Margaret Panofsky

Author of Sci-Fi Fantasy Novels

Two genre-bending books

These genre-bending novels are by an author who loves pushing boundaries. One Amazon reviewer wrote about The Last Shade Tree, “The only time travel family saga romance I ever read! And of course my favorite genre, a page turner.” Here’s a review about the unconventional Day of the Jumping Sun. “Honestly, this is a genre-bending blend of thought-provoking themes (some of which are extraordinarily dark), whimsical and compelling characters, and beautiful descriptive prose.... Just read it!”

Day of the Jumping Sun, published in 2022, is a sequel to The Last Shade Tree of 2017 but may be enjoyed without the first book. The Last Shade Tree has mature themes as three unusual 20th-century families struggle to make their way in the world. Day of the Jumping Sun begins with the fires of WWIII and the post-apocalyptic dark ages, but is soon followed by the time-traveling families seeking brighter paths in a far distant future. What anchors the book to the here-and-now is its setting in a bizarre alternate world plagued by dire threats to its ecosystem and society but with rays of hope peeking through—not unlike the realities of our own fragile planet.

Work in Progress

I am putting the finishing touches on a new novel soon to be published by All Things That Matter Press. I call it AGE OF UNLOVE. A work of speculative fiction with a future-dystopian slant, it applies profoundly to our world of today.

By 2074 in the USA it’s come to this. Lower-classers toil to earn their foopons, gasups, and cheat-me-nots while almost everyone else lives in internment camps. The President, propped up by his hand-picked Overlords, has been in office for sixteen years and counting. A young woman who can’t recall her name struggles to regain her memory, chemically altered because she knows a secret that could undermine that regime, built upon lopsided wealth and white supremacy. She calls herself Goldilocks. She sets out on a California odyssey to find her lost brother, Aaran. At the same time, she recalls her past by peeling back layer upon layer of revelations—some shocking enough to ruin her. Goldilocks finds love, even as her new husband and stepdaughter, along with a growing circle of friends, struggle to survive and resist within their impoverished, corrupted country.

Meet the author, Margaret Panofsky

I grew up in the part of Northern California that became Silicon Valley. In my youth it was a place of idyllic beauty where acres of apricot trees bloomed pink in emerald-green fields dotted with yellow mustard flowers. My first novel, The Last Shade Tree, gives that area a nod before heading to other parts of the world. Its sequel, Day of the Jumping Sun, plays out in the far future on Baffin Island—where, when I was sixteen, my plane made a scary emergency landing at Nunavut. My newest novel, Age of Unlove, never leaves California even though the various settings—from San Francisco to the Mojave Desert—have fallen into dystopian neglect. The pull of my first home remains strong in my writerly imagination even though I haven’t returned and currently live in Washington State.

After I attended Stanford University and the New England Conservatory of Music, I taught the early music collegium at New York University for thirty-five years and founded the viol consort, Teares of the Muses. For me, music and writing have always blended together in harmonious ways. The viol technique book I wrote (PRB Productions) became a “bestseller” in the small sphere of early music, and I contributed articles to many journals. I also worked as a publicist and program editor for the New York-based early music series, Music Before 1800, and took all the ballet classes I could cram into my schedule. A sideline of mine is composing Elizabethan-style sonnets that spring from my life-long adoration of Shakespeare. One of my sonnets, a political satire, was published in the New York Times.

Once I’d discovered the love of my creative life, I wrote my first two novels, published by All Things That Matter Press. Both are fantastical accounts of the future gone haywire. My third novel, Age of Unlove, is speculative and sidesteps fantasy. Set in 2074, it was inspired by current events, which continue to worsen. When federal agents imprison and deport people without due process, when elections succumb to lies, when wars of choice disgrace the country, and when earth and atmosphere are threatened anew, I find myself reacting with anger. But I also know that Hope—the essence that remained trapped in Pandora’s jar after she released all manner of horrors upon the world—is an important antidote. So I gave my characters resilience and an ability to endure, their own hope sustained by their love for one another.

Check out Margaret’s Musings Page

Phoenix, Margaret’s cat, gives his stamp of approval

Richard Panofsky: website design
Margaret Panofsky: website art
Source of original images, Pixabay