Though I am the author of The Arthurian Omen, my husband David resurrected his undergraduate talents to compose the "Dylanesque" poetry in the story. (He studied poetry at Northwestern) My degrees in International Relations have helped only rarely in my writing thus far. As a matter of fact, my freshman English teacher at Stanford selected me as a writer of promise, but told me that I would never get anywhere unless I gave up religion. That was hardly encouraging!

My love of things Welsh came during a holiday in Wales with David, where we became fascinated by what seemed to be a land in miniature, peopled by fair characters who spoke a language that must have been born at the dawn of time. It soon became clear to us that Wales existed, culturally at least, as a separate and distinct country from England.

Intrigued, I made the study of Wales, its history and its most famous legend--King Arthur's reign--a hobby. Soon I became obsessed! (My husband even bought me recorded lessons in Welsh, but I was hopeless). Geoffrey Ashe's theory (see The Identity of King Arthur) about the real identity of King Arthur was the genesis of my story. A dramatic picture of the Roman Steps and their attendant mystery was another piece. I began an apparently well-thought-out novel and composed 87 pages, but did not write down even the barest outline of my plot. Then, an acute illness took a turn for the worse, I put it away as I could no longer write.

I was ill for many years. As part of my treatment, I underwent a procedure that wiped out all of my short-term memory and most of the prior ten years of my life. It also destroyed many of my talents, among them writing. I had formerly published three books. My illness continued, ever worsening.

Then, one day in 2006, my doctor happened upon the magic combination of medications to help me manage my illness. Almost immediately, I began finding unfinished manuscripts, years old, in my computer. They had been erased from my memory completely, but still existed on my hard drive. The Arthurian Omen was one of those. Being a drama queen (one of the side effects of bi-polar personality), I enjoyed working a plot to suit my beginning, traveling in my head and on the Internet those once familiar roads of Wales.

I hope The Arthurian Omen communicates my passion for this mystic green land and the Legend of King Arthur to you.