Conference noted::sf

        DAMN!!!!!!!!
    
    
    	I knew it was coming out in September, but I haven't seen it
    anywhere here yet.  (The dealers at Worldcon said it would be out
    "next week"  as in two weeks ago. )
    
    	Damn! Damn! Damn!  I wonder how long it'll be before we see
    it here.  (The stores are getting tired of me hanging around waiting
    for it to arrive.)  
    
    
    DAMN!!!!
    
    tlh
    (Considering moving to the civilized world up north, no matter how
    bad it makes my arthritis hurt!)

    

    	HURRAY!  I won't have to move up to the arctic after all.
    
    	Called the bookstores after seeing .0.  Found *1* copy of Quest
    in Greenvile.  It is now mine!  I bought it and read 50 pages of
    it at lunch time.  It's good stuff!  
    
    	WARNING!  The cover blurb contains spoilers.  Read at your own
    peril!  
    
    	Word of interest, (I've been meaning to put this in here, but
    I've been busy/lazy)  we're going to have three Kurtz months in
    a row!  Deryni Archives in August. Quest for Saint Camber in September.
    Codex Deryni in October.    Whoopie!
    
    	As soon as my lent out copy of Archives returns, I'll type in
    what Kurtz says will be upcoming in the way of Deryni books.
    
tlh
        

I just finished reading the book.  It is really well done and good reading.
In fact it was so good that I had to put it down for  a while.  Down?
you say...yes down...one of the characters got me so mad I couldn't
read it for a while.  I told a friend this and he said he'd put books
down because of anger at the author, never a character so it had to
be a well done book.

BTW, Tracey, where is NINJA:: that you consider Colorado the "arctic"?

BobW

    	Yes, Kurtz's characters get to me too.  Both the goodies and
    the baddies.  
    
    	I find that Kurtz can really get me involved in her characters.
    I think that the secret is that she lets "real life" things happen
    to them along the way.  That is,  sometimes that the good do die
    young.  Sometimes the meanies win (at least for a short while).
    And although you know that the forces of good will win the greater
    battle in the end, there's no telling what battles will be lost
    and what prices will be paid to get there.  She takes major risks
    with her characters and has killed more major characters than any
    other author I've read.  This makes the victory that much sweeter
    when a character has a close call and DOESN'T die, cuase you know
    she just might have killed him.
    
    tlh
    
    NINJA/SHOGUN/SAMURI are in Greenville, S.C. where we've had 90�-95�
    weather for the last two weeks.  (We'll probably hit freezing somtime
    in late November or early December.)
    

    
    The first book of her new series is out in hardcover.  Price: 17.95
    
    Book Title:   Harrowing of Gwynnd(sp?)
    Series Title: Heirs of Camber
    
    I haven't picked it up yet, but from the cover and the jacket, it
    looks like the setting starts around the date: 917/918.  It picks
    up where "Camber the Heritic" left off.  Should be interesting!
    
    Steve
    

    
    TITLE:  Harrowing of Gwynedd
    
    

    	   I picked up "The Harrowing of Gwynedd" last night
    	and began reading.  It is fabulous!!!  It picks up the 
    	story at the point just after Saint Camber had battled
    	with Jebediah... 
    
    	   It is the first volume of The Heirs of Staint Camber.
    
    	   I am so pleased that this part of the tale is finally
    	being told!!!
    
    	   Vicki

    It looks like she is planning on connecting her two histories: from
    Camber and the Restoration all the way to the end of Kelson's troubles.
    
    If so, BRAVO!
    
    				=ELB=

    	   Yes, I believe that is exactly what she is doing!  It's
    	fantastic.  I always wanted to know what went on between the
    	days of Saint Camber and Kelson.  It appears we will all soon
    	know!  ;^)
    
    	   Vicki

    
    Just finished the book.  She seems to write better with every one.
    I loved this one.  The only problem now is that she's going to have
    to speed up a little if she's going to cover the next 200 years
    in the next two books.  This one doesn't even cover 1 full year.
    
    -steve
    

Re .10

>    The only problem now is that she's going to have
>    to speed up a little if she's going to cover the next 200 years
>    in the next two books.  This one doesn't even cover 1 full year.
    
I don't believe the plan ever was to bridge the entire 200 years in this
one trilogy.  It had been my understanding that these books would end in
948 (the next year when everyone dies:  Joram, Rhys Michael, King Owain,
Davin, Aidan...).  But, of course, that was when the first novel of the
trilogy was going to be "Javan's Year", the year in which Alroy died and
Javan took the throne, to survive his twin by only a year.

