DeborahTurnerHarris

Deborah Turner Harris grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida. She took a B.A. in English at Stetson University, decided that studying was more interesting than working as a file clerk, and spent the next five years doing a Ph.D. in Medieval English Literature at Florida State University. In her final year, she was awarded a Rotary International Scholarship, and, in a further bid to evade the job market, went off to the University of St. Andrews in Scotland for a year. Here (when technically she should have been writing a thesis on George MacDonald) she hammered out the first draft of the Mages of Garillon whilst launching a successful campaign of seduction against her now-husband, Bob Harris (who was likewise neglecting his studies whilst designing the fantasy board game,"Talisman"). The Garillon trilogy subsequently found its way into print under the editorial auspices of Betty Ballantine, who (continuing her role as angel of destiny) subsequently introduced DTH to Katherine Kurtz--from whom she had also bought a first trilogy, and thought the two should know one another. The acquaintance thus happily begun has since given rise to the Adept Series and The Temple and the Stone, with a follow-up novel , The Temple and the Crown .

DTH and her husband Bob now live in St. Andrews with their three sons, Matthew, Robert, and Jamie. She says it's sometimes a bit like trying to co-exist with a band of Comanches on the war-path, but on the other hand, you have three iron-clad excuses for indulging in every known form of adventure gaming!

Debby says, from St. Andrews, Scotland: "For me, writing novels is a bit like becoming embroiled in a series of high school love affairs. I start off by becoming infatuated with an idea or set of characters. For a while everything is hearts and flowers, then some awkward twist in the plot comes along to throw everything into a state of upheaval. No sooner do the book and I make up, when a new problem arises and a fresh quarrel flares. The result is a love/hate relationship that doesn't resolve until I consign the finished manuscript to the hands of an editor. (Moral: You're only young once, but you can stay immature forever.)"