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Magical Beginnings
''Magical Beginnings'' is an anthology of fantasy short stories edited by Steven H. Silver and Martin H. Greenberg, first published in paperback by DAW Books in February 2003. It is a compilation of the first published stories of sixteen prominent authors in the genre, and features introductions to the stories provided (in most instances) by the authors of those stories. ''Magical Beginnings '' was the second of three similarly-themed anthologies, its companions being '' Wondrous Beginnings'' and '' Horrible Beginnings'', compiling the first published stories of authors writing in the science fiction and horror genres, respectively. The series follows the example of the earlier '' First Flight: Maiden Voyages in Space and Time'', edited by Damon Knight (Lancer Books, 1963) and '' First Voyages'', edited by Damon Knight, Martin H. Greenberg and Joseph D. Olander (Avon Books, 1981), which focused on science fiction authors only and did not include individual introductions. Conten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steven H
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is widely regarded as the first martyr (or "protomartyr") of the Christian Church. In English, Stephen is most commonly pronounced as ' (). The name, in both the forms Stephen and Steven, is often shortened to Steve or Stevie. The spelling as Stephen can also be pronounced which is from the Greek original version, Stephanos. In English, the female version of the name is Stephanie. Many surnames are derived from the first name, including Stephens, Stevens, Stephenson, and Stevenson, all of which mean "Stephen's (son)". In modern times the name has sometimes been given with intentionally non-standard spelling, such as Stevan or Stevon. A common variant of the name used in English is Stephan ; related names that have found some curr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avon Books
Avon Publications is one of the leading publishers of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles reaching and maintaining spots in bestseller lists, demonstrating the market and potential profits in romance publication. As of 2010, Avon is an imprint of HarperCollins. Early history (1941–1971) Avon Books was founded in 1941 by the American News Company (ANC) to create a rival to Pocket Books. They hired brother and sister Joseph Meyers and Edna Meyers Williams to establish the company. ANC bought out J.S. Ogilvie Publications, a dime novel publisher partly owned by both the Meyers, and renamed it "Avon Publications". They also got into comic books. "The early Avons were somewhat similar in appearance to the existing paperbacks of Pocket Books, resulting in an immediate and largely ineffective lawsuit by that company. Despite this ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tanya Huff
Tanya Sue Huff (born 1957) is a Canadian fantasy author. Her stories have been published since the late 1980s, including five fantasy series and one science fiction series. One of these, her '' Blood Books'' series, featuring detective Vicki Nelson, was adapted for television under the title '' Blood Ties''. Biography Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Huff was raised in Kingston, Ontario. Her first sale as a writer was to '' The Picton Gazette'' when she was ten. They paid $10 for two of her poems. Huff joined the Canadian Naval Reserve in 1975 as a cook, ending her service in 1979. In 1982 she received a Bachelor of Applied Arts degree in Radio and Television Arts from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, Ontario; she was in the same class as science-fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer and they collaborated on their final TV Studio Lab assignment, a short science-fiction show. In the early 1980s she worked at Mr. Gameway's Ark, a game store in Downtown Toronto. From 1984 to 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mercedes Lackey
Mercedes Ritchie Lackey (born June 24, 1950) is an American writer of fantasy novels. Many of her novels and trilogies are interlinked and set in the world of Velgarth, mostly in and around the country of Valdemar. Her Valdemar novels include interaction between human and non-human protagonists with many different cultures and social mores. Her other main world is one much like our own, but it includes clandestine populations of elves, mages, vampires, and other mythical beings. The ''Bedlam's Bard'' books describe a young man with the power to work magic through music; the ''SERRAted Edge'' books are about racecar driving elves; and the ''Diana Tregarde'' thrillers center on a Wiccan who combats evil. She has also published several novels re-working well-known fairy tales set in a mid-19th to early 20th century setting in which magic is real, although hidden from the mundane world. These novels explore issues of ecology, social class, and gender roles. Lackey has published o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emma Bull
Emma Bull (born December 13, 1954) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. Her novels include the Hugo- and Nebula-nominated ''Bone Dance'' and the urban fantasy ''War for the Oaks''. She is also known for a series of anthologies set in Liavek, a shared universe that she created with her husband, Will Shetterly. As a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, she has been a member of the Minneapolis-based folk/rock bands Cats Laughing and The Flash Girls. Early years Emma Bull was born in Torrance, California. She attended Beloit College in Wisconsin, and graduated in 1976 with a degree in English Literature and Composition. After graduating, she worked for a while as a journalist and graphic designer. Career Emma Bull's best-known novel is ''War for the Oaks'', one of the pioneering works of urban fantasy. Her 1991 post-apocalyptic science fiction novel ''Bone Dance'' was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards. She was a member of the writing grou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mickey Zucker Reichert
Mickey Zucker Reichert (born as Miriam Susan Zucker in 1962) is an American fantasy fiction author of several best selling novels. Personal life Reichert is a pediatrician, and holds a Doctorate of Medicine (M.D.). She is from a town in Iowa. She and her husband have fostered and adopted children, as well as a variety of animals "from mice to horses". Her novels are published by DAW Books; the organisation published her first novel via Sheila Gilbert, who is still Reichert's editor over 25 years later. Zucker-Reichert is an experienced and passionate wildlife rescuer. Her snaring techniques were involved in the rescue the endangered gopher tortoise. Seeing that it could outrun her, she created advanced snaring methodology and techniques that are now utilized to save the species from extinction. Notable works Reichert has published more than 22 novels, an illustrated novella, and more than 50 short stories. Renshai series She is known for her ''Renshai'' series, which p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Esther Friesner
