Tanya Sue Huff (born 1957) is a Canadian fantasy author. Her stories have been published since the late 1980s, including five fantasy series and one science fiction series. One of these, her '' Blood Books'' series, featuring detective Vicki Nelson, was adapted for television under the title '' Blood Ties''.

Biography

Born in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

, Huff was raised in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

. Her first sale as a writer was to '' The Picton Gazette'' when she was ten. They paid $10 for two of her poems. Huff joined the

Canadian Naval Reserve The Naval Reserve (NAVRES, ) is the Primary Reserve component of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). The primary mission of the NAVRES is to force generate sailors and teams for Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) operations, including: domestic safety operati ...

in 1975 as a cook, ending her service in 1979. In 1982 she received a Bachelor of Applied Arts degree in

Radio and Television Arts The RTA School of Media is a school within the Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University located in the Rogers Communications Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It offers two Bachelor of Arts (Media Production and Sport Media) and a Masters ...

from

Ryerson Polytechnical Institute Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a Public university, public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Gar ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

; she was in the same class as science-fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer and they collaborated on their final TV Studio Lab assignment, a short science-fiction show. In the early 1980s she worked at Mr. Gameway's Ark, a game store in

Downtown Toronto Downtown Toronto is the main city centre of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Street to the nor ...

. From 1984 to 1992 she worked at Bakka, North America's oldest surviving science fiction book store, in Toronto. During this time she wrote seven novels and nine short stories, many of which were subsequently published. Her first professional sale was to

George Scithers George H. Scithers (May 14, 1929 – April 19, 2010) was an American science fiction fan, author and editor. A long-time member of the World Science Fiction Society, he published a fanzine starting in the 1950s, wrote short stories, and moved ...

, the editor of ''

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearance ...

'' in 1985, who bought her short story " Third Time Lucky". She was a member of the

Bunch of Seven The Bunch of Seven was a group of science fiction and fantasy writers who met regularly in Toronto from March 28, 1985, until the early '90s to mutually critique manuscripts with the intention of helping each other turn professional—a goal in w ...

writing group. In 1992, after living for 13 years in downtown Toronto, she moved with her four large cats to rural Ontario, where she currently resides with her wife, fellow fantasy writer Fiona Patton. Huff is one of the most prominent Canadian authors in the category of

contemporary fantasy Contemporary fantasy is a genre, subgenre of fantasy set in the present day. It is perhaps most popular for its subgenres, occult detective fiction, urban fantasy, low fantasy, supernatural fiction and paranormal fiction. Several authors note that ...

, a subgenre pioneered by

Charles de Lint Charles de Lint (born December 22, 1951) is a Canadian writer. Primarily a writer of fantasy fiction, he has composed works of urban fantasy, contemporary magical realism, and mythic fiction. Along with authors like Terri Windling, Emma Bull ...

. Many of the scenes in her stories are near places where she has lived or frequented in Toronto, Kingston, and elsewhere. A prolific author, "she has written everything from horror to romantic fantasy to contemporary fantasy to humour to space opera." She appeared in a 2009 documentary '' Pretty Bloody: The Women of Horror''.

Bibliography

Adaptations

The

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

series '' Blood Ties'' was based on Huff's Vicki Nelson novels, and also aired in the United States on Lifetime. It was produced by CHUM Television and

Kaleidoscope Entertainment Kaleidoscope Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. (or KEPL) is an Indian film and television production company. Films produced by them include '' Bandit Queen'', ''Fire'', '' Electric Moon'', '' Saathiya'', '' Maqbool'', '' American Daylight'', and '' Mang ...

. It was not picked up for a second season (which would have been the third season in the US).

References

External links

Tanya Huff
on

LiveJournal LiveJournal (), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, as a way of keeping his high school ...

*
Bibliography
on SciFan

with Megan Harrell, 2007
Interview
with Michael A. Ventrella, April 2010
Bibliographical FanSite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huff, Tanya 1957 births Canadian fantasy writers Canadian science fiction writers Canadian women novelists Filkers Canadian bisexual women Canadian bisexual writers Living people Toronto Metropolitan University alumni Canadian women science fiction and fantasy writers Writers from Halifax, Nova Scotia Writers from Kingston, Ontario Canadian LGBTQ novelists Bisexual novelists Bisexual women writers 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Aurora Award–winning writers Novelists from Ontario Novelists from Nova Scotia