Judith Tarr, born in 1955, is the author of more than twenty books of different genres. She has written
historical novels,
historical fantasy,
high fantasy,
prehistoricals and, with
Harry Turtledove,
alternate history. Her scholarship is impressive in its completeness, her language non-intrusive and thoroughly convincing. Her settings are so vivid -- well,
Alamut is set in a hot and dusty
desert and when I read it I felt I needed the air conditioner on, even though it was January. She has taught at
Clarion.
Judith Tarr's historical fantasy is set in the Medieval period in the times of the Crusades. The Avaryan Rising trilogy is high fantasy. She has four mainstream historical novels set in Egypt and two with Medieval settings. The Eagle's Daughter , set in the so-called Holy Roman Empire(upon which she sets us straight), and told from the point of view of a Byzantine princess's nurse, has a strong romantic element. Tarr treats romance with the same passion and irony she uses for history and the personalities of men and women -- and immortals.