Showing results by author "Barbara Hambly" in All Categories

Gil Patterson is a woman familiar with dark stories. As a student of medieval history, she knows the Crusades, the Black Death and the horrors of life in the Middle Ages. But it is another kind of darkness that has begun to stalk her dreams: when she falls asleep in her home she sees forces of evil assaulting a beleaguered kingdom, whose kind people are on the brink of annihilation and awakes each morning in a cold sweat. Gil dismisses the dreams until a wizard appears in her apartment. He has crossed into her dimension to ask for her help.

When the Black Dragon seizes the capital of Bel, the young noble, Gareth, must journey into the decaying Northlands to find John Aversin, Dragonsbane - the only living man ever to slay a dragon. Upon arrival, Gareth also meets Jenny Waynest the half-taught sorceress and mother of Aversin's sons. A bargain is struck: witch and dragonkiller agree to rid the city of its monster in return for the king’s aid in their wintry home which is beset by bandits. But when they reach court, nothing is as they expected.

This lush and haunting novel tells of a city steeped in decadent pleasures and of a man, proud and defiant, caught in a web of murder and betrayal. It is 1833. In the midst of Mardi Gras, Benjamin January, a Creole physician and music teacher, is playing piano at the Salle d'Orleans when the evening's festivities are interrupted - by murder. The ravishing Angelique Crozat, a notorious octoroon who travels in the city's finest company, has been strangled to death.

In Children of the Jedi, Barbara Hambly introduces a new character: Callista, a brave Jedi warrior of long ago who gave her life to foil one of the Empire's darkest plans, a plot to destroy a stronghold that was sanctuary for the wives and children of the Jedi knights. Suddenly, the dreadnought...

Once upon a time, Gil and Rudy lived simple lives. Ingold brought them across the Void, where an evil known as the Dark threatened to devour civilisation whole. Civilisation’s hopes rested on an infant prince, and to protect him, Gil and Rudy had to draw on newfound powers - she as a warrior, he as a wizard. With Ingold’s help they escaped the Dark and led a hardy band of survivors to a far-away keep, where humanity could be safe for a time. But now that time is past, they have been found, and there is nowhere to hide from the Dark.

A whirlwind fantasy classic set in the richest world imaginable, with unforgettable characters and the highest stakes - The Armies of Daylight is the third and final audiobook in Barbara Hambly’s epic Darwath Trilogy. Since the Dark Ones returned, the world has been laid to waste. The wizards have been slaughtered, cities destroyed and people have scattered in terror. Few have witnessed more of the destruction than Rudy and Gil - two ordinary Californians who found their way across the Void and took up arms in defence of a strange and magical world.

Once a spy for Queen Victoria, James Asher has fought for Britain on every continent, using his quick wits to protect the Empire at all costs. After years of grueling service, he marries and retires to a simple academic’s life at Oxford. But his peace is shattered one night with the arrival of a Spanish vampire named Don Simon. Don Simon can disappear into fog, move faster than the eye can see, and immobilize Asher - and his young bride - with a wave of his hand. Asher is at his mercy, and has no choice but to give his help.

In a world where wizards are relegated to ghettos, it is no surprise to see one murdered in the street. But for Stonne Caris, a young warrior monk who sees the killing and gives chase to the culprit, there is nothing ordinary about seeing a murderer disappear into a black, inky portal. The Archmage sends him in search of Antryg Windrose - a half-mad mage who understands the nature of these passages between dimensions.

Finally, Rudy, Gil, and the rest of mankind's survivors will take the offensive, bringing an end to this terrible war, for better or for worse.

New York Times bestselling author Barbara Hambly returns to the Star Wars(r) universe to tell a breathtaking tale of a mysterious world where the battle between the New Republic and the Empire takes a shocking new twist.... Nam Chorios is a barren backwater world--once a dreaded prison colony...

It is 1923, and silent film reigns in Hollywood. Of all the starlets, none is more beloved than Chrysanda Flamande, a diva as brilliant as she is difficult to manage. Handling her falls to Norah, widow of Chrysanda’s dead brother. She has always done her job well, but she was never equipped to deal with murder. When a violent killing shocks Chrysanda’s entourage, and other weird happenings swiftly follow, Norah begins to suspect that some strange power is stalking the star. In Chinatown she receives warning that a curse has been placed on the actress as vengeance for wearing a sacred amulet in one of her films.

Something is amiss with the world's magic. Spells don't work the way they used to—when they work at all. Only the powers of the Crystal Mages remain as they were, powers founded on the use of the mystical element adamis, the harvesting of which has enslaved the peoples of the Twilight Lands. Ravenous beasts have begun to appear, legendary creatures that seem to be proof against any magic.

There was a time when Joanna Sheraton knew nothing of the Void. She was an ordinary computer programmer, toiling in a cubicle in air-conditioned Southern California comfort, unaware that sinister forces had penetrated her universe. But from across the interdimensional divide, an evil mage had put in motion a scheme for eternal life by transferring himself into a computer that feeds on Earth’s life force. Called upon to help by the wizard Antryg, Joanna could do nothing more than delay.

In the sweeping landscape that is Star Wars, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia and all the Star Wars characters we've come to love continue to do battle with the evil Empire. Meanwhile, a parallel event is taking place that could alter the course of history and thwart their mission...

Masked balls, duels, and murder: musician, sleuth, and free man of color Benjamin January is caught up in a shocking crime in this gripping nineteenth-century mystery set in New Orleans. February, 1841. It's Carnival season in New Orleans. Free man of color Benjamin January—a surgeon turned...

Gifted with courage, strength, and the intelligence to know when to fight, Sun Wolf is the greatest mercenary in a land overrun by war. With his first lieutenant, Starhawk - a woman more deadly than any man - at his side, he has laid waste to countless cities, taking the best of their treasures for himself, and distributing the rest among his bloodthirsty crew.

Once the most powerful mage in the land, defeater of dragons, Jenny Waynest is now a broken woman. She was possessed and corrupted by a demon, losing all she held dear - including her love’s trust. Rebuilding her life seems impossible. Her husband, Lord John, now bears his own torment far away: he tricked the beautiful and cruel Aohila, a rival hell’s demon queen, in order to free his wife from possession, and now he is plagued by her memories.

It’s 1835, and the relentless glare of the late July sun has slowed New Orleans to a standstill. When Hesione LeGros - once a corsair’s jeweled mistress, now a raddled hag - is found slashed to death in a shanty on the fringe of New Orleans’ most lawless quarter, there are few to care. But one of them is Benjamin January, musician and teacher. He well recalls her blazing ebony beauty when she appeared, exquisitely gowned and handy with a stiletto, at a demimonde banquet years ago.

Lord John Aversin and the mageborn Jenny Waynest continue to battle and study dragons. Many years have passed since their battle at Bel, and while they remain strong, their love for one another has begun to wane with the passing seasons. But time moves against them in more ways than one. For a danger unlike any they have ever known in their long years of violence begins to stir. Demonspawn from a dark dimension have learned to drink the magic and the souls of mages and dragons alike, turning their victims into empty vessels. 

When the Black Dragon seized the Deep of Ylferdun, young Gareth braved the far Winterlands to find John Aversin, Dragonsbane - the only living man ever to slay a dragon. In return for the promise of the King to send help to the Winterlands, Aversin agreed to attempt the nearly impossible feat again.With them, to guard them on the haunted trip south, went Jenny Waynest, a half-taught sorceress and mother of Aversin's sons.But at the decadent Court, nothing was as expected. Rebellion threatened the land.