Issue7

1. Joe Sullivan wants to know whether any of the Deryni books will be out in eBook format any time soon.

Katherine replies: “I don’t know of any plans for eBook editions of any of the Deryni books, but I understand that Warner has issued eBooks of the two Templar books, The Temple and the Stone and The Temple and the Crown. I did read recently that eBooks are not doing as well as publishers predicted they would, so some lines are shutting down these operations. I think this probably means that the time of electronic formats has not yet come. I know that I, for one, want to hold a book in my hands and turn the pages and smell the paper and ink and underline favorite passages—and I suspect that most other readers do, too.”

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2. Paul, a Freemason working as a medic in the state of Texas, says: “I appreciate Katherine’s interest in Freemasonry (Two Crowns For America) and medicine. (While enjoying emergency medicine, I too would probably enjoy writing rather than being a doctor.) My questions are these: where did you receive your information on Freemasonry in regards to a “quasi-magical” approach? I ask solely based on the knowledge that, within most lodges, a snort of derision usually follows mention of an alternative approach to what otherwise is considered a system of inculcating moral and ethical virtues. There are other “fringe” organizations with alterative approaches to Freemasonry to be sure (most of which I am familiar with), however I am curious as to where Katherine acquired her obviously well informed insight from. Also, are there more primarily Masonic based books to come? Being a student of several Western esoteric based systems, I am eagerly awaiting the chance to see how Katherine strings these together in future material.”

Katherine replies: “Well, Paul, on the level, I would have to say that my interest got sparked, in the beginning, by reading several fictional and quasi-fictional books that dealt with esoteric matters like ceremonial magic and Illuminati and Freemasons and such. (A novel called Wild Talent, by Wilson Tucker, comes to mind, along with much of Dion Fortune.) I was educated as a scientist first, then as a historian, so I’ve got a double-barreled approach to such things.) My interest started to focus more specifically while I was working on Lammas Night—still one of my very favorite books—and it’s gone on from there. I interviewed some fascinating people while writing that book, and this led to even more reading, and even more interesting explorations; because even folk writing in what I sometimes refer to as cottage industry esotericism (Holy Blood, Holy Grail heralded more recent waves of it) usually are coming from directions that contain at least some grain of truth. The tricky bit is to sift these out and see if they form patterns—which many of them do. When, as in the case of Two Crowns, you add in the elements of Freemasonry involved in the founding of America, and the always romantic aspects of Scottish history centered around the Jacobite rebellion and Bonnie Prince Charlie, and then you go on to dig out information on what was going on in all of Western Europe at the time—the age of Enlightenment—well, one can’t help but become intrigued. And it sure puts a more interesting spin on early American history than most folk manage to dig out of their high school history classes. Sure, ‘knife-and-fork’ Masons would mostly scoff at the so-called esoteric aspects of Freemasonry, and probably keel over if anything like what I’ve written about were to happen in their Lodges. But the Masonic practices in Two Crowns and in the Adept books reflect the potentials and possibilities that I’ve been able to ferret out, thus far, in my Masonic research. I hope and expect that, as I continue my research, I’ll be able to find more light….”

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3. Jean Ann Easter says: “I just purchased and read King Kelson’s Bride (on the same day, no less) and I have a question regarding Queen Regnants. The question arises between Morgan and Kelson about possibly giving Kelson’s intended Haldane powers. Morgan says that there has never been a Queen Regnant, so the idea had never been tried. Was Michaela Drummond Haldane effectively Queen Regnant with Deryni powers during King Oswins’ minority? According to The Bastard Prince, Michaela executes one of the abusive Regency Lords in her husbands’ burial crypt by using the hand clenching technique to stop a heart. Or would she be considered a Queen Mother as the respected late Queen Mother of England was? I’m imagining that this snippet of information is something that was lost during the years of King Owain’s minority because of that typically short-sighted Human document called the Statutes of Ramos.”

Katherine replies: “Well, Michaela definitely has Deryni blood herself, so that accounts for her basic abilities. A Queen Regnant would be a daughter of a king who becomes queen in her own right, because she has no brothers or uncles to take precedence over her—and we don’t know what would happen in that case, re passing on the Haldane potential (or, more likely, activating it). It’s only recently that Deryni powers have been deliberately and directly activated in a Haldane who is not the ruling monarch (Conall and Nigel). Of course, there’s a reason for this prohibition. The original idea that only one Haldane at a time could hold the Haldane potential was deliberately fostered to prevent or at least discourage would-be usurpers from farther down the line of succession. We’ll discover in future books, perhaps, whether there was a practical reason for this precaution.”

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