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Nobody's Princess

(Nobody's Princess #1)

Esther M. Friesner

3.68 · Rating details · 12,655 ratings · 1,050 reviews

She is beautiful, she is a princess, and Aphrodite is her favorite goddess, but something in Helen of Sparta just itches for more out of life. Not one to count on the gods—or her looks—to take care of her, Helen sets out to get what she wants with steely determination and a sassy attitude. That same attitude makes Helen a few enemies—such as the self-proclaimed "son of Zeu ...more

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Hardcover, 296 pages

Published April 24th 2007 by Random House Books for Young Readers (first published January 1st 2007)

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Sep 29, 2007 Rachel rated it it was ok

I have to say, this book did not work for me at all. It's a retelling of the story of Helen of ancient Greece. Somehow the modern voice applied to her narration just made the story feel totally shallow. "Like, oh my heck, it's the Oracle of Apollo!" Okay, it wasn't that bad, but the modern language took away the credibility of the story for me. Another problem was that the character's "voice" didn't change to adjust for her age at all. She spoke the same way at 6, at 10 and at 14. Again, hard to ...more

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Jan 18, 2009 Slumbering Rose rated it it was ok

Shelves: historical-fiction, fantasy, young-adult, mythology

The description says you'll find yourself rooting for Helen. I beg to disagree. I felt just the opposite. Helen is a spoiled, stubborn, selfish, impulsive, immature, bratty child. She is inconform with everything. She gets her way with everything. She is smarter, slyer, and altogether better than everyone else at everything by the ripe old age of fourteen (she is actually much younger throughout the first half of the book, yet that doesn't impair her knowledge or skills at all). The other charac ...more

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Nov 27, 2008 Elizabeth marked it as to-read

Do you like heroines who are strong, independent, and self-sufficient? You may want to meet Helen.

She's not your average princess. Sure, her mother and father are king and queen of Sparta. And sure, she may grow up to be "Helen of Troy." But Helen is a young firecracker of a character.

She is not going to stand around learning how to do needlework while her two brothers, Castor and Polydeuces, get to have all the fun of learning to ride and hunt.

She's not going to miss out on all the fun of le ...more

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Feb 24, 2008 Kit rated it it was ok

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. eh, more crappy ya novels. seriously, what is up with that? ya novels tend to be better than just slapping random words together, right? there is a most definite lack of direction in this, and the characters lack depth, but fine, again, ya novel. is it possible to stop introducing such immature characters and trying to make them pass for mature? just a thought. that doesn't sound unreasonable, right?

another point is, of course, that nothing really happens throughout the course of this book. and ...more

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Mar 17, 2009 Lesley rated it liked it

Shelves: past, teen, myth

I don't know what's wrong with me. I want to like the books I read and yet I'm constantly disappointed. Then I read the reviews and other people did like them. So I think the problem is me.

I can definitely see recommending this book to fans of re-told Greek myths, especially ones featuring strong heroines. But here's what I wanted: If it's supposed to be historical fiction, I wanted to know more about what it would have been like to be Helen of Sparta (before she became Helen of Troy) if she we ...more

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Mar 08, 2018 Merphy Napier rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, three-stars

I don't have a lot of thoughts on this one. I really like Hellen a lot and enjoyed following her throughout the story. I also loved a lot of the side characters and the characters were really what kept me going. But the plot was kind of a mess. It felt like we were jumping from one thing to another and they were barely connected. I mean, she was needing to escape a neighboring Kingdom because she thought she was going to be forced into a marriage, then there was a wild boar hunt, then another th ...more

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Nov 24, 2011 Althea Ann rated it did not like it

An historical novel about Helen of Sparta (before she grew up and became Helen of Troy)? Sounded compelling to me! Especially because Sparta is such a fascinating, complex and often-problematic culture.

Unfortunately, I got the impression from this book that it was written as a generic Western-princess-fairytale, the publisher thought it was too bland, and encouraged the author to put a Grecian gloss over the thing. It's still generic and bland - and at no point does it feel like it takes place i An historical novel about Helen of Sparta (before she grew up and became Helen of Troy)? Sounded compelling to me! Especially because Sparta is such a fascinating, complex and often-problematic culture.

Unfortunately, I got the impression from this book that it was written as a generic Western-princess-fairytale, the publisher thought it was too bland, and encouraged the author to put a Grecian gloss over the thing. It's still generic and bland - and at no point does it feel like it takes place in Sparta.

