Kelley Armstrong
Encyclopedia
Kelley Armstrong is a Canadian author
, primarily of fantasy
works.
She has published sixteen fantasy novel
s , set in the world of the Women of the Otherworld
and the Darkest Powers series, also two crime novels in 2007 and 2009. Armstrong has confirmed contracts with her American
, British
and Canadian publishers for novels eleven through thirteen in the Women of the Otherworld series, and novels three through to six of Darkest Powers series. She has also written several serial
novella
s and short stories
for the Otherworld series, some of which are available free from her website
.
.
She was born on 1968, the oldest of four siblings in a "typical middle class family" in London, Ontario. After graduating with a degree in psychology
from The University of Western Ontario, Armstrong then switched to studying computer programming
at Fanshawe College
so she would have time to write. Her first novel Bitten was sold in 1999, and it was released in 2001. Following her first success she has written a total of nine novels and a number of novellas in the world of the Women of the Otherworld
series, and her first crime novel
, Exit Strategy, was released July 2007. Armstrong has been a full-time writer and parent since 2002.
Her novel No Humans Involved was a New York Times bestseller in the hardback fiction category on May 20, 2007.
Also, her YA novel The Awakening
was a #1 New York Times bestseller in the Children's Chapter books category on May 17, 2009.
subgenre of the fantasy
genre
that superimposes supernatural characters upon a backdrop of contemporary North American life, with strong romantic elements. Within that subgenre, she is notable for including many types of supernatural characters, including witches, sorcerers
, werewolves, necromancers, ghost
s, shamans, demon
s and vampire
s, rather than limiting herself primarily to a single type of supernatural creature. Most of her works have a mystery
genre plot, with leading characters investigating some novel situation or unsolved question.
In the Otherworld novels to date, most supernatural powers are either hereditary, or arise from the act of an existing supernatural of the same type. The Otherworld, while it has overarching conflicts and plotlines that span multiple novels is, thus far, not an epic battle between good and evil. The novels are largely episodic
with the continuing plotlines primarily involving the developing lives of the main characters.
Her contemporary fantasy writings share genre similarities with writers Charlaine Harris
, Laurell K Hamilton and Kim Harrison
.
13 will be the 13th and final book in the Women of the Otherworld series due to the writers contractual agreements. This is subject to change if a new contract is proposed/signed.
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, primarily of fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
works.
She has published sixteen fantasy novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s , set in the world of the Women of the Otherworld
Women of the Otherworld
Women of the Otherworld is the name of a fantasy series by Canadian author Kelley Armstrong.The books feature werewolves, witches, necromancers, and vampires struggling to fit as "normal" in today's world...
and the Darkest Powers series, also two crime novels in 2007 and 2009. Armstrong has confirmed contracts with her American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Canadian publishers for novels eleven through thirteen in the Women of the Otherworld series, and novels three through to six of Darkest Powers series. She has also written several serial
Serial (literature)
In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous installments—also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles—either issued as separate publications or appearing in sequential issues of a single periodical...
novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
s and short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
for the Otherworld series, some of which are available free from her website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
.
Biography
Kelley Armstrong is married with three children; the family lives in rural OntarioOntario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
.
She was born on 1968, the oldest of four siblings in a "typical middle class family" in London, Ontario. After graduating with a degree in psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
from The University of Western Ontario, Armstrong then switched to studying computer programming
Computer programming
Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...
at Fanshawe College
Fanshawe College
Fanshawe College is one of the largest colleges in Ontario, Canada. The main campus is in London, Ontario, with additional campuses in Simcoe, St. Thomas, Woodstock, and Tillsonburg. There are about 15,000 full-time students and 40,000 part-time students. Fanshawe College has more than 112,000 alumni...
so she would have time to write. Her first novel Bitten was sold in 1999, and it was released in 2001. Following her first success she has written a total of nine novels and a number of novellas in the world of the Women of the Otherworld
Women of the Otherworld
Women of the Otherworld is the name of a fantasy series by Canadian author Kelley Armstrong.The books feature werewolves, witches, necromancers, and vampires struggling to fit as "normal" in today's world...
series, and her first crime novel
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
, Exit Strategy, was released July 2007. Armstrong has been a full-time writer and parent since 2002.
