Tanya Huff
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Tanya Sue Huff (born 1957) is a Canadian fantasy author.
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[edit] 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. She later received a BAA degree in Radio and Television Arts from Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto, Ontario.
In the early 1980s she worked at Mr. Gameway's Ark, a game store in downtown Toronto. From 1984 to 1992 she worked at Bakka, North America's oldest surviving science fiction book store, in Toronto. During this time she wrote seven novels and nine short stories, many of which were subsequently published. She was a member of the Bunch of Seven writing group. In 1992, after living for 13 years in downtown Toronto, she moved with her four large cats to rural Ontario, where she currently resides with her partner Fiona Patton. Her current pet population consists of six cats and what she describes as an "unintentional chihuahua".
Huff is one of the most prominent Canadian authors in the category of contemporary fantasy, a subgenre pioneered by Charles de Lint. Many of the scenes in her stories are near places where she has lived or frequented in Toronto, Kingston, and elsewhere. This author frequently uses as character names the names of people in her circle of acquaintances.
The television series Blood Ties, based on Huff's Vicki Nelson novels, is going into production in the summer of 2006 by CHUM Television and Kaleidoscope Entertainment.[1][2] Toronto actress Christina Cox has the lead role. Filming starts September 5 in Vancouver, Canada.
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Keeper's Chronicles
Claire is a Keeper, charged with keeping the fabric of the metaphysical universe together, who inadvertently finds herself in charge of a Bed & Breakfast with a hole to Hell in the basement. There is often comic relief from her sidekick Austin, a large elderly talking cat and witch's familiar. Claire's love interest, Dean, is a mortal. Claire's sister, Diana, plays a large part in the books as well. In the second book, Diana acquires a familiar of her own—a talking cat, which was an angel until helped (by Diana) to reconfigure as a cat and which, like Austin, provides comic relief.
[edit] Quarters series
Describes a world where musicians (or bards) create magic and an invasion from a neighboring country threatens the land. Many of the bards travel to carry their magical skills, as well as news, throughout the kingdom. The first book focuses on a bard who happens to be the king's sister and who has been forbidden to have a child. When she finds herself pregnant after a wild night of passion with the duke of a border duchy, she fears reprisal. The second and third books focus on a brother-sister pair of assassins. The fourth book is a separate adventure entirely, primarily taking place in a new land.
[edit] Novels of Crystal
- Child of the Grove (1988)
- The Last Wizard (1989)
Wizard of the Grove (1999) (Omnibus edition of Child of the Grove and The Last Wizard)
[edit] Vicki Nelson
This series pairs a detective with a vampire. The first book introduces Vicki Nelson, a former police officer with failing eyesight due to Retinitis Pigmentosa and Henry Fitzroy, a vampire and writer of historical romances—which is natural for him as he was an illegitimate son of Henry VIII before he was seduced by a vampire. (She is known to her police colleagues as "Victory Nelson" for her successful record of investigations; her mother calls her by her legal given name, "Victoria".) Henry's protégé, Tony, is also introduced, as well as Vicki's hard-boiled former partner on the police force, Mike Celluci. Vicki's failing eyesight disqualified her from street work and she resigned rather than take a desk job, and, at the start of the first book, is working as a private detective. Together Vicki and Henry stand against a number of supernatural threats. The series is set in Toronto and uses familiar landmarks. This series has been adapted for television under the title "Blood Ties" and airs on the Lifetime channel.
- Blood Price (1991)
- Blood Trail (1992)
- Blood Lines (1992)
- Blood Pact (1993)
- Blood Debt (1997)
- Blood Bank a short story collection, only available in omnibus
- Omnibus editions
- The Blood Books, Volume I (Omnibus edition of Blood Price and Blood Trail) paperback 2006 ISBN 0-7564-0387-1.
- The Blood Books, Volume II (Omnibus edition of Blood Lines and Blood Pact) paperback 2006 ISBN 0-7564-0388-X.
- The Blood Books, Volume III (Omnibus edition of Blood Debt and Blood Bank) paperback 2006-09-05 ISBN 0-7564-0392-8.
[edit] Smoke and Shadows
A follow-up to the Victory Nelson books, featuring Tony as the main character with his work in the wonderful world of syndicated television, ironically on a show about a vampire detective.
- Smoke and Shadows, hardcover 2004. ISBN 0-7564-0183-6, paperback ISBN 0-7564-0263-8.
- Smoke and Mirrors, hardcover 2005. ISBN 0-7564-0262-X, paperback ISBN 0-7564-0348-0.
- Smoke and Ashes, hardcover June 2006. ISBN 0-7564-0347-2.
[edit] Valor
SSG Torin Kerr's aim is to keep both her superiors and her company of space marines alive as they deal with lethal missions throughout the galaxy.
- Valor's Choice (2000)
- The Better Part of Valor (2002)
A Confederation of Valor (Omnibus edition of Valor's Choice and A Better Part of Valor) (2006-12-05) - The Heart of Valor (due 2007-06-05)
[edit] Other novels
- Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light (1989)
- The Fire's Stone (1990)
- Scholar of Decay (1995) a Ravenloft novel
[edit] Short story collections
[edit] References
- ^ CHUM Limited (2006-03-16). CHUM Television Orders Three New Canadian Dramatic Series. Press release.
- ^ Jim Bawden. "Three new series for CHUM", Toronto Star, 2006-03-17. Retrieved on 2006-03-17.