Helen is a spoiled brat who reads like a modern pre-teen. She spends most of the book whining.

Helen's big thing is that she wants to train with her brothers, doing physical exercise instead of sitting in the house spinning and weaving with her mother and sisters. Later, she meets an oh-so-unusual horsewoman and has to sneak around to learn to ride, secretly.

Here's in thing: in Sparta, spinning and weaving was done ONLY BY SLAVES. No upper-class Spartan woman did that sort of work, let alone a "princess." And - could we POSSIBLY call the garments worn by Spartan women 'chitons' not 'dresses'? Speaking of clothing, Spartan women frequently did not wear clothing - when they were doing the strenuous exercise and physical training that ALL young Spartans, male and female, participated in. A young Spartan woman would have had a time of it getting OUT of having to exercise, not getting TO exercise. Not only that, but upper-class Spartan women frequently rode horses, bred horses, and owned horses.

OK, I don't mind having preconceptions challenged by a novel. Perhaps the past wasn't like our concepts about it. Open my horizons. Challenge me. But - nothing about this book's setting felt 'Spartan' - or even 'foreign' at all. It was more Ren-Faire Medieval than anything. I have no problem at all with stories that show young women struggling against the sexist expectations of their society.

The problem here, though, is that this ISN'T a Spartan society. It's Our society, with a pseudo-Medieval, pseudo-Greek gloss on it.
The end result was that I felt that this book ends up being the opposite of empowering, because by showing a culture far removed from our own being sexist in so exactly the same ways as our own, instead of showing that sexist stereotypes can be overcome and defeated, it actually reinforces the message that these ideas about women are universal throughout the world and history and therefore are likely true.

Don't get me wrong - I don't demand that every book have an 'empowering' message. But I felt like this one meant to, and it backfired.The reason I like to read historical novels is to feel like I have been transported into another culture, another way of living, another way of seeing the world. Based on those criteria, this book was a complete failure.

It went to the top of my to-read list because I saw the sequel at the discount store, and I was wondering if I should buy it. The answer is "no."
...more

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Feb 01, 2009 Sella Malin rated it liked it

This book was pretty good...Some parts were exciting, while others were kind of boring. I thought the idea was pretty interesting, since I love Greek mythology, and I'm fascinated with the legend of Helen and Troy...It was cool to see this author's view on Helen's childhood, though it wasn't written that well.

There were only a few things that bothered me. The author italicizes words way too often, about ten times every page, and so that was quite frustrating.

Also, the author had a tendency to ...more

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Aug 23, 2008 Jessica rated it really liked it

Shelves: youngadult

A fascinating look at not just the childhood of Helen of Troy, but of the era in which she lived. The historical notes at the back of the book talk about how Helen would have lived not in Greece's Golden Age, when Homer was writing the Iliad, but centuries before in the Bronze Age. It put a whole new spin on the story: reading and writing were nonexistent, as was money, and the women of Sparta really would have been huntresses in their own right. Very intriguing! My only complaint is that there ...more

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Jul 06, 2015 Joselyn Moreno Burke rated it it was amazing

I loved it so much, to tell a story like that was so cool and I found myself devouring the book in a couple of days.

The fact that I love greece and sparta to begin with was a plus to this book, I was rapidly immerse on all the mythology and names and cities.

I can't wait enough for the second book to see how this all will end or start and I thinks this series is one I would grow to love.

One of the things I really liked was that Helen was no damsel in distress, she is a strong female that wants ev ...more

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Apr 14, 2017 Asghar Abbas rated it liked it

Don't judge me. I can still feel you judging me with your judgy little eyes, hehe.

After seeing Manu Bennett in the ill fitting Shannara Chronicles, I was missing the sublime Spartacus. I noticed that this book was published in 2007 and that reminded me of 300 a silly but fun movie. So I succumbed and picked this novel up.

Nostalgia would kill you, so put down that pipe.

While not quite the adventurous fun ride it was pretending to be, I did enjoy and even liked some aspects of it. Plus MC train ...more

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May 30, 2020 Katie rated it liked it

Shelves: format-ebook, 2020-new, how-own, 2020

Huh. This just ended up finishing unfinished. I know there's a sequel, but I guess I expected more plot threads to be wrapped up. I also didn't realize it doesn't really get to the Helen myth itself. Which having read the author's afterward, I now get that's what she was going for! But I went in with the wrong expectations.