Her novel No Humans Involved was a New York Times bestseller in the hardback fiction category on May 20, 2007.
Also, her YA novel The Awakening
The Awakening (Armstrong novel)
The Awakening is a novel by Kelley Armstrong from Darkest Powers trilogy. It is the sequel to The Summoning.-Plot:The Awakening takes place directly after the events in The Summoning. Chloe has been recaptured by The Edison Group, a team of supernatural scientists responsible for manipulating her...
was a #1 New York Times bestseller in the Children's Chapter books category on May 17, 2009.
Description of Work
Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series is part of a recently popular contemporary fantasyContemporary fantasy
Contemporary fantasy, also known as modern fantasy or indigenous fantasy, is a sub-genre of fantasy, set in the present day. It is perhaps most popular for its sub-genre, urban fantasy.-Definition and overview:...
subgenre of the fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
that superimposes supernatural characters upon a backdrop of contemporary North American life, with strong romantic elements. Within that subgenre, she is notable for including many types of supernatural characters, including witches, sorcerers
Magician (fantasy)
A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, wizard, enchanter, enchantress, thaumaturge or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources...
, werewolves, necromancers, ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
s, shamans, demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
s and vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
s, rather than limiting herself primarily to a single type of supernatural creature. Most of her works have a mystery
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
genre plot, with leading characters investigating some novel situation or unsolved question.
In the Otherworld novels to date, most supernatural powers are either hereditary, or arise from the act of an existing supernatural of the same type. The Otherworld, while it has overarching conflicts and plotlines that span multiple novels is, thus far, not an epic battle between good and evil. The novels are largely episodic
Episodic
Episodic can refer to* The nature of television series that are divided into short programs. See Episode* Episodic memory relates to the types of memory that result from specific incidents in a lifetime...
with the continuing plotlines primarily involving the developing lives of the main characters.
Her contemporary fantasy writings share genre similarities with writers Charlaine Harris
Charlaine Harris
Charlaine Harris is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing mysteries for over twenty years. She was born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area of the United States. She now lives in southern Arkansas with her husband and three children...
, Laurell K Hamilton and Kim Harrison
Kim Harrison
Kim Harrison is a nom de plume of American author Dawn Cook. Under the name of Harrison, she is best known for her Rachel Morgan urban fantasy series set in an alternate history where a worldwide pandemic caused by genetically modified tomatoes led to the death of a large portion of the world's...
.
The Novels
- Bitten (2001)
- Stolen (2002)
- Dime Store MagicDime Store Magic (novel)-Plot introduction:Dime Store Magic, the third in the Women of the Otherworld series, is a novel written by Kelley Armstrong featuring Paige Winterbourne. First seen in Stolen, Paige is a witch, the only daughter of the now deceased Coven leader and expected to follow in her mother's footsteps...
(2004) - Industrial MagicIndustrial Magic (novel)Industrial Magic, the fourth in the Women of the Otherworld series, is a fantasy novel written by Canadian author Kelley Armstrong. It features the witch Paige Winterbourne.-Plot introduction :...
(2004) - Haunted (2005)
- BrokenBroken (novel)Broken is a fantasy novel by written by Kelley Armstrong. It is the sixth in her Women of the Otherworld series and has the return of Elena Michaels as narrator.-Plot summary:...
(2006) - No Humans Involved (2007)
- Personal Demon (2008)
- Living with the Dead (2008)
- Frostbitten (2009)
- Waking the WitchWaking the Witch (Armstrong novel)Waking the Witch is the eleventh novel in Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong. Waking the Witch follows 21 year old witch, Savannah an orphaned daughter of a sorcerer and half-demon. She must prove that she grown up enough to be part of a special supernatural detective agency. ...
