Rhemuth Castle - The Official Site of Katherine Kurtz

1. Philip van Lidth de Jeude asks: “I remember that the Earl of Rhendall is the heir of the Duke of Claibourne, it being established that way when Cinhil first created Sighere I Duke of Claibourne with Ewan as Earl of Rhendall, the earldom to be the possession of the heir of Claibourne and to revert to the Duke upon accession to the primary title when no heir as yet existed. At this point, Saer de Traherne, who I understand is the son of Brion de Traherne and a Countess of Rhendall, is the Earl of Rhendall. Is he then the grandson of Duke Ewan, the hereditary Marshall of Gwynedd, and thus the future Duke of Claibourne? Or has the Earldom of Rhendall been made independent of the Duchy of Claibourne with the accession of the de Traherne family to it through inheritance via a daughter of the ducal family?”

Katherine replies: “The Earldom of Rhendall was, indeed first established as a secondary title of the Duke of Claibourne, to be held by his heir. However, the wars of 948 claimed the lives of both Graham Third Duke of Claibourne and his son Ewan, Earl of Rhendall and Master of Claibourne, Ewan dying first. (Hence, he was never duke.) Accordingly, Graham’s heirs were his minor grandchildren, Ewan junior, who became the fourth duke, and a daughter called Gillian. Because both children were so young, aged seven and six respectively, the king determined to separate the two titles and, in 951, married off both children to suitable spouses: Ewan to Marielle of Sheele, four years his senior, and the nine-year-old Gillian to Sir Brion Treharne, aged twenty-one, by which marriage Sir Brion became Earl of Rhendall. It is from this union that Saer de Treharne descends, and also his sister Meraude, who married Prince Nigel Haldane.”

2. Lessa, in France, wants to know why it takes so long for Katherine’s books to arrive in France. “It is terrible to read the first chapters of King Kelson's Bride knowing that I won't be able to have it before at least a year! And all the other books you talk about in your site are hard to find! I read some books in English but I've got to be in Paris to find them! However I know you're not responsible for that, but I wanted you to know about this. You're doing a great job and you're one of my favourite writers.”

Katherine replies: “Alas, you’re right, I don’t have control over how quickly the books get translated into other languages. But I can tell you that the French translations have come along in fairly rapid succession, once a French publisher decided to launch them in France, so I imagine that KING KELSON’S BRIDE should be along fairly quickly.”

3. Similarly, Tania McDonald wonders about UK editions: “I first read the chronicles of the Deryni and the legends of Camber of Culdi when I was a child and very much enjoyed them. Many years later, many books later, and many authors later, I was looking for these books again in my parents’ house, but they are clearly located with all the missing washing machine socks. I have tried on numerous occasions to find these books in the UK and via Amazon, but no luck. Is there any source for the location of these books, either in the UK or elsewhere? I note that they were published by a different publisher, and no doubt this is part of the difficulty. I would very much appreciate any assistance in re-obtaining these books.”

Katherine replies: “I would have suggested going on line, but you’ve obviously thought of that already. The good news is that Ace will be re-releasing the first three novels in what I refer to as the ‘author’s cut,’ lightly edited and with a new introduction to DERYNI RISING to put the first trilogy into historical perspective. I don’t yet have a release date for these, but the first book is in the hands of the publishers and will probably be out late in 2004. I’ll post more specific information elsewhere on this website as it becomes available. I believe the plan is to release them a year apart, interleafed with the three books of the Childe Morgan Trilogy, the first of which is an October 2003 release.”

4. Steve Roti says: “Haldane powers (once manifested) seem very similar to the power held by a fully trained Deryni. In light of (1) frequent interaction between the Haldane line and fully trained Deryni and (2) certain Haldanes being partly Deryni (Kelson, Araxie and Richelle), and therefore having powers not unlike the Haldane powers (from other sources), and (3) other entire royal lines in the Eleven Kingdoms being comprised of trained Deryni, why do the Camberian Council and others (including Kelson himself) express concern over multiple Haldanes being empowered or partially empowered simultaneously?”

Katherine replies: “We must keep in mind that it’s only recently, in Conall’s time, that we’ve discovered that more than one Haldane can hold the Haldane powers simultaneously. In the years immediately after Cinhil was first empowered by Camber and his kin, either they thought that only one Haldane could hold the power at once, or they encouraged the Haldanes to believe that this was the case, so that Haldanes farther down the line of succession would not somehow acquire the powers and then challenge the legitimate heir.

“Tiercel, of course, had come to the correct conclusion—that more than one Haldane could hold the Haldane powers—but his meddling also led to a worst-case scenario in which Conall did, indeed, attempt to challenge the legitimate heir: his own father, and then Kelson himself, when it emerged that Kelson was still alive. (All of which underlined the reason for the injunction against multiple empowered Haldanes in the first place.) The fact that Nigel had been partially empowered, as regent, illustrates the dawning realization, even on the part of Morgan and Duncan, that even in the uncertainty of whether Kelson was alive or dead, at least some of the Haldane powers could be bestowed on another Haldane in the direct line of succession. This is all a part of the gradually unfolding process of discovery and rediscovery occurring as the series unfolds.”

5. Bau Le says: “Hello, my name is Bau Le and I have been a fan of your work for quite some time now. One of my favorite series is Knights of the Blood, that you created and Scott MacMillan wrote. So far in the series there are only two book, and at the end of the second book there are no conclusions to the story thus far. I want to ask if there are a third book or more in this series, or are you and Scott MacMillan abandoning it?”

Katherine replies: “The Knights of the Blood series is actually Scott’s concept, even though my name is also on it. (Though he’d been a very successful magazine writer and screenwriter, Knights of the Blood was his first novel. I did some polishing and rewrote or expanded a couple of scenes.)

“But it was never really intended to be more than one book. By the time he’d finished it, the publishers asked for a second book, so we changed the ending to accommodate that—and did the second book. And again, they asked for another book, we changed the ending of Book II to accommodate that—and then Scott got stuck regarding where to go from there.

“The project has been stalled at that point for a number of years now. He tells me that he finally has just about worked out what happens in Book III—which will definitely be the last book in that series!—so now I just have to nail him down to write it. (He has several screen projects in the pipeline right now, so that’s where the majority of his energy is currently focused.) But maybe in another year or two….”

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