And in my 30's, it just feels like I've read this kind of story a lot before. Which isn't really a fault of this particular book.

So . . . overall, wrong reader!

Owned ebook 3/2 ...more

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Dec 10, 2018 Natasa rated it it was ok

Shelves: mythology, ancient-greece, helen-of-troy

This book had an interesting premise, however, the writing and plotline were rather flat for me.

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Apr 02, 2009 Cecilia rated it really liked it

Shelves: green-covers

What a lovely retelling, and this is just the beginning of Helen's story! In the original myth, you do not hear a lot about Helen - only that she is the most beautiful woman in the world. Indeed, she is forever remembered as Helen of Troy. Even I did not remember that she came from Sparta. The most beautiful woman came from Sparta? How interesting! I am glad Esther Friesner decided to investigate further into Helen before she became "of Troy."

What I really enjoyed about Nobody's Princess is the ...more

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Apr 13, 2010 Nina ✿ Looseleaf Reviews ✿ rated it did not like it

Shelves: historical-fiction, teen, hated

This review also appears on:

It's books like this that I can never believe are actually published.

The premise is a retelling of the story of Helen of Troy as a young teen. I understand, Helen of Troy was gorgeous and everyone loved her, but this was played up to a sickening degree in the book. Everything went right for her and there was hardly any conflict. It felt as if whenever she was in trouble, she just had to show her pretty face and everyone would dive to her aid.

The narration was als ...more

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Aug 05, 2014 Gracie Twidale rated it liked it

Okay, so this book... At first I can't really say I hated it... But then I read on. The style of writing was very childish and annoying. I don't know what I expected really, the blurb on the back wasn't amazing either. What really drew me in was the fact that it was about the Greek gods and the was set in the time of Helen of Troy (or Sparta). The story line was very bland and had no high-point or plot twists. She had no love interest and it started off from too young of age. Overall, I might re ...more

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Mar 10, 2010 Rachel rated it did not like it

Shelves: wish-i-hadn-t

This book is crap. It's about a little girl who crossdresses and goes on adventures!!! I mean, what the heck was the author thinking when she wrote this?!?! And even if ur into little crossdressing female adventurers, this book is a waste of life. It has no substance and is more work to read than it's worth.
Dear Author, please stop causing innocent readers to waste money and time!

Warning: DON'T READ!! Even if someone has a gun to your head ordering you to read it, it's better to die than waste ...more

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Jul 13, 2008 Kristi rated it really liked it

I enjoyed Friesner’s rendition on the story of Helen’s youth. I really liked getting to know more about the ancient Greeks and their customs. The plot flows well and is interesting throughout the entire story. I can’t wait to read more about Helen’s character and her adventures in Nobody’s Prize. If you enjoy historical fiction or mythology, I think you would enjoy this book!

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Jun 01, 2015 Victoria Kennedy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bookshelf-fiction, read-in-2015

Originally published on My Books Are Me

I stumbled upon this book by chance, and I'm so glad I did! As someone who has been studying history for several years, and currently majoring in history at University, this book appealed to me a lot, especially since I already had some idea of what ancient Sparta was like. Granted, I haven't studied Helen of Troy or much of the mythology in the book that closely, but it was easy to pick up on the story and imagine the place and time which Helen was liv Originally published on My Books Are Me

I stumbled upon this book by chance, and I'm so glad I did! As someone who has been studying history for several years, and currently majoring in history at University, this book appealed to me a lot, especially since I already had some idea of what ancient Sparta was like. Granted, I haven't studied Helen of Troy or much of the mythology in the book that closely, but it was easy to pick up on the story and imagine the place and time which Helen was living.

The story follows Helen of Troy, or really, Helen of Sparta, as a child and teenager. We see her in the Spartan palace, working towards her future as Queen of Sparta, but trying to avoid the traditional path laid out for her. Instead of needlework with the other ladies, Helen is more at home outside in the training yard with her brothers, learning how to fight and be a strong Queen, able to lead her future army into battle. Of course, a future queen cannot be seen acting like such a boy, and so only a few know about Helen's training, including her supportive mother. When her twin sister is to marry the Prince of Mykenae, Helen, along with her brothers, join their sister on her journey to her new kingdom. However, the real adventure begins when Helen's brothers, Castor and Polydeuces decide to head to Calydon to join the hunt for a rabid boar. Helen soon discovers that she doesn't want to be an average queen, and sees her future on the battlefield and on quests that will make her one of the most heroic and famous queens of her time, not just a pretty face.

