Author Archives: Barbara Howe

Maus

Posted on 27 September 2019 by Barbara Howe

For this year’s Banned Book Week, I re-read Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust memoir Maus. I discovered this Pulitzer-prize-winning graphic novel some thirty years ago when it was first published in book form*. It was deeply moving and disturbing then, and it … Continue reading →

Posted in History (non-fiction) | Leave a comment

Banned Books Week

Posted on 21 September 2019 by Barbara Howe

This coming week, 22 – 28 September 2019, is this year’s American Library Association’s Banned Book Week. I’m familiar with several entries in their list of 2018’s most challenged books, and have already blogged about both Alex Gino’s George—number one … Continue reading →

Posted in On Reading | 2 Comments

Before the Fall

Posted on 15 September 2019 by Barbara Howe

One summer evening a private jet takes off from Martha’s Vineyard, en route to New York City. There are ten people aboard: seven passengers and three crew. Among the passengers are the Bateman family: father David, mother Maggie, daughter Sarah, … Continue reading →

Posted in Mysteries | Leave a comment

Sorcery and Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot

Posted on 30 August 2019 by Barbara Howe

What do you get when two writers play the Letter Game, in which they take turns telling the story by writing letters to each other in character, with the only rule being that they must never reveal their ideas about … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternate History, Fantasy | Leave a comment

Shards of Honor

Posted on 18 August 2019 by Barbara Howe

In Shards of Honor, the superb introduction to Lois McMaster Bujold’s many-volume Vorkosigan saga, Commander Cordelia Naismith, citizen of Beta Colony and head of a planetary survey mission, is down planet with a small team of scientists when they are … Continue reading →

Posted in Space Opera | 2 Comments

RotoVegas: Earthcore Book One

Posted on 9 August 2019 by Barbara Howe

Strange things are going on in the New Zealand resort town of Rotorua. Tourists targeted in a rash of pickpocket incidents seem dazed, unable to give a clear description of the thieves. Ghostly visitors drive a family out of their … Continue reading →

Posted in Kiwi author, New Zealand, Urban Fantasy | Leave a comment

The Blacksmith Book Launch

Posted on 4 August 2019 by Barbara Howe

The Blacksmith, the third book in my YA high fantasy Reforging series, is now available in paperback for non-North American readers. We will be holding a book launch to celebrate. Join us, if you can. When: 5:30pm, 14 August 2019 Where: … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Molenstraat Music Festival

Posted on 27 July 2019 by Barbara Howe

An accident leaves a brilliant young cellist brain-damaged. She can still play, but her concentration slips after a few minutes, leaving her unable to finish a piece. In The Molenstraat Music Festival, set a thousand years in the future, medical … Continue reading →

Posted in Kiwi author, Science Fiction | Leave a comment

Where We Land

Posted on 21 July 2019 by Barbara Howe

Where We Land, by New Zealand author Tim Jones, deals with the human impact of the worsening climate crisis. Set in the near future with crops ruined and river deltas drowned, refugees are streaming out of Asia in unseaworthy boats, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate fiction, Kiwi author | 1 Comment

The Kingfisher’s Debt

Posted on 14 July 2019 by Barbara Howe

“Aunty Tamsin, was Billy my dad?” I stopped applying my lipstick and and angled the rear-view mirror. … With grey eyes and auburn hair framing her face, Gwyn looked like her mother. She hadn’t inherited the blonde hair and blue … Continue reading →

Posted in Kiwi author, Urban Fantasy | Leave a comment