Joan Aiken, the prolific British author, poet, and playwright, died
January 4th at the age of 79.  Her more than ninety books crossed genres
and age groups, but her most famous works were a series of young adult
alternate history fantasies that began in 1962 with THE WOLVES OF
WILLOUGHBY CHASE.  (The last book in the series, MIDWINTER NIGHTINGALES,
will be published posthumously.)

Born to writing parents, and soon gaining a novelist stepfather, Joan
Aiken was naturally drawn to writing.  Her first short story was
published at age eighteen, beginning a career that lasted over sixty
years.  Her genre reach stretched to folk tales, horror, Jane Austen
pastiches, a writing guide, and in her early days, advertising jingles.
She was also the one-time features editor for Argosy magazine.  Her
breadth of writing precludes a bibliography, but other notable works
include ARABEL'S RAVEN (the start of another popular series), and the
Melville pastiche NIGHTBIRDS ON NANTUCKET.