May, Antoinette

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May, Antoinette

PERSONAL:

Education: Attended Stanford University.

ADDRESSES:

E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Freelance writer, novelist, and astrologist.

AWARDS, HONORS:

La Pluma de Plata, for best article about travel to Mexico, 1997.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Pilate's Wife, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2006.

BIOGRAPHIES

Haunted Ladies: Exploring the Supernatural with Six Great Psychics, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 1975.

Different Drummers: They Did What They Wanted, Les Femmes Publishing (Millbrae, CA), 1976.

Witness to War: A Biography of Marguerite Higgins, Beaufort Books (New York, NY), 1983.

Helen Hunt Jackson: A Lonely Voice of Conscience, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 1987.

The Annotated Ramona, Wide World Publishing (San Carlos, CA), 1989.

My Guide, Myself: The Psychic Odessey of Sylvia Browne, New American Library (New York, NY), 1990.

Passionate Pilgrim: The Extraordinary Life of Alma Reed, Paragon House (New York, NY), 1993.

(With Sylvia Browne) Adventures of a Psychic: The Fascinating and Inspiring True-life Story of One of America's Most Successful Clairvoyants, Hay House (Carlsbad, CA), 1998.

TRAVEL GUIDES

Haunted Houses and Wandering Ghosts of California, Examiner Special Projects (San Francisco, CA), 1977.

The Yucatan: A Guide to the Land of the Maya Mysteries, Wide World Publishing (San Carlos, CA), 1987, expanded edition published as The Yucatan: A Guide to the Land of Maya Mysteries Plus Sacred Sites at Belize, Tikal, and Copan, Wide World Publishing (San Carlos, CA), 1993.

Haunted Houses of California, Wide World Publishing (San Carlos, CA), 1990.

Mexico for Lovers, Wide World Publishing (San Carlos, CA), 1994.

EDITOR

(With Vernon Appleby) Voices of San Francisco: Speaking Out from the City by the Bay, HarperCollins West (New York, NY), 1994.

(With Vernon Appleby) Voices of Seattle: Speaking Out from the "Emerald City," HarperCollins West (New York, NY), 1995.

Contributor to periodicals, including Cosmopolitan, Country Living, Self, San Diego Union, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, and San Jose Mercury News.

SIDELIGHTS:

Antoinette May had been a successful nonfiction writer for more than thirty years before publishing her first novel. A regular contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle, May wrote for both magazines and books, often on supernatural topics such as ghost sightings, clairvoyance, and haunted houses. Her biography of popular contemporary psychic Sylvia Browne enjoyed success with forty-two weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list. It was during her teenage years that she was first exposed to the character who would become the protagonist of her debut novel, titled Pilate's Wife. May stated in an interview with HarperCollins: "A half remembered sermon I heard as a teenager continues to tug at my imagination. The gist of that Easter homily was Pontius Pilate ‘washing his hands’ of a difficult situation. Well, we've all done that! I was far more intrigued by a random reference to Pilate's visionary wife, Claudia. Who was this seer with a dream so powerful that she sought to change the course of history?" In 1992 she began research, first with university classes at Stanford University, then with travels to historical sites. Over the course of the next fourteen years, Pilate's Wife evolved from a traditional biography to a fictional novel with historical underpinnings.

Set in the first century, the story begins with a young Claudia, secretly devoted to a pagan goddess and subject to visions of the future. She ultimately marries Pontius Pilate and is witness to the very roots of Christianity. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews remarked: "May's vivid settings, founded in research, make this quick read of a romantic adventure enjoyable." "Authentically detailed" was how Booklist reviewer Margaret Flanagan described the novel. Jane Henriksen Baird wrote in a review for the Library Journal that May presents a "fresh and vivid retelling of a well-known story," further adding: "One hopes this is the first of many novels by this excellent author."