Katharine Kerr (born 1944) is an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

novelist, best known for her series of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

-influenced high fantasy novels set in the fictional land of

Deverry The Deverry Cycle is a series of Celts, Celtic fantasy novels by Katharine Kerr set in the fictional land of Deverry. As of February 2020, sixteen books have been published in the series. The series is written in a non-linear style: the principa ...

Biography

Katharine Kerr was born in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

; her maiden name is Katharine Nancy Brahtin. She describes her family feeling more like "British-in-exile" than American. She describes her inability to spell properly using either the British or American systems as a result of having been taught to read solely with British books. While still a schoolgirl, her family moved to

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

. In 1969, she moved to the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, eventually moving to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

itself. She spent time studying at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

but dropped out in the mid-1960s. She then worked in some low-paying jobs, including work at a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

. In 1973, she met up with Howard Kerr, an old friend of hers from secondary school; they were married that same year. In 1979, a friend gave Katharine her first fantasy-role playing game. This gift led her to a fascination with the gaming and fantasy field, which in turn led her to write articles for gaming magazines. She spent time as a contributing editor to

Dragon magazine Dragon Magazine may refer to: * ''Dragon'' (magazine), an American magazine for ''Dungeons & Dragons'' players * ''Dragon Magazine'' (Fujimi Shobo), a Japanese light novel magazine {{disambig ...

and contributed to gaming modules for both

TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had been ...

and

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon'' ...

. She co-authored the adventure ''

Legacy of Blood ''Legacy of Blood'' is the fourth studio album by American hip hop group Jedi Mind Tricks. It was released on September 21, 2004 via Babygrande Records. Production was handled by member Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind, with Chuck Wilson serving as ...

'' for ''Dungeons & Dragons'', as well as adventures for the '' Pendragon'' role-playing game. Katharine Kerr now dedicates herself exclusively to fiction.

Bibliography

Deverry novels

''See

Deverry cycle The Deverry Cycle is a series of Celts, Celtic fantasy novels by Katharine Kerr set in the fictional land of Deverry. As of February 2020, sixteen books have been published in the series. The series is written in a non-linear style: the principa ...

for a synopsis of Deverry.'' The novels of Deverry are perhaps Kerr's best-known works. Originally envisioned as a short story or novella, the project grew into a series of sixteen full novels. Kerr has a contract for two additional full novels in the series. The series is written in a non-linear style: the principal narrative is frequently interrupted by flashbacks to events that occurred decades, or even centuries, before. These flashbacks concern the prior

incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It refers to the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or the appearance of a god as a human. If capitalized, it is the union of divinit ...

s of characters in the principal narrative, and provide insight into the relationships of the characters in their current incarnations. Kerr has likened the series to a play, breaking the story into several acts: * Act one: Deverry # ''

Daggerspell ''Daggerspell'' (1986) is a fantasy novel by American writer Katharine Kerr. Her first novel, it is also the first book in the Celtic-themed, multi-reincarnational '' Deverry Cycle''. Characters {{Main, Characters in the Deverry cycle Plot sum ...

'' (

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

) # ''

Darkspell ''Darkspell'' is a novel by Katharine Kerr published in 1987. Characters Synopsis Rhodry is sent into exile by his brother Rhys, the Gwerbret of Aberwyn, and becomes a mercenary soldier called a “silver dagger.” Jill goes with him; they bec ...

'' (

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

) – later reissued in an "author's definitive edition" # ''The Bristling Wood'' (

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

) – United States title; issued in the United Kingdom as ''Dawnspell: The Bristling Wood'' # ''The Dragon Revenant'' (

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

) – US title; issued in the UK as ''Dragonspell: The Southern Sea'' * Act two: The Westlands # ''A Time of Exile'' (

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

) # ''A Time of Omens'' (

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

) # ''Days of Blood and Fire'' (

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

) – US title; issued in the UK as ''A Time of War'' # ''Days of Air and Darkness'' (

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

) – US title; issued in the UK as ''A Time of Justice'' * Act three: The Dragon Mage # ''The Red Wyvern'' (

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

) # ''The Black Raven'' (

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

) # ''The Fire Dragon'' (

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

) * Act four: The Silver Wyrm # ''The Gold Falcon'' (

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

) – US title; issued in the UK as the fourth book of The Dragon Mage # ''The Spirit Stone'' (

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

) – US title; issued in the UK as the fifth book of The Dragon Mage # ''The Shadow Isle'' (

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

) – US title; issued in the UK as the sixth book of The Dragon Mage # ''The Silver Mage'' (

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

) – US title; issued in the UK as the seventh book of The Dragon Mage * Act five: The Justice War # ''Sword of Fire'' (

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

)

Polar City

# '' Polar City Blues'' (

) # '' Polar City Nightmare'' (

) – with

Kate Daniel Kate name may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American autho ...

Nola O'Grady

# ''License to Ensorcell'' (February

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

) # ''Water to Burn'' (August 2011) # ''Apocalypse to Go'' (February

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

) # ''Love on the Run'' (August 2012)

The Pinch

* ''

Palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

'' (

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

) – with Mark Kreighbaum * '' The Eyes of God'' - by Mark Kreighbaum * ''

Snare SNARE proteins – " SNAP REceptor" – are a large protein family consisting of at least 24 members in yeasts, more than 60 members in mammalian cells, and some numbers in plants. The primary role of SNARE proteins is to mediate vesicle fu ...

'' (

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

)

The Runemaster books

* '' Sorcerer's Luck'' (

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

) * '' Sorcerer's Feud'' (August

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

)

Other novels

* ''Resurrection'' (

) * '' Freeze Frames'' (

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

)

Anthologies

* ''Weird Tales from Shakespeare'' – Fanfiction based on Shakespeare's works (

) – with Martin H. Greenberg * ''Enchanted Forests'' (

) – with Martin H. Greenberg * ''The Shimmering Door'' (

) – with Martin H. Greenberg (issued in the UK as ''Sorceries'') * ''Sorceries'' (

)

Short stories

* "Cui Bono?" (1994) (collected in Mike Resnick's alternate history anthology ''

Alternate Outlaws ''Alternate Outlaws'' is an alternate history anthology edited by Mike Resnick, published in the United States by Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company ba ...

'')

References

External links

Katharine Kerr's Home Page
* *
Interview with Katharine Kerr

Katharine Kerr's LiveJournal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Katharine 1944 births 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers American fantasy writers American science fiction writers American women novelists Dungeons & Dragons game designers Living people Women science fiction and fantasy writers