Magic in Ithkar 3 Read online

  Biographical Notes

  Gareth Bloodwine has written verse and short stories since his junior high school days. He also worked eight years in the theater, acting in over fifty plays as well as directing and writing scripts, of which two were produced. Fascination with music has led to a part-time career in that field also. He has earned a Knighthood as well as a regional award for bardic skills in the Society for Creative Anachronism, a game he has enjoyed for the past ten years. When not otherwise occupied, Mr. Bloodwine lives and practices medicine in the Southwest.

  Living in Tucson Ann R. Brown and her British husband run Incahoots Decorative Rubber Stamps. Secretly, however, they dwell in the realms of Ann’s novels and stories: a world in which a wren’s feather sends a ghost back to his grave, and various other wonders are accepted as only a fair part of living. From that far country Ann and David invoke this Gaelic prayer for you: BEANNACHD DO T’ANAM IS BUDIDH. “A blessing to thy soul and victory!”

  The son of a career air force man, James Clark from earliest childhood traveled extensively in this country and abroad. For the past fifteen years he has been employed by the Orlando Sentinel. He now shares his home with two dogs and a cat. He says that having been born on Friday the thirteenth, he has never been sure whether his current luck is good or bad. “The Magic Carpet” is his first step into the fantasy field.

  A. C. Crispin is the author of the very popular Star Trek novel Yesterday’s Son, as well as V (the novelization of the TV miniseries). In addition, she coauthored Gryphon’s Eyrie with Andre Norton. “The Amiable Assassin” is her first published short story. She lives in Maryland with her husband, her six-year-old son, three cats, and two horses. When not occupied with any of the foregoing, she is usually reading or writing.

  Monika Conroy was born, raised, and educated in Ger-many, where she spent her teenage years visiting castles, museums, and ancient monasteries, avidly reading legends. Having moved to the United States, she began writing in English, as well as doing such odd jobs as repairing TV and radio equipment and becoming an auto mechanic. For the past four years she has worked in a bank and taken college courses at night. She is currently at work on a fantasy novel.

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  Ginger Curry has earned a BA in psychology and has received the Independent Artist in Literature Award from the Florida Arts Council for her fiction. She is at present the fiction chairperson for the Florida Freelance Writers Association. With her husband and two sons, she relaxes by snorkeling in South Florida waters to add to a family collection of unusual fish.

  Gene DeWeese is the author of thirty books, including several in which cats play major roles. Adventures of a Two-Minute Werewolf, one of his juveniles, was recently the “ABC Weekend Special” presentation. He lives with his wife and three cats in Milwaukee.

  M. Coleman Easton’s stories, some of which were published under the byline “Coleman Brax,” have been appearing since 1980 in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. His story “Impersonations” was adapted for television as part of the syndicated series Tales from the Darkside. More recently, Easton has written two novels dealing with unusual forms of magic. In Masters of Glass (Popular Library, 1985), a young woman enlists the powers of colored glass in a struggle with a blaspheming magician. In lskiir (Popular Library, 1986), a former goat-herd and a potter’s daughter fight an ancient desert sorcery.

  Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, P. M. Griffin’s Irish heritage is reinforced by yearly visits to that country. She wrote her first story before she was ten and her first novel at sixteen. One of the latter is now being considered for publication. Her knowledge of history and folklore runs deep.

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  Having studied for an Honors B.SC. in Forestry, T. S. Huff entered the Canadian Armed Forces (Maritime Command). After that she went to Los Angeles and then headed home. Three years later she had a degree in Radio and TV arts from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. She says that she has sold everything from apples to zippers and has worked as a farmhand, a security dispatcher, a bartender, and the head of maintenance for the YWCA. At present she lives in Toronto with three very large cats and works part-time at Bakka, Canada’s oldest sf bookstore.

  Caralyn Inks is a longtime fantasy reader who is a graduate of the 1984 Clarion Workshop. At present she is designing fantasy books and games for children. She lives in California with three children and three cats.

  Mercedes Lackey is a computer programmer for American Airlines and is also well known for her “filksong” lyrics. She writes short stories and has a novel under consideration. A member of the Society for Creative Anachronism for eight years, she has also won awards for her medieval wall hangings. Her household consists of a husband, eight cats, and two dogs.

  Some writers seem able to evoke other times and places with such a sure touch as makes one ready to believe in time travel and personal exploration of the past. Morgan Llywelyn, of mixed Irish and Welsh parentage, may have been city born and bred, but her heritage drew her from those high walls wherein she was a model, a dancer, and followed other modern roles, to’ become an expert horsewoman and, at length, a writer able to draw different people of different times and cultures with infinite skill. Her horsewoman is as alive as the heroine in her recently very well received novel, The Horse Goddess.

  Georgia Miller has been a professional writer for fifteen years. She attended the 1984 Clarion Workshop and is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America and the Writers Guild. In 1970 she won the Oklahoma Writers Award for the best book by an Oklahoman—the novel entitled Three Ships and Three Kings. At present she lives in San Jose, California, with her family.

  Being a professional astrologer, S. Lee Rouland chose to write about that calling in Ithkar. This is her first fiction sale, and she says she enjoyed visiting Ithkar and hopes to do so again in the future as a writer and definitely as a reader immersed in the wonders of Ithkar Fair.

  Susan Shwartz, having earned a Ph.D. in medieval studies from Harvard, now reviewing and contributing to a number of fantasy anthologies and editing one of her own, is also information coordinator at a Manhattan investment firm.

  Kiel Stuart is a member of the Authors Guild and the Science Fiction Writers of America. Like Maeve in “The Singing Eggs,” she is also a portrait painter who has exhibited widely.