In any case, the 30 or so years closest to the Kelson novels is scheduled
to have its own trilogy, the "Childe Morgan" novels.  Before we see those
(and, in fact, maybe even before we see the sequels to "Harrowing") there'll
be one more Kelson novel, wherein he finally gets married.  And about time,
too.

				Andrew

Re .11

Correction:  I believe I meant Ansel, not Davin, as one of the
characters fated by the family trees in the back of the various
novels to die in 948.  (Davin, now I think on it, died in "Camber
the Heretic.  At least, I think I now have the two sons of Cathan
MacRorie straight....)

				Andrew

    
    You made the proper corrections on the names.  Is this your guess
    as what Kurtz is going to do, or did I miss something that explains
    what the trilogies are going to cover?
    
    -Steve
    

Re .13
    
>    Is this your guess
>    as what Kurtz is going to do, or did I miss something that explains
>    what the trilogies are going to cover?
    
This is based on things the author has said at sf conventions in the past, but
with a little guessing thrown in.  For example, last I heard (a couple of
years ago), the "Heirs of Camber" series was going to start with "Javan's
Year"; she clearly decided later that the story of Evaine's death had to be 
told, so that came first.  At that time I also picked up the information that
the trilogy as planned would end in 948.  This could have changed since, or we
may be seeing a tetralogy rather than a trilogy.

The information on the Childe Morgan trilogy is even older, as that trilogy
had originally been scheduled to come before the recent Kelson trilogy.  At
that time, she had been planning on including Morgan's birth, and also the
events in the story "Swords Against the Marluk", which was originally
published in "Flashing Swords! #4", and detailed the waking of Brion's powers
by a teenage Morgan just before Brion's mystic duel against the Marluk, then 
Duke of Tolan, and Charissa's father.  I don't know how far into Brion's reign
she'll go, so saying that she'll cover 30 years may be incorrect, but I
suspect that we won't be seeing any more of Brion once she's finished that
trilogy.

In any case, we won't be seeing the Childe Morgan trilogy for a few years,
since, assuming a rate of one book a year, she still has at least two more
"Heirs" novels, one more "Kelson" novel, and one or two non-Deryni novels
(a Revolutionary War novel, and maybe a "Lammas Night" sequel set in modern-day
America).  Maybe in 1995?  Plenty of time for her to restructure that trilogy,
or put it off again.

By the way, there's an interview with Kurtz in the latest "Otherworlds", the
newsletter that Waldenbooks gives out free to customers.  She discusses the
current novel, and planned books a bit in there, though not in this detail.

				Andrew

    	It just so happens I read the Kurtz books in the following order:
    the second trilogy first, the third trilogy second, and the first
    trilogy last.  Like most others in here, I was incredibly disappointed
    by the first trilogy.  It's taking a *real* effort to finish it.


    	And while I did enjoy the others much more, I have a number of
    criticisms about her writing; criticisms which perhaps others who
    haven't read these books might like to hear (I see mostly "rave
    reviews" about her work, so I thought a contrasting opinion might be
    helpful).  To wit:


    	-  Ms. Kurtz is obviously very religious and very Catholic.  She
           makes a *lot* of references to various religious things such as
           ceremonies, objects, etc.  I find it increasingly tedious to
           read over and over again about this stuff!  I love reading about
           magic, but reading the *same* magical ceremony over and over
           gets to be too much as well!


    	-  Actually, I can generalize this to say that there is a lot of
    	   repetition in her work, especially with the conflicts.  Sure, I
    	   can see where the "Deryni Question" is a big theme, but *please*
           -- over the course of nine (and counting) books -- vary it a
           little!  I'd like to see some new conflicts for the characters
           to resolve, and new situations.  In a whole world of
           possibilities, surely there are more problems for them to face.


    	- And about the magic -- I personally think it is one of the
    	  weakest examples of "magic" I've yet read.  I can think of many
    	  cases where things are glossed over or not explained.  And about
    	  the Deryni powers themselves -- sometimes they're merely
    	  extensions of mind power, sometimes they're "magic".
          Inconsistency is fatal in fantasy.  I get the feeling she isn't
          really sure how she wants to handle this.