I really enjoyed this book and it combined mythology and history with fiction to create an interesting story. Because I have studied Ancient Spartan and Greek culture and society, I loved reading pieces that I had some knowledge of and knew what things were referring to. However, this doesn't mean that someone who doesn't have this history or mythology knowledge won't be able to enjoy this book. If you love books about strong female roles, then this is something you will definitely enjoy. The message that Helen embodies is that you should be judged and praised on your abilities, not your looks, which is something that a lot of teenagers and young girls need to see in literature. It's great to see that Friesner has written a story (actually a series of stories) that have strong female leads that focus on their strengths, not their beauty.

However, I feel Helen lacks development and we fail to see any real difference in character and voice from the ages of six to fourteen - if it hadn't been for the mention of her age changes, I may have thought to were six through the entire book. Also, the fleeting mentions of many myths seemed to only create more questions. Yes, they may be myths a lot of people are familiar with, but a little bit more of an in-depth discussion of them wouldn't have gone astray. Some myths seemed only to have been mentioned for the sake of cramming as much Greek mythology into the book as possible, and the myths actually to do with the story where glossed over. But, it's only a small issue from someone who loves history and mythology.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and will definitely be continuing on with the sequel Nobody's Prize which picks up exactly where this novel ended. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys history, Greek mythology, and strong and independent female leads.

Originally published on My Books Are Me - www.mybooksareme.weebly.com ...more

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Sep 02, 2014 TL rated it liked it · review of another edition

This was a light, enjoyable read... it was fun to read about Helen as a child and her determination to choose her own path. I loved seeing her stand up for her brothers, herself, and her friends.

Atalanta I adored, wish she had had a bigger part in the novel,She was very interesting. She would make a fine queen if she chose to marry someone (I can see her rolling her eyes and glaring at me for that hehe). Love seeing a warrior woman in this, though I wanted to smack certain men's faces sometimes ...more

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Apr 23, 2010 Penwiper rated it it was ok

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. At first, this book was fairly promising. The prose was adequate, and the idea was good. Okay, girls who show their spunky grrrl-itude by learning "manly" arts and rejecting "womanly" ones make me twitch, but in this case it was at least done well enough that I could tolerate it and go on with the story.

Unfortunately, the story just simply didn't go anywhere. It was odd, because there were a lot of potential places where the plot could have taken off, but as soon as anything started building up At first, this book was fairly promising. The prose was adequate, and the idea was good. Okay, girls who show their spunky grrrl-itude by learning "manly" arts and rejecting "womanly" ones make me twitch, but in this case it was at least done well enough that I could tolerate it and go on with the story.

Unfortunately, the story just simply didn't go anywhere. It was odd, because there were a lot of potential places where the plot could have taken off, but as soon as anything started building up, the plot would twist away from it. It was almost as though the author didn't know how to handle action or tension, and so was avoiding it. I know that this author has written numerous other books and stories, so I was surprised at this.

And the really annoying thing is that there was a lot of potential. Take, for instance, one scene that should have been just oozing with drama. A secondary-character prince, having narrowly beaten a secondary-character warrior-woman to the prize of the hunt and having slain the wild boar, dramatically presents her with the prize saying she should have won it. The other warriors cry out at him giving this honor to such an unnatural female, whereupon in a fit of rage he draws his sword and attacks them, leading to wild bloodshed and his eventual death. Awesome! What a chance for great tension! What opportunities for wrenching emotion! Here's a place where the action can really get going! Except..... there's absolutely no build-up to this scene, and no emotional denouement. The scene took maybe one page, the fighting took up maybe 3 sentences, and the whole was described with all the drama of a 3rd-grade spelling lesson. The main characters are instantly hustled off the scene by the author and the remaining action is described to them later, and mostly forgotten about within a few pages. Dull, dull dull!