Esther Mona Friesner-Stutzman, née Friesner (born July 16, 1951) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. She is also a poet and playwright. She is best known for her humorous style of writing, both in the titles and the works themselves. This humor allows her to discuss with broader audiences about issues like gender equality and social justice. Life Friesner attended the Hunter College High School, a public magnet high school in New York City, as well as Vassar College. At Vassar, she completed B.A.s in both Spanish and Drama. While at Vassar, she became friendly with Paula Volsky and Jane Bishop. Together they wrote at least one film script for student production, "Lavinia: a Girl of the Street", which demonstrated Esther's trademark tongue-in-cheek style. She holds a Ph.D. in Spanish and was a college Spanish professor at Yale University before becoming a writer. She currently resides with her husband and two children in Connecticut. Career During her early career ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ellen Kushner
Ellen Kushner (born October 6, 1955) is an American writer of fantasy novels. From 1996 until 2010, she was the host of the radio program '' Sound & Spirit'', produced by WGBH in Boston and distributed by Public Radio International. Background and personal life Kushner was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. She attended Bryn Mawr College and graduated from Barnard College. She lives in New York City with her wife and sometime collaborator, Delia Sherman. They held a wedding in 1996 and were legally married in Boston in 2004. Kushner identifies as bisexual. Career Kushner's first books were five Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks. During that period, she published her first novel, '' Swordspoint'' in 1987. A sequel set 18 years after ''Swordspoint'', called ''The Privilege of the Sword'', was published in July 2006, with a first hardcover edition published in late August 2006 by Small Beer Press. ''The Fall of the Kings'' (2002) (co-authored by Sherman ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Hobb
Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden (born March 5, 1952), known by her pen names Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm, is an American writer of speculative fiction. As Hobb, she is best known for her fantasy novels set in the ''Realm of the Elderlings'', which comprise the ''Farseer trilogy, Farseer'', ''Liveship Traders'' and ''Tawny Man'' trilogies, the ''Rain Wild'' chronicles, and the ''Fitz and the Fool'' trilogy. Lindholm's writing includes the urban fantasy novel ''Wizard of the Pigeons'' and science fiction short stories, among other works. , her fiction has been translated into 22 languages and sold more than 4 million copies. Born in California, Lindholm grew up in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest and married a mariner at age eighteen. The Alaskan wilderness and the ocean were prominent aspects of her life, influencing her writing. After an early career in short fiction, at age thirty Lindholm published Windsingers series, her first novel while working as a waitress and raising ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles De Lint
Charles de Lint (born December 22, 1951) is a Canadian writer of Dutch, Spanish, and Japanese ancestry. He is married to, and plays music with, MaryAnn Harris. Primarily a writer of fantasy fiction, he has composed works of urban fantasy, contemporary magical realism, and mythic fiction. Along with authors like Terri Windling, Emma Bull, and John Crowley, de Lint during the 1980s pioneered and popularized the genre of urban fantasy. He writes novels, novellas, short stories, poetry, and lyrics. His most famous works include: the Newford series of books (''Dreams Underfoot'', ''Widdershins'', ''The Blue Girl'', ''The Onion Girl'', ''Moonlight and Vines'', ''Someplace to be Flying'', etc.), as well as ''Moonheart'', ''The Mystery of Grace'', ''The Painted Boy'' and ''A Circle of Cats'' (children's book illustrated by Charles Vess). His distinctive style of fantasy uses American folklore and European folklore; de Lint was influenced by many authors of mythology, folklore, and sci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Susan Shwartz
Susan Shwartz (born December 31, 1949) is an American author.King, T. Jackson. "SFC Interview: Susan Shwartz". ''Science Fiction Chronicle'' 16(7): 5, (pp. 30-33). June/July 1995. Education and career She received her B.A. in English from Mount Holyoke College in 1972 and a PhD in English from Harvard University. Shwartz's ''Heirs to Byzantium'' trilogy – ''Byzantium's Crown'' (1987), ''The Woman of Flowers'' (1987) and ''Queensblade'' (1988) is an alternate history series. The Heirs to Byzantium novels are set in a world where Marc Antony defeats Octavius in the Battle of Actium, and joins with Cleopatra to make Byzantium capital of the Roman Empire. Shwartz's novel ''The Grail of Hearts'' (1992) is a fantasy that features the Holy Grail. It also features a sympathetic version of Kundry from Richard Wagner's opera ''Parsifal''; Shwart's Kundry is depicted as a version of the Wandering Jew. Shwartz has published several novels and sixty short stories. Works Novels * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ursula K
Ursula may refer to: * Ursula (name), feminine name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name * ''Ursula'' (album), an album by American jazz pianist Mal Waldron *Ursula (crater), a crater on Titania, a moon of Uranus *Ursula (detention center), processing facility for unaccompanied minors in McAllen, Texas *Ursula (The Little Mermaid), a fictional character who appears in ''The Little Mermaid'' (1989) *Ursula Channel, body of water in British Columbia, Canada * 375 Ursula, a large main-belt asteroid * HMS ''Ursula'', a destroyer and two submarines that served with the Royal Navy *Tropical Storm Ursula (other), a typhoon, two cyclones, and a tropical depression, all in the Pacific Ocean * Ursula, signals intelligence system used by the Finnish Defence Intelligence Agency See also *Saint Ursula *Urszula Urszula may refer to: * Franciszka Urszula Radziwiłłowa (1705–1753), Polish-Lithuania-Belarusian noble dramatist and writer * Urszula Augustyn (born 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
