* DragonHoard: In the ''Dragonsbane'' series, dragons love gold because dragon magic resonates with it to produce a narcotic-like effect that dragons easily become addicted to. Some dragons manage to break this addiction, however.
* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: Gareth's first encounter with the renowned dragon-slayer, John Aversin, in ''Dragonsbane''.

* HeroicWannabe: Gareth in ''Dragonsbane''.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The dragons of the Winterlands series are telepathic, magically endowed, and fairly intelligent, if a little isolated and alien in mindset. They have an honest-to-goodness addiction to gold, which is why they tend to hoard it.
* ProperlyParanoid: In ''Dragonsbane'':
-->"Why?" Gareth bleated. "What's wrong? For three days you've been running away from your own shadows..."\\
"That's right," John agreed, and there was a dangerous edge to his quiet voice. "You ever think what might happen to you if your own shadow caught you? Now ride -- and ride silent."

In addition to her self-originated work she has written three StarTrekExpandedUniverse novels (''Ishmael'', ''Ghost-Walker'' and ''Crossroad''), two StarWarsExpandedUniverse novels (the first and third books in TheCallistaTrilogy), and two tie-in novels for the ''Series/BeautyAndTheBeast'' TV series, as well as episodes of ''WesternAnimation/JayceAndTheWheeledWarriors'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Centurions}}''. She also collaborated on the first ''Literature/MagicTime'' novel with the franchise's creator, Marc Scott Zicree.

* ApothecaryAlligator: In the dog wizard Tibbeth's shop in ''Stranger at the Wedding''.
-->A mummified crocodile hung from the low rafters overhead

** The marriage around which ''Stranger at the Wedding'' revolves.

** According to her official web site, the leads of ''Stranger at the Wedding'' are KatharineHepburn and Spencer Tracy.

* CostumePorn: ''Stranger at the Wedding'' is an example of detailed clothing description being used well to reveal character and setting.
* CrashIntoHello: In ''Stranger at the Wedding''. (She is looking where she's going, but she's not used to the elaborate dress she's wearing, trips on the hem, and falls straight into his arms.)

* MarketBasedTitle: ''Sorcerer's Ward'' (''Stranger at the Wedding'')

* BrainUploading: The Silicon Mage (title and character), in the Windrose series.

** Antryg Windrose is basically [[Series/DoctorWho the Fourth Doctor]] as a wizard. Reportedly, Hambly even said she mentally cast him as played by TomBaker. Certainly she describes him to a 'T'.

* CorruptChurch: The "Darwath" and "Windrose" series each have a generic "The Church" that has no discernible reason for existing other than to make Our Heroes miserable, as it has no connection with the real life of the rest of the population, and no visible theology other than "wizards are evil". (The Church of Windrose's world gets a more nuanced depiction in ''Stranger at the Wedding'', at least.)

* FunctionalMagic: In the Darwath books and the Ferryth books, mages possess an inherent gift, which must then be developed with training in RuleMagic.

* TheMadHatter: Antryg Windrose is very charismatically eccentric, has a reputation for being "dangerously insane", and in deep characterization confesses that he really is mad, from long years of having to sustain beliefs contrary to the reality of others around him.

* TranslatorMicrobes: The "spell of tongues" in the Windrose series- which [[spoiler: doesn't work over the telephone]].
* TrappedInAnotherWorld: The Darwath series, Joanna in the Windrose series.

** Tazey and Incarsyn in ''The Witches of Wenshar''. [[spoiler:Incarsyn calls it off when it turns out Tazey's a witch. Then, he dies.]]

* BattleCouple: Sun Wolf and Starhawk.

* EldritchAbomination: In ''The Ladies of Mandrigyn'', [[spoiler:Altiokis's power source. It gets him in the end]].

* EyeScream: What [[spoiler: Sun Wolf]] ''[[{{Squick}} has to do to himself]]'' in ''The Ladies of Mandrigyn'', for one.

* TrainingThePeacefulVillagers: In ''The Ladies of Mandrigyn'', the eponymous, and previously very genteel and traditional, women hire mercenary captain Sun Wolf to train them as warriors so they can rescue their men, who have been forced into slave labor by the evil wizard Altiokis.

Two good starting points for Hambly are ''Literature/BrideOfTheRatGod'', in which an actress in [[GoldenAgeOfHollywood 1920s Hollywood]] becomes the unwitting target of an ancient Chinese curse, and ''Literature/StrangerAtTheWedding'' (aka ''Sorcerer's Ward''), a mixture of Regency romance and murder mystery with the added twist that the protagonist has foreseen the murder magically and is trying to solve it ''before it happens''. Both are standalone novels, and feature smaller-scale problems that admit of relatively neat happy endings, but are still sufficiently characteristic to give you an idea of whether this is the kind of thing you like.