    	- I feel her characterizations are somewhat one-dimensional.  When
    	  I pick up one of her books, I'm reading someone else's story and
    	  not "getting lost" in another world.  There's a big difference,
    	  and to me it's the difference between average writing and *great*
    	  writing.


    	<Sigh>.  Sometimes I think that sf/fantasy writers are going the
    way of the romance novelist -- crank out some more rhetoric to bring in
    the bucks.  Well, I'm sure this wave of cynicism will pass soon.  ;-)
    But I do appreciate an author who can "do it all" in one book, but if
    you really can't, I think the limit ought to be 3.


    	All in all, I can't see myself spending any more money on this
    series, and I wonder if I can find someone to buy the 9 I have.  Of
    course, this is all a matter of style and taste:  my taste happens to
    conflict with her style.  Your mileage may vary.  ;-)


    Brian

	While doing some last minute shopping last week, I was startled to
	see a new offering by Kurtz titled "Deryni Magic - A Grimoire". I
	picked it up in either a B Daltons or Waldenbooks, can't remember
	which. It's a paperback, with a Jan 1991 release date, by Del Rey.

	To quote from the Foreword, "A grimoire is a book about magic." It
	is an attempt to further expound on the framework and fabric of
	her universe. It's broken down into 23 different chapters plus the
	obligatory appendices, with topics including Deryni Origins and
	History, Religious Framework, Telepathic Functions, Operative
	Magic, Ward Cubes, Training of Healers, and Rituals.

	You only learn some tantalizing fragments of things yet unseen,
	especially about Deryni origins. Much of it she writes as speculation,
	probably because she hasn't firmed down plot lines that far off
	into the future. 

	Hints of what's yet to come confirm things mentioned in prior replies
	to this note. The next two books in the Heirs of Saint Camber series
	(starting with the Harrowing of Gwynedd) will be Javan's Year and
	The Bastard Prince (a very interesting title, any extrapolations?).
	She mentions that "in preparation is the Childe Morgan trilogy", 
	plus a single novel about the bride that Kelson is finally able to
	keep. 

	The only significant new prose is about two episodes in the training
	of Healers. It shows part of the initial training of a young Healer
	in the Gabrilite order, and then an autopsy performed to instruct
	healers at the internals of the human body.

	Elsewhere in here is a reference to three trilogies she has in mind.
	Assuming one is in progress, and Childe Morgan is the second, there
	is another yet to come. The only other clue I could derive is from 
	a discussion on female Healers, in discussing Jodotha, the disciple
	of Orin. The sentence "One day we will learn more about them, their
	order, and their interaction with King Llarik Haldane and his sons"
	leads me to believe we may see a trilogy set way back to explain
	more of their background and history.

	There, hope I haven't given away too many spoilers, and instead
	encourage you to pick this up. I still haven't finished the entire
	book myself, there may be more goodies I haven't found yet.

	Chris_anxiously_awaiting_more_in_the_way_of_publishing_dates

Re .16

It'll be a rather long while before we see a new Deryni novel.  She's working 
on a trilogy with Deborah Turner Harris right now (book one of which is due 
out in March), and the Deryni books have been on the back burner for a while.
I don't look to see any Childe Morgan books before the latter half of the 
90s, and she's been talking about it since 1978.  Katherine just isn't a fast 
writer, and she always has a large number of projects in the planning stages.
(To my knowledge, she has five books currently under contract:  the remaining 
two Deryni novels in the current [post-Camber] trilogy for Del Rey, the 
remaining two collaborations with DTH for Ace, and an unspecified book for 
Bantam to fill out a two book contract -- the first book, set during the 
Revolutionary War, is mostly what she was working on in the years since 
THE HARROWING OF GWYNEDD.

    
    
    PRINCE JAVAN'S YEAR is due out in December in Hardcover.  The price is
    going to be $20.00.  It'll probably be available in November(they always
    seem to come out ahead of the published date).  Hopefully she'll
    continue with the Deryni books and finish this series before returning
    to her other works.
    
    -Steve
    

    Steve--
    
    
    THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  You have absolutely made my day!! I
    fell like I've been waiting an eternity for this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    
    Tricia

    I seem to recall having read somewhere, probably Locus, that Kurtz
    had signed to no 3 more Deryni _trilogies_.

    Re: -1 It has been an eternity!
    
    Herk

    FLASH
    
    Saw "King Javan's Year" in B. Dalton's a couple of nights ago!
    
    Tricia