Barbara's Blog

  Still more apologies - a LOT of stuff going on, and a very close deadline. And to make matters more complicated, Facebook has decided not to let me into the FB page from which I access the "Barbara Hambly Writer" page (which is operated by one of my publishers). I get a blocking message saying I need a (not sure whether it's "passkey" or "passcode" and I'm too tired to look it up at the moment). I have no idea whether this - and the "click this button to solve the problem!" button - is a scam which will end with my bank account being robbed (again), and since FB has no way of contacting them directly to find out, I'm putting off doing anything about the problem until the next Ben January book (# 22 in the series!) is a little more under control. So, I'll try to come onto this page more frequently - for now, this is the way to get in touch with me. All else is going well, except that I'm very tired and working into the nights...

  Stuff going on. Next weekend - Feb. 6-7-8 - I will be at the Gallifrey One Dr. Who Convention, at the LAX Marriott Hotel. I'll be on a couple of panels, and doing a signing - and my lovely niece (or niece-in-law) Sara will ALSO be on a couple of fan panels. Usually Gallifrey co-incides with Strategicon, which is held at the hotel next door (the LAX Hilton) but this year, because of the NBA All-Star game, Gallifrey was moved up a weekend from its usual time-slot - so I'll miss doing the heavy cruise of the Strategicon dealer's room that I usually do. However, I'm hoping that my first official incursion into the Dr. Who universe will be released by then (it's scheduled for "February"): the audio adventure from Big Finish, "The Kraken of Hagwell." As far as I can tell, it seems like it will only be released digitally, but I'll check in the dealer's room (I don't listen to audio-books on my computer, for a variety of reasons) - also, it...

  It's time for the Christmas watchlist - a bit abbreviated this year because it's a busy and tiring Christmas. But definitely the four favorites: a) We're No Angels (few people realize what a great comic actor Humphrey Bogart was), b) Scrooged (in my opinion one of Bill Murray's greatest roles - and one of the best re-tellings of Christmas Carol on film, closely rivalled by...) c) the George C. Scott Christmas Carol. I've heard people describe d) Love Actually as "cringey" and inappropriate, and yes, some of its jokes are definitely sexist and fat-shaming... But it still makes me weep. I apologize for that. And in between all that, I continue my research into one of the weirdest alien civilizations ever to have existed on this planet: Heian-era Japan. A very, very strange world indeed.

Happy Birthday, John!  

               In the middle of an exhausting and vexing week (I got my computer hacked – not a whole lot of damage done, but the clean-up is miserable), good news.               For years I’ve been a fan of Big Finish Audio Adventures of Dr. Who – licensed from the BBC to do audio adventures, with previous Doctors. (Now in his 90s, on audio Tom Baker still looks like he did in 1976). In some cases, wonderful voice-actors have stepped in, who can do perfect imitations of previous Doctors (and previous companions) now deceased. About 5 years ago, I wrote an audio script for the so-called “Companion Chronicles” niche of Big Finish, stories centering on – and narrated by – one or another of the Doctor’s companions. These aren’t full-cast audios, but with a limited cast; in this case, both the First Doctor (William Hartnell) and the Brigadier (one of the Doctor...

  It's been a busy summer - the usual apologies for not posting. The picture is an old one, taken by R. Mann at a convention in 2016, but I wore the costume just a couple of weekends ago, at the Legacy Expo in Burbank. Legacy Expo is a WONDERFUL Star Wars convention. It concentrates on the "Expanded Universe" (i.e. both the current backstory of the Star Wars universe, and the backstory as envisioned in the original bunch of novels back in the '90s). It's an entirely fan-run convention, though their relations with Disney and Lucasfilm are very cordial. Thus, it's small, and feels very friendly - and, my thanks, here, to the wonderful con committee. I gather it's only put on every couple of years. I think the next one will be in 2028, but Legacy Expo is working on planning smaller events in the interim. The convention fell in the middle of a tight deadline to read and correct the final copyedit of the next Hollywood murder-mystery - Death in the Palace - whi...

  Just a quick check-in. Just got back from the Celsius 232 Festival of Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror in Aviles, Spain - a WONDERFUL festival, and unlike any other convention I've been to. It's not in a hotel, but bookshop kiosks are scattered all through the 17th-century Old Town. This was the hotel they put me up in - a 17th-century nobleman's palace (that served REALLY fine breakfasts!) (The other picture is of me in front of an old fountain). Soft gray weather. One day it did drizzle. Two days there was a religious festival - the Virgin of Carmen, who guards all vehicles, fishing-boats in this case - with parades of drummers and a life-size Madonna carried through the streets. In the evening everyone in town walks their dogs. The final notes from my editor on 'Death in the Palace' are due in a week, and I will post at greater length then. (I am also having the house re-piped, so there are plumbers in and out and for a week there was a back-hoe in my fron...