Ball, Donna 1951–

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Ball, Donna 1951–

(Donna Boyd, Taylor Brady, Leigh Bristol, a joint pseudonym, Donna Carlisle, Rebecca Flanders, a joint pseudonym)

PERSONAL: Born 1951. Hobbies and other interests: Oil painting, hiking, dog obedience training.

ADDRESSES: Home—Georgia. Office—BelleBooks, P.O. Box 67, Smyrna, GA 30081.

CAREER: Writer. BelleBooks, coowner and editorial director, 1999–.

WRITINGS:

Winners: A Love Story (first serialized in Good House-keeping magazine), St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1982.

Summer Masquerade, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1982.

Just before Dawn, Signet (New York, NY), 1997.

Dark Angel, Signet (New York, NY), 1998.

Let's Dance: A Beginner's Guide to Dancing with Your Dog, Blue Merle Publishing, 2005.

Also author of The Darkest Hour, 1992, and Exposure, 1996. Contributor to Sweet Tea and Jesus Shoes (novellas), BelleBooks (Smyrna, GA), 2000, and Mossy Creek (novellas), BelleBooks (Smyrna, GA), 2002.

NOVELS; UNDER PSEUDONYM DONNA BOYD

The Passion, Avon (New York, NY), 1998.

The Promise, Avon (New York, NY), 1999.

The Alchemist, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 2002.

The Awakening, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 2003.

NOVELS; UNDER PSEUDONYM DONNA CARLISLE

Under Cover, Silhouette Desire (New York, NY), 1988.

A Man around the House, Silhouette Desire (New York, NY), 1989.

Interlude, Silhouette Desire (New York, NY), 1989.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Silhouette Desire (New York, NY), 1990.

For Keeps, Silhouette Desire (New York, NY), 1991.

The Stormriders, Silhouette Desire (New York, NY), 1991.

Cast Adrift, Silhouette Desire (New York, NY), 1992.

It's Only Make Believe, Silhouette Desire (New York, NY), 1992.

Stealing Savannah, Silhouette Desire (New York, NY), 1994.

NOVELS; UNDER JOINT PSEUDONYM REBECCA FLANDERS

Prom Twice in a Lifetime, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1983.

A Matter of Trust, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1983.

Best of Friends, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1983.

Morning Song, Harlequin Presents (New York, NY), 1983.

Falkone's Promise, Harlequin Presents (New York, NY), 1984.

A Modern Girl, Harlequin Romance (New York, NY), 1984.

Suddenly Love, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1984.

Gilded Heart, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1984.

Second Sight, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1984.

Desert Fire, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1984.

The Third Time, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1984.

Daydreams, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1984.

The Key, Harlequin Intrigue (New York, NY), 1984.

Silver Threads, Harlequin Intrigue (New York, NY), 1984.

Easy Access, Harlequin Intrigue (New York, NY), 1985.

Prom Afterglow, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1985.

The Growing Season, Harlequin Superromance (New York, NY), 1985.

Open Hands, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1985.

Rainbows and Unicorns, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1985.

Uncertain Images, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1985.

The Last Frontier, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1985.

Satin Fires, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1986.

Obsessions, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1986.

The Straight Game, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1986.

Minor Miracles, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1986.

After the Storm, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1986.

Painted Sunsets, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1987.

Search the Heavens, Harlequin Superromance (New York, NY), 1988.

The Sensation, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1990.

Earthbound, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1990.

Under the Mistletoe, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1991.

Once upon a Time, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1992.

Yesterday Comes Tomorrow, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1992.

The Last Real Man, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1993.

Sunchasers, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1993.

Forever Always, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1994.

Kissed by the Sea, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1994.

Quinn's Way, Harlequin American (New York, NY), 1994.

After the Storm ("Men Made in America" series), Harlequin (New York, NY), 1994.

The Last Frontier ("Men Made in America" series), Harlequin (New York, NY), 1995.

NOVELS; UNDER JOINT PSEUDONYM REBECCA FLANDERS; "HEART OF THE WOLF" SERIES

Secret of the Wolf, Silhouette Shadows (New York, NY), 1995.

Wolf in Waiting, Silhouette Shadows (New York, NY), 1995.

Shadow of the Wolf, Silhouette Shadows (New York, NY), 1995.

NOVELS; UNDER JOINT PSEUDONYM LEIGH BRISTOL

Hearts of Fire, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1989.

Sunswept, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1990.

Twice Blessed, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1991.

Angel, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1992.

Legacy, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1993.

NOVELS; UNDER JOINT PSEUDONYM LEIGH BRISTOL; "FIELDING TRILOGY"

Scarlet Sunrise, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1987.

Amber Skies, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1987.

Silver Twilight, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1987.

NOVELS; UNDER PSEUDONYM TAYLOR BRADY; "KINCAIDS" SERIES

Raging Rivers, Avon (New York, NY), 1992.

Prairie Thunder, Avon (New York, NY), 1993.

Mountain Fury, Avon (New York, NY), 1993.

Westward Winds, Avon (New York, NY), 1993.