(2010) - Spellbound (2011)
- 13 (novel, to be published 2012)
13 will be the 13th and final book in the Women of the Otherworld series due to the writers contractual agreements. This is subject to change if a new contract is proposed/signed.
- Witch Magic (SFBC Omnibus Edition), released in 2004 in the UK, was a republication of Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic in one volume.
The complete series
Below is a complete list of online work, short stories, novellas and contributions to anthologies. Also note that this list is in within-series chronological order- Note: the bold titles denote works which have been published in print.
- "Rebirth", narrator Aaron (short story, released 2005, published in Tales Of The Otherworld April 2010)
- "Infusion", narrator Malcolm Danvers (short story, released 2005; published in Men of the Otherworld in Jan 2009)
- "Savage", narrator Clayton Danvers (novella, released 2003; published in Men of the Otherworld in Jan 2009)
- "Ascension", narrator Clayton Danvers (novella, released 2003; published in Men of the Otherworld in Jan 2009)
- "Demonology", narrator Talia Lyndsay (short story, released 2005)
- "Bewitched", narrator Eve Levine (short story, published in Tales Of The Otherworld April 2010)
- "Birthright", narrator Logan Jonsen (short story, released 2005, published in Tales Of The Otherworld April 2010)
- "Beginnings", narrators Clayton Danvers and Elena Michaels (novella, released 2004, published in Tales Of The Otherworld April 2010)
- "'Becoming'", graphic novella about Elena Michaels (novella, 2007)
- "The Case of the Half-Demon Spy", (short story, released 2005)
- "Expectations", narrator Lucas Cortez (short story, released 2005, published in Tales Of The Otherworld April 2010)
- "Truth and Consequences", narrator Elena Michaels (short story, first published February 1996 in Lost WorldsLost WorldsLost Worlds is a "combat picture book game" designed by Alfred Leonardi and originally published in 1983 by Nova Game Designs. The game has had many publishers, including Chessex, Emithill, Flying Buffalo and Greysea...
magazine and later re-released online) - "Territorial", narrator Karl Marsten (short story, released 2005)
- Bitten, narrator Elena Michaels (novel, published 2001)
- "Ghosts", narrator Jeremy Danvers (short story, released 2005, published in Tales Of The Otherworld April 2010)
- "Escape", narrator Eve Levine (short story, released 2005)
- Stolen, narrator Elena Michaels (novel, published 2002)
- Dime Store Magic, narrator Paige Winterbourne (novel, published 2004)
- Industrial Magic, narrator Paige Winterbourne (novel, published 2004)
- "Wedding Bell Hell", narrator Paige Winterbourne (short story, released 2005, published in Tales Of the Otherworld April 2010)
- Haunted, narrator Eve Levine (novel, published 2005)
- "Adventurer", narrator Kenneth Okalik (short story, published 2005)
- "Chaotic", narrator Hope Adams (novella, published 2006 in Dates from Hell anthology)
- "The Case of El Chupacabra", narrator Lucas Cortez (novella, released 2006, published in Tales Of The Otherworld April 2010)
- "Bargain", narrator Xavier (short story, released 2005)
- Broken, narrator Elena Michaels (novel, published 2006)
- No Humans Involved, narrator Jaime Vegas (novel, published 2007)
- "Framed", narrator Nick Sorrentino (novella, released 2007)
- "Twilight," narrator Cassandra DuCharme (published 2007 in Many Bloody Returns)
- "Stalked," narrator Clayton Danvers (published 2007 in My Big Fat Supernatural HoneymoonMy Big Fat Supernatural HoneymoonMy Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon, edited by P.N. Elrod, is the 2007 sequel to the 2006 book My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding. Honeymoon is an anthology of honeymoon stories contributed by several authors such as the author of the Otherworld series Kelley Armstrong, the author of The Morganville...
