Borchardt, Alice 1939–2007

(Alice O'Brien Borchardt)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born October 6, 1939, in New Orleans, LA; died of cancer, July 24, 2007, in Houston, TX. Nurse and novelist. Borchardt spent nearly thirty years as a licensed nurse before rumors of impending layoffs at the hospital where she worked prompted her to explore other career options. Ultimately she followed her younger sister, novelist Anne Rice, into the field of fantasy and supernatural fiction. Borchardt's first novels, published when she was in her middle to late fifties, were traditional, steamy historical romances, set, like her other books would be, in colorful times past. Devoted (1995) and Beguiled (1997) relate the saga of Elin the Viking and her lover Bishop Owen as they fight their way through the trials and tribulations of life in medieval France. Borchardt then turned her attention to the vampire genre that made her sibling popular. In the trilogy that begins with The Silver Wolf (1999) and ends with The Wolf King (2001), Borchardt plunges into the milieu of eighth-century Rome. There, in the waning days of the Roman Empire, the werewolf Regeane must fight the corrupt and greedy forces of family members who would bend her to their will in the search for wealth and political power. Aided by her soul mate, gladiator-werewolf Maeniel, Regeane fights her enemies in both the natural and supernatural worlds. Borchardt's other writings include fantasy novels set in mists of Camelot, such as The Dragon Queen: The Tales of Guinevere (2001).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, August 3, 2007, p. B8.

Washington Post, August 4, 2007, p. B6.