Katherine Kurtz
Katherine Irene Kurtz (born October 18, 1944) is an American fantasy writer, author of sixteen historical fantasy novels in the "Deryni" series, as well as occult and urban fantasy. Resident in Ireland for over twenty years, she now lives in Virginia. Personal life. Kurtz was born October 18, 1944 in Coral Gables, Florida, where she also grew up. She secured a scholarship to study chemistry and graduated with a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Miami. She married Scott MacMillan in 1983; they have one son. Within the following couple of years they moved to Ireland. Both  later became naturalized Irish citizens. Until 2007, they lived at Holybrooke (Hollybrook) Hall, in the largest of four houses formed from the original historic building, between Kilmacanogue and Bray in County Wicklow, Ireland. Kurtz wrote, and Macmillan, who had worked in the film industry, took a role as a herald in the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland. They put their Irish home on the market in 2006 for 3.5 million euro, moving back to the United States in 2007, to an historic house in Virginia. Writing career. Kurtz is best known for the Deryni novels and short stories . Her 1970 debut novel, "Deryni Rising", was one of the first fantasy novels written in a mode closer to historical fiction than to mythology or legend, as was common in the then-popular high fantasy works such as those by J. R. R. Tolkien. Writing in "Strange Horizons", Kari Sperring calls Kurtz the "first writer of secondary-world historical fantasy", noting her close attention to the importance of faith in pre-modern Western societies and her portrayal of magic as a formal, ritual practice as opposed to the "picaresque and informal" way magic was depicted in other fantasy of the  time. She also wrote several occult alternate history novels in her "Templar" series, and urban fantasy novels in her "Adept" series. Katherine has a weekly chat with her fan base about her writing, life, cats, and many other subjects. The chat is held every Sunday evening around 7 p.m. US Eastern Time, except for the first Sunday of the month when it is usually held two hours earlier for the European fans to chat at an earlier time. The chat can be reached via IRC through the OtherWorlders IRC Network irc.otherworlders.org in #Deryni_Destinations or via Discord. Partial bibliography. Collaborations. A  partial list of work Kurtz has edited or contributed follows: In addition, she has contributed to a number of anthologies.