Photo credit: Bill Purcell
Acclaimed Multi-Genre Novelist
she/her
Since her first published novel, Time of the Dark, in 1982, Barbara Hambly has touched most of the bases in genre fiction: fantasy, science fiction, horror, media tie-ins, graphic novels, screenplays, murder mysteries, occult romance, “respectable women’s fiction” and Saturday morning cartoons. Currently she writes mostly historical murder mysteries (the long-running Benjamin January series, and the fairly new Silver Screen mysteries about Hollywood in the silent film era), but her sword-and-sorcery epic The Iron Princess appeared through Open Road Media in 2023. She also publishes novelettes and short stories about the further adventures of the characters from her earlier fantasy series through Amazon and Smashwords. Her work has been translated into Spanish, Russian, Japanese, French, and in some cases Czech and Slovakian (though those would be pretty hard to locate these days!)
Barbara was born in San Diego, California, in 1951 – in fact, she will celebrate her 75th birthday at the 2026 Worldcon. She attended the University of California, Riverside (with one year at the University of Bordeaux, France) and holds an M.A. in medieval history. In 1998 she married science fiction writer George Alec Effinger, and lived part-time in New Orleans for several years.
From 1994-1996, Barbara served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA)1. She taught history, part-time, at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, California, from 2006 to 2023. She earned a black belt in Shotokan karate back in the 1970s (though she had to quit because of injuries) and in 2022 earned a black belt in Nishikaze-style iaido; she still trains in that as well as aikido.
Barbara has over 70 novels to her credit, including many dozens of original works — such as her novel series Darwath, Winterlands, and Sunwolf and Starhawk — as well as novels in the Star Trek, Star Wars and Beauty and the Beast universes. Her views on writing, her cats, research, or her travels are posts (when she has time) on barbarahambly.com, or on Facebook as Barbara Hambly, Writer. (You can also see some of her paintings on her website, too). Her Wikipedia page has an extensive list of her writing. Now a widow, she shares a house in Los Angeles with several small carnivores.
1 Known since 2022 as the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA).
