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Katherine Kurtz was born in Coral Gables, Florida during a hurricane, and likes to think this was an auspicious introduction to the world. She read honors humanities at the University of Miami, from which she received a B.S. in chemistry, and attended medical school for a year before deciding she would rather write about medicine than practice it. She completed an M.A. in medieval English history at UCLA while writing her first two novels and working as an instructional designer for the Los Angeles Police Academy, and continued her police work for the next ten years. She is also a professionally trained hypnotist, a student of comparative religion, a passable authority on heraldry and chivalry (she belongs to several modern-day orders of chivalry), a virtuoso at counted cross-stitch (in her copious free time), and an avowed cat person.
Besides the Deryni, Camber, King Kelson, and Heirs of Saint Camber Trilogies, (and a collection of short stories set in the Deryni universe, plus a book on Deryni magic), she has written a juvenile science fiction novel, Legacy of Lehr; a World War II thriller, Lammas Night, dealing with magic worked in the summer of 1940 to keep Hitler from invading England; and an alternate history of the American War for Independence called Two Crowns for America. A new Deryni novel is in progress (King Kelson's Bride), with at least two more trilogies projected for the future. Partnered with Deborah Turner Harris, she has written five books in her Adept series of occult detective thrillers set in modern Scotland; their next team endeavor will focus on the Knights Templar.
Her first editing foray, Tales of the Knights Templar (Warner Books, 1995), contains a solo Adam Sinclair story, in addition to an extensive history of the Templars interwoven in the introduction and connecting narrative. A second volume is in progress, following on the success of the first.
Ms Kurtz lives in a gothic revival house in County Wicklow, Ireland with author and screenwriter Scott MacMillan (her husband), four cats, and at least two resident ghosts -- the latter of whom seem to approve of the restoration work being done to "heir" house by the MacMillans.
Links:
Bibliography from SF-Lovers digest.
The Good Reading Guide.
Usenet alt.books.deryni |
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Scott MacMillan has established a reputation on both sides of the Atlantic as a raconteur par excellence when it comes to the lore of vampires and ghosts. Perhaps this comes partly of living in a house that boasts a least two resident ghosts, though he can make your hair stand on end if you ask him to tell you about some of his experiences with ghostly phenomena as a boy growing up in Seattle and Los Angeles.
His story-telling abilities have been honed to a razor's edge in a variety of writing fields. With over two hundred published articles to his credit, he has also written daytime television, edited Western fiction with sufficient panache to win the prestigious Golden Spur award (roughly equivalent to the Nebula or Hugo for Western fiction) in four consecutive years, and more recently has contributed short stories to a number of SF anthologies.
In addition to numerous screenplays, he has written two novels: Knights of the Blood (sometimes known under its working title of "Nazi Vampires from Hell") and its sequel, At Sword's Point. A third book in the series is nearing completion.
In the mold of the Victorian Renaissance man, this one-time honorary consul for Poland has raised Lipizzan horses, raced Can-Am cars, worked as a mounted police officer, served as a reserve army officer (without pay), and has little patience for those who say they don't have time to do the things they want to do. In addition to his writing and story-telling activities, Scott's interests also run to vintage motor cars, crumbling castles, heraldry, military history, arms and armor, chivalry (past, present and future), the Divine Right of Kings, the motion picture industry, and the advantages of being selectively intolerant. With his wife, author Katherine Kurtz, one of his on-going projects is the restoration of their home, a gothic revival house in County Wicklow, Ireland. |
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