* ArtifactOfDeath: The cursed necklace in ''Bride of the Rat God'' was used in olden times to dedicate human sacrifices; any woman who wears it in circumstances resembling those of the original ritual will be dead within a month.

* DreamingOfTimesGoneBy: In ''Bride of the Rat God'', one of the characters has a dream in which she sees the ancient ritual in which the cursed necklace was used.

* {{Epigraph}}: ''Bride of the Rat God'' quotes the I Ching.

* FriendlyLocalChinatown: In ''Bride of the Rat God''

* GoldenAgeOfHollywood: The setting of ''Bride of the Rat God''

** ''Bride of the Rat God''

* PrettyInMink: In ''Bride of the Rat God'', the title character is a movie star, and lets her cousin frequently borrow her furs, including a chinchilla coat. That's the clothing equivalent of loaning a Mercedes.
* PrimaDonnaDirector: in ''Bride of the Rat God''

** Antryg Windrose is basically [[Series/DoctorWho the Fourth Doctor]] as a wizard. Reportedly, Hambly even said she mentally cast him as played by TomBaker.

* BloodyMurder: In ''Those Who Hunt the Night'', a character kills a vampire by injecting himself with a lethal dose of silver nitrate (silver being fatal to vampires in this setting) and allowing the vampire to drain him before he succumbed to the toxic effects of the silver nitrate.

* {{Deconstruction}}: ''Travelling with the Dead'', of Vampire Romance.
** Of classic fantasy clichés: Often. {{Lampshaded}} [[UpToEleven all to hell]] in ''Dragonsbane''.
* DirtyBusiness: James Asher's experiences working for the English secret service in the series beginning with ''Those Who Hunt the Night''.

** The vampire series

* IGaveMyWord: In ''Blood Maidens'', a vampire master informs fledglings that he has promised Asher his protection, and dreadful things will happen if anyone hurts him.

* MarketBasedTitle: ''Immortal Blood'' (''Those Who Hunt The Night''), ''Sorcerer's Ward'' (''Stranger at the Wedding'')
* TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf: Hambly's vampires avoid mirrors not because they lack reflections, but because their reflections show what they are instead of what their glamours make them appear (even to themselves) to be.
* NobleDemon: Ysidro is a good example.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Vampires grow slowly more resistant to their banes (silver, certain woods, sunlight) as they age past their "death". This comes with occasional side effects: Don Simon Ysidro and his sire Rhys developed a condition called bleaching, where they turned into near-albinos, and the Bey of Constantinople became unable to fully create new vampires -- attempts simply produced a functioning mind in a rotting body. They're also psychic, able to affect people's minds -- the famed "dissolve into mist" act is just mentally blanking a person's ability to focus on them, and since they feed on the psychic energies of their prey's death-by-bite, they cannot feed without killing. They all cast psychic glamours that improve their appearance -- even the ones that aren't vain about their appearance prefer to at least seem ''alive'', which without the glamour it's immediately obvious they're not. They avoid mirrors not because they aren't reflected, but because they are, and the mirror shows their true unglamourous appearance.

* TalkingInYourDreams: Hambly's vampires can communicate with people's dreams.
* TearsOfRemorse: In ''Blood Maidens'', Lydia remembers how a companion died, feels guilt, and tears start to her eyes.

!!Barbara Hambly's works include examples of:

* TheBigEasy: Circa 1830, as seen through the eyes of the mixed-race population.

* CostumePorn:
** Solves a murder in ''A Free Man of Color''. Benjamin January's deceased wife was a seamstress, which allows him to recognize the particular baubles on a dead woman's Carnival costume.
** ''Stranger at the Wedding'' is an example of detailed clothing description being used well to reveal character and setting.

* DreamingTheTruth: In the Benjamin January mystery [[spoiler:''Ran Away'']].

* HistoricalFiction:
** The Benjamin January series.
** ''To Search The Seven Hills'' aka ''The Quirinal Hill Affair''.

* ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans: Heavily averted.

* RenaissanceMan: Meet Benjamin January, Paris-trained surgeon, concert pianist and part-time detective. His buddies Hannibal Sefton and Abishag Shaw also fit the trope.

In addition to her self-originated work she has written three StarTrekExpandedUniverse novels (''Ishmael'', ''Ghost-Walker'' and ''Crossroad''), two StarWarsExpandedUniverse novels (''Children of the Jedi'' and ''Planet of Twilight''), and two tie-in novels for the ''Series/BeautyAndTheBeast'' TV series, as well as episodes of ''WesternAnimation/JayceAndTheWheeledWarriors'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Centurions}}''. She also collaborated on the first ''Literature/MagicTime'' novel with the franchise's creator, Marc Scott Zicree.