The book ended with the main characters having moved around a bit, but not having really achieved anything, affected anything, or having changed themselves (which is a pity, because they're all very bland and generic). But the book has a sequel, so maybe the whole first book was just a buildup to whatever is going to happen in the next book. Worth a try. ...more

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Oct 20, 2010 jules rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: Don't read if you're looking for some Girl- Power

Shelves: 8th-grade

Nobody's Princess. The title says it all-- what it's supposed to be. A girl who kicks some Ancient Greece butt, right?? WRONG! I came into this book thinking that it was about a girl warrior who prefers being a warrior to a princess. Hmm.. kind of a false guess, I suppose. The author could've AT LEAST had Helen be the best fighter ever, kicking the butts of all those tough Spartan warriors. NO!! Helen seemed to be a character who just kind of wanted to become a warrior and trained with her brot Nobody's Princess. The title says it all-- what it's supposed to be. A girl who kicks some Ancient Greece butt, right?? WRONG! I came into this book thinking that it was about a girl warrior who prefers being a warrior to a princess. Hmm.. kind of a false guess, I suppose. The author could've AT LEAST had Helen be the best fighter ever, kicking the butts of all those tough Spartan warriors. NO!! Helen seemed to be a character who just kind of wanted to become a warrior and trained with her brothers but wasn't really that good. She tried in their fighting lessons, but I never got the sense that she was really that awesome of a warrior! More on that later. But, really, this was supposed to be a major GIRL POWER book!! But that doesn't really work if the main character is uninteresting, weird, and just plain not the best girl power role model.
Okey, I do have some "evidence" to support this thought. Well, in the book, there was one part where Helen and her two older brothers go to some place to kill a dangerous bull or creature that was living in the mountains. So we're all ready to see Helen kill that bull and rub it in those warriors' faces, right?? Well, instead, she kind of just tags behind and helps out someone to kill the bull, but without taking it into her hands, being the best warrior, or being brave enough to kill it herself. Also in this part of the book, Helen met another girl "warrior", Atalanta. Now Atalanta was definitely more of the kind who was a girl power character. If the book was about her, that would've been way better. So, anyway, Atalanta starts training Helen more, but I kind of got the sense that Atalanta didn't even like her, so why was she spending time with her?? It also just added to the fact that Helen is NOT NOT NOT the best warrior in the land because Atalanta was better than her.
I'm not going to say I'm that sorry for this, because why would I want to read about a book that has a girl just trying to be big and tagging along behind her brothers to pretend to be brave. If only Helen had been exciting and had some major kick butt scenes. BUt, nope, she didn't, so don't waste YOUR time reading this book. ...more

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Jun 08, 2011 Paradoxical rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2011-reading-list, books-otherwise

Nobody's Princess is a cute story. Shallow, a wandering plot, meh-ish characterization... it's still cute. That's pretty much all you can say about it. Helen is an interesting character as she grows up, but she comes off rather selfish (which isn't all that bad), and she always gets her way. All of the female characters are rather strong, which isn't a bad thing to see, but it was rather... hm. Like instead of being equal with men, they're written as better, only with added bonus of the men beat ...more

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May 28, 2012 Lucille rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult, historical-fiction

This is the story of Helen of Sparta before she became Helen of Troy. It had potential to be really interesting, to imagine what the woman with a face that launched a thousand ships was like when she was a girl. But it all just fell flat for me- the characters, the plot, the writing, everything. I think that one problem was that things were too rushed. It was a fairly short book and I don't think that enough time and attention were spent on the various places that Helen travelled, the things she ...more

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Jun 10, 2008 Amy rated it it was ok

i actually give it 1.5 stars. it was just kinda boring & there wasn't really a point. or i missed it. the only thing i can think of...and i'm reaching...is that the journey is more important than the goal and her character is what will bring her to her ultimate place in life. but it's a book and a book requires a plot not just a character. so this book is kinda junk. and what is more annoying is that there is a book 2 and i probably have to read it b/c i want to know what happens even though in ...more

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Jul 28, 2014 Caitlin rated it did not like it

Shelves: ya-fiction, books-i-did-not-like, did-not-finish, historical-fiction

Sadly, I gave up on this one 50% of the way through. It just wasn't interesting to me and Helen's attitude really got to me. What a whiney, spoiled, mean little brat. You can make a character come across as determined, free willed, and independent without making her annoying, rude, and just down right mean.