)
- Personal Demon, narrator Hope Adams (novel, published 2008)
- "The Ungrateful Dead," narrator Jamie Vegas (published 2009 in Blood Lite)
- Living with the Dead, narrator Robyn Peltier (novel, published 2008)
- "Kitsunegari," narrator Jeremy Danvers (novella, published 2009 in Men of the Otherworld)
- "Paranormal Romance Blues," other narrator (short story published 2009 in The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance)
- "Zen and the Art of Vampirism," narrator Zoe Takano (novella, published 2008 in A Fantasy Medley)
- "Angelic", narrator Eve Levine (novella, published December 2009 in a limited run by Subterranean Press)
- "Learning Curve," narrator Zoe Takano (short story, published 2010 in Evolve)
- "Checkmate", narrator Elena Michaels (short story, released 2009)
- "Recruit", narrator Elena Michaels (short story, released 2009)
- Frostbitten, narrator Elena Michaels (novel, published 2009)
- "Life Sentence," Other narrator (February 2010 in The New Dead)
- "Counterfeit Magic," narrator Paige Winterbourne(novella, released 2010 in a limited run by Subterranean Press)
- "Lucifer’s Daughter," narrator Hope Adams (published October 2010 in Blood Lite 2: Overbite)
- Waking the Witch, narrator Savannah Levine (novel, published July 2010)
- Hidden, narrator Elena Michels (novella, to be release late 2011)
- Spellbound, narrator Savannah Levine (novel, published July 2011)
The Nadia Stafford series
- Exit Strategy (published July 2007)
- Made to be Broken (published in February 2009)
The Darkest Powers trilogy
- The Summoning (novel, published July 2008)
- The AwakeningThe Awakening (Armstrong novel)The Awakening is a novel by Kelley Armstrong from Darkest Powers trilogy. It is the sequel to The Summoning.-Plot:The Awakening takes place directly after the events in The Summoning. Chloe has been recaptured by The Edison Group, a team of supernatural scientists responsible for manipulating her...
(novel, published April 2009) - The Reckoning (novel, published April 2010)
- Also contains the short stories Dangerous, and Divided with Derek as the narrator, which are available online.
- A short story called Disenchanted is narrarated by Tori and a very small portion in Simon's view.
The Darkness Rising trilogy
- The GatheringThe Gathering (Armstrong novel)The Gathering is a novel by Kelley Armstrong. It was released April 12, 2011 by HarperTeen. The Gathering is the first book in Armstrong's Darkness Rising trilogy. Darkness Rising is the second trilogy in the Darkest Powers series. Darkness Rising follows a new set of kids...
(novel, published April, 2011) - The Calling (novel, to be published April 2012)
Other short stories
- Plan B (in the collection Like a Charm)
- Death Dealer (in the collection Dying for It: Tales of Sex and Death)
- Kat (in the collection The Eternal Kiss)
- Harbinger (in the collection Campus Chills)
- A Haunted House of Her Own (in Twilight Zone: 19 Original Stories on the 50th AnniversaryTwilight Zone: 19 Original Stories on the 50th AnniversaryTwilight Zone: 19 Original Stories on the 50th Anniversary is a collection of short stories written by various authors and edited by Carol Serling, the widow of series creator Rod Serling. Each story was written with themes or styles similar to The Twilight Zone episodes, including narrated...
)
External links
- Official website
- Bibliography on SciFanSciFanSciFan is an online database for fans of science fiction and fantasy books.The site provides detailed bibliographies, linking books together into series' where appropriate and, in turn, grouping series by universe...
- Kelley Armstrong at FantasticFiction.co.uk
- Armstrong's online fiction center
- Kelley Armstrong in Suvudu's Paranormal Roundtable Live Chat
Interviews
- Interview at Flames Rising (November 2005)
- Orbit meets... Kelley Armstrong (2005)
- Online interview from CBC Words at Large (May 2007)
- Interview with Kelley Armstrong - Success Circuit (April 2009)
- Kelley Armstrong book Signing - Argyle Mall, London Ontario - A fan asks a question about her upcoming book "The Gathering" (April 2010)