Ball, Margaret
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1947- ) US academic and author who began to publish work of genre interest with The Shadow Gate (1991) and Flameweaver (1991), both fantasy novels, the latter opening the two-book Flameweaver sequence. She began to collaborate with Anne McCaffrey [whom see for details] with PartnerShip (1992), the second volume of McCaffrey's Brainship series. Further collaborations with McCaffrey comprise the first two volumes of the Acorna Science Fantasy sequence beginning with Acorna: The Unicorn Girl (1997) and Acorna's Quest (1998), Acorna being a humanoid (and, perhaps needless to say, highly attractive) Alien with a small forehead "horn" and various powers such as healing which are traditionally ascribed to the unicorn (see Supernatural Creatures); stranded among humans as an infant, she undergoes various adventures and seeks her own people. Of Ball's solo novels, Mathemagics (1996) is an entertaining Science and Sorcery crossover whose woman-warrior protagonist travels from her Sword and Sorcery world (where Magic is rooted in Mathematics) to Earth, principally to obtain a good education for her daughter; but is dangerously pursued. Disappearing Act (2004) is pure sf, a rousing if perhaps overcomplicated action-adventure opening with criminal activities within a Space Habitat which lead to further shenanigans on a primitive colony world (see Colonization of Other Worlds). Ball subsequently announced her retirement from novel-writing to focus on fabric and beadwork crafts. [DRL]
Margaret Elizabeth Ball
born 7 November 1947
works
series
Flameweaver
- Flameweaver (New York: Baen Books, 1991) [Flameweaver: pb/Stephen Hickman]
- Changeweaver (New York: Baen Books, 1993) [Flameweaver: pb/Larry Elmore]
Brainship
- PartnerShip (New York: Baen Books, 1992) with Anne McCaffrey [Brainship: hb/Stephen Hickman]
- Brain Ships (New York: Baen Books, 2003) with Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey [anth/omni of the above and The Ship Who Searched (1992) by McCaffrey and Lackey: Brainship: hb/Tom Kidd]
Acorna
- Acorna: The Unicorn Girl (New York: HarperPrism, 1997) with Anne McCaffrey [Acorna: hb/John Ennis]
- Acorna's Quest (New York: HarperPrism, 1998) with Anne McCaffrey [Acorna: hb/John Ennis]
individual titles
- The Shadow Gate (New York: Baen Books, 1991) [pb/Tom Kidd]
- No Earthly Sunne (New York: Baen Books, 1994) [pb/Newell Convers]
- Lost in Translation (New York: Baen Books, 1995) [pb/Courtney Skinner and Newell Convers]
- Mathemagics (New York: Baen Books, 1996) [pb/Larry Elmore]
- Disappearing Act (New York: Baen Books, 2004) [hb/Bob Eggleton]
links
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