I RARELY give up on a book, but I just couldn't give this one any more of my sacred reading time. ...more

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Mar 25, 2018 Nana Spark rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Cool premise but meh ~

I really liked the premise of this book, but a lot happened that I just saw as really meh. For example: Helen is learning how to use a sword, traveling around with her siblings, going on wild hunts, but there's not much of a *wow* factor to it, it's just kinda meh.

The characters were meh. The plot was meh. The writing was meh.

Wasn't a horrible book but I didn't find much enjoyment out of it. :/ ...more

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Jul 04, 2010 Kristy rated it liked it

Shelves: historical

3 stars might be generous on this one.... I'm thinking that the books will get progressively better each time (next book is "Nobody's Prize).
This one started off slow and slightly boring...but as the end approached it got more and more exciting.
I'm on the fence for this one, I don't know if I liked it or not....
However, I liked it enough to read the next book, take it how you will. ...more

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Jul 25, 2017 Nelly Alikyan rated it liked it · review of another edition

There was no plot to this, literally just different interactions amongst different days of her life.

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May 01, 2020 John Loyd rated it it was amazing

We follow Helen of Sparta from a very young age. In Sparta we learn her character. She doesn't want everything handed to her because she is pretty. She gets her brothers' weapons trainer to teach her how to fight along with the older boys. Her sister gets betrothed to a prince from Mykenae. A great boar hunt in Calydon, followed by a trip home which is interrupted by a stay in Delphi.

Fun, some really laugh out loud moments. Part I is a really nice introduction to the characters, entertaining. Pa ...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Fictional young adult novel about a noble girl who rejects her womanly roles and sets off on adventure of her own she joins her brothers on a hunt for a wild boar with a bow?? [s]	4	23	May 08, 2018 04:12PM
Young Adult Book ...: Nobody's Princess	1	4	Jul 11, 2014 10:49AM
Tom boy kick-butt girls	8	33	May 11, 2014 04:56PM
Royalty: Helen	4	5	Jan 13, 2014 03:32PM

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About Esther M. Friesner

Esther M. Friesner

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Esther M. Friesner was educated at Vassar College, where she completed B.A's in both Spanish and Drama. She went to on to Yale University; within five years she was awarded an M.A. and Ph.D. in Spanish. She taught Spanish at Yale for a number of years before going on to become a full-time author of fantasy and science fiction. She has published twenty-seven novels so far; her most recent titles in Esther M. Friesner was educated at Vassar College, where she completed B.A's in both Spanish and Drama. She went to on to Yale University; within five years she was awarded an M.A. and Ph.D. in Spanish. She taught Spanish at Yale for a number of years before going on to become a full-time author of fantasy and science fiction. She has published twenty-seven novels so far; her most recent titles include Temping Fate from Penguin-Puffin and Nobody's Princess from Random House.

Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in Asimov's, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Aboriginal SF, Pulphouse Magazine, Amazing, and Fantasy Book, as well as in numerous anthologies. Her story, "Love's Eldritch Ichor," was featured in the 1990 World Fantasy Convention book.

Her first stint as an anthology editor was Alien Pregnant By Elvis, a collection of truly gonzo original tabloid SF for DAW books. Wisely, she undertook this project with the able collaboration of Martin H. Greenberg. Not having learned their lesson, they have also co-edited the Chicks In Chainmail Amazon comedy anthology series for Baen Books, as well as Blood Muse, an anthology of vampire stories for Donald I Fine, Inc.

"Ask Auntie Esther" was her regular etiquette and advice column to the SFlorn in Pulphouse Magazine. Being paid for telling other people how to run their lives sounds like a pretty good deal to her.

Ms. Friesner won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story of 1995 for her work, "Death and the Librarian," and the Nebula for Best Short Story of 1996 for "A Birth Day." (A Birth Day" was also a 1996 Hugo Award finalist.) Her novelette, "Jesus at the Bat" was on the final Nebula ballot in the same year that "Death and the Librarian" won the award. In addition, she has won the Romantic Times award for Best New Fantasy Writer in 1986 and the Skylark Award in 1994. Her short story, "All Vows," took second place in the Asimov's SF Magazine Readers' Poll for 1993 and was a finalist for the Nebula in 1994. Her Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel, Warchild, made the USA TODAY bestseller list.

She lives in Connecticut with her husband, two children, two rambunctious cats, and a fluctuating population of hamsters.
...more