Barbara Ashford

Barbara Ashford wrote her first novel "Cherokee the Wild Pinto" when she was eight years old and prepared the final manuscript on her Tom Thumb typewriter. She discovered the joy of performing when her sister dressed her up as a Pilgrim and had her sing "Over the River and Through the Woods" for Thanksgiving. After that, she was hooked on theatre, performing in shows ranging from "Guys and Dolls" to Greek tragedy.

She abandoned a career in educational administration to pursue a life in the theatre, working as an actress in summer stock and dinner theatre and later, as a lyricist and librettist. She’s written everything from cantatas to choral pieces, one-hour musicals for children to full-length ones for adults. Her musicals have been performed throughout the world, including the New York Musical Theatre Festival and the Edinburgh International Festival.

Barbara lives near New York City with her husband whom she met while performing in the play "Bedroom Farce." They have bookcases in every room (including the bathroom) with an eclectic collection of leather bound classics and beat-up paperbacks, reference books and play scripts, nonfiction books on religion, philosophy, and crime, historical fiction and fantasies, and cookbooks that Barbara consults whenever she has to make anything more complicated than spaghetti.

SPELLCAST and SPELLCROSSED are inspired by her years as an actress. An omnibus edition of the novels - SPELLS AT THE CROSSROADS - has also been published by DAW Books. Her short stories appear in the anthologies "After Hours: Tales from the Ur-Bar" and "The Modern Fae's Guide to Surviving Humanity."