Some more Sagittarian writers of interest

I noticed a while back that a few writers of interest were born at the end of November.  

I found some good connections while I was looking to see what these astrological Sagittarians had in common.

A few more writers whose work I like or at least am familiar with and/or who are of interest for other reasons were born under the sign of Sagittarius – some before the end of November and some in December.

Most of them have been featured or at least mentioned in articles in the past; there may be more to say about a few of them in the future. There may also be some new names to add to the list.

Jane Austen was born on December 16th 1775.
Although her books don't inspire commentary, she has been mentioned on here in a few articles in connection with suspicious deaths. She also appears in articles about tangled webs of connections.

She mentions a witch on one occasion:

“Ah, Mother! How do you do?” said he, giving her a hearty shake of the hand. “Where did you get that quiz of a hat? It makes you look like an old witch...”

From Northanger Abbey

The Reverend Richard Harris Barham was born on December 6th 1788. 
His Ingoldsby Legends, which contain some stories about witches, are praised by Allan Quatermain in Sir Henry Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines and its sequel.

Lucy M. Boston was born on December 10th 1892.
She lived to the age of 97. One of her Green Knowe books features the witch Dr. Melanie Powers, who is mentioned in a few places on here, and her autobiography is the subject of an article.

Flying horses, which were mentioned in connection with writers born in late November, appear in The River at Green Knowe.

Frances Hodgson Burnett was born on November 24th 1849.
Her children's classics A Little Princess, The Secret Garden and Little Lord Fauntleroy are her most famous works. They are rather dated but still selling well. She was involved with metaphysical matters; I will investigate this once the people and topics of current interest are finished with.

Nicholas Stuart Gray’s witch: Barbara

Barbara is the main character in The Stranger, a short story in Nicolas Stuart Gray’s book The Edge of Evening. She does not at all resemble the witch Huddle, who also appears in this book. She is described as being neither young nor old, neither ugly nor pretty. She has brown hair and violet eyes, and is slim and rather tall. 

Barbara has little in common with other witches I have written about. For example, she is not seeking some black magic book, magical artefact or other item as are Lucy M. Boston's Dr. Melanie Powers, Robin Jarvis's 'nasty piece of work' Rowena Cooper and Linwood Sleigh's‘horrid old lady’ Miss Heckatty; she is not power crazy nor planning to rule the world like Diana Wynne Jones's  Gwendolen Chant; she is not cruel and evil like Sheri S. Tepper's Madame Delubovoska, nor is she surly and unpleasant like Joan Aiken's Mrs Lubbage.

Her problem is that she is miserable; she is a stranger in a strange land; she hates her life in a world where kindness is dreadfully lacking and wants to get away from it. She is tired of people telling her to pull herself together. 

She has learned magic and sorcery just to obtain the power to find a world of her own, a place that is right for her, somewhere with people who speak her language, somewhere she can meet her own kind and be happy at last. She is so desperate for help that she performs a summoning ritual and conjures up a demon – whose name is Balbarith – and orders him to obey her. She commands him to show her other worlds and how to enter them.

Compelled to obedience by the power of Barbara’s spells, Balbarith shows her a few worlds, none of which is suitable. He then finds a fairly reasonable sort of place, simple and happy looking. It is full of flowers, fields and sweet, friendly animals and birds. Barbara likes it very much.