SIDELIGHTS: Donna Ball, the author of dozens of novels under several pseudonyms, earned a warm reception from critics with her 1998 novel The Passion, the first of her novels to be published under the pseudonym Donna Boyd. In reviews of The Passion, critics compared the author to Tanith Lee, Angela Carter, and most frequently, to Anne Rice. In The Passion, Ball introduces readers to a world wherein werewolves in human disguise are responsible for most advances in design and technology, and in fact rule the world through their secret societies or packs. Then in modern-day New York City three powerful werewolves are found murdered, a crime that threatens to upset the delicate balance that keeps the human world from learning about its werewolf components. The author flashes back to Paris of the 1890s, where the roots of the current troubles may be traced. Pack leader Alexander Devoncroix relates to his son Nicholas the story of how in Paris in 1897 he fell in love with the human Tessa LeGuerre, who had tried to murder him in revenge for the death of her father. Alexander introduced Tessa to the secrets of the werewolf underworld, and to his brother Denis, who rules the evil Siberian pack intent on the demise of the human population and who eventually falls in love with Tessa himself. "Boyd's story of forbidden love and subtle power games exerts a mesmerizing sense of tragic inevitability," contended Jackie Cassada in the Library Journal. The title refers to the werewolf version of sex, which is unavailable to humans, since "the total life-experience of each partner is exchanged in orgasm," explained a contributor to Kirkus Reviews, something no human could survive. Others compared The Passion to the legend of Beauty and the Beast and a critic for Publishers Weekly predicted: "Readers will crave another novel set in this magical realm."

Ball followed The Passion with a sequel titled The Promise. Nicholas Devoncroix returns, this time as the protagonist. He is in the process of issuing an Edict of Separation, which will end the peaceful coexistence between humans and werewolves, but his plans are derailed by an assassination attempt. He survives and is rescued and nursed—in wolf form—by the recently widowed, human wildlife photographer Hannah North. In the wreckage of Nicholas's helicopter Hannah also finds the memoirs of another Devoncroix, Matise, in which this werewolf relates the story of his affair with Brianna, a young werewolf stuck in human form. Ball's "constant shifts between Hannah's narrative and Matise's memoirs can be creaky," commented a Publishers Weekly contributor, "but she makes the esoteric werewolf culture consistently and appealingly exotic, witty and sexy."

Ball explained her motives behind writing the Devoncroixes's saga to Crescent Blues interviewer Jean Marie Ward: "I have always been attracted to stories of the paranormal, and I think supernatural fiction is where my strength lies…. The genesis of the Devoncroix came from my amusement with the human conceit we, and only we, are entitled to celebrate our superiority over every other living creature on earth. We share this planet with hundreds of other species; it's time some of them, at least, got the credit they deserve."

The Alchemist is another supernatural novel written under the pseudonym Donna Boyd. This book tells the story of three immortal alchemists, Han, Akan, and Nefar. As youths the three study together at the House of Ra in Egypt, learning to transform themselves into birds (and to overcome the difficult problem of returning to the non-aerodynamic human form in mid-flight) and studying other mystical secrets. Then, thousands of years in the future, Han, now called Randolph Sontime, walks into a psychologist's office in New York City, where he tries to explain how he came to commit a recent, shocking murder. "Love, jealousy, insanity and murder all figure in this pitch-perfect narrative," praised a Publishers Weekly contributor, "while the House of Ra ranks high on the list of fantasy's most intriguing magic schools." The book also features "many rich touches, such as a clock whose pendulum swings with 'the heartbeat of eternity,' that Boyd's fans now expect," noted a Kirkus Reviews critic.

The Awakening, also written under the Donna Boyd pseudonym, is another supernatural tale, but a slightly less fantastic one than some of the author's previous works. The book is woven of two stories, one told from the perspective of Mary, a woman who has awoken from what she thinks is a coma only to realize that she is a ghost, and the other told by the Masons, a family struggling through a difficult time in their lives. Mary, who readers come to realize lived in the Masons' home in the 1930s, begins to appear in Penny Mason's dreams. Penny's husband, Paul, can talk to Mary, although at first their conversations shed little light on the situation. Daughter Elsie, meanwhile, is the only one of the three who can actually see the ghost. By story's end, not only has Mary come to accept her death, but the Masons have learned to reconcile their differences and become a close family again. School Library Journal contributor Pam Johnson wrote: "For those who appreciate ghost stories with depth, this is a good choice."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, May 11, 1998, review of The Passion; November 1, 2001, review of The Alchemist, p. 1501.

Kliatt, July, 2003, review of The Alchemist, p. 6.

Library Journal, March 15, 1998, Jackie Cassada, review of The Passion, p. 98; October 15, 1999, Jackie Cassada, review of The Promise, p. 110.

Publishers Weekly, February 24, 1992, review of Angel, p. 49; April 5, 1993, review of Legacy, p. 70; February 16, 1998, review of The Passion, p. 204; September 13, 1999, review of The Promise, p. 66; December 10, 2001, review of The Alchemist, p. 55.

School Library Journal, November, 2003, Pam Johnson, review of The Awakening, p. 171.