I’m busily back in the world of the Fury Triad. Want to know what I’ve been researching lately? Can I tell you without giving away any spoilers? I think maybe I can. Back in the 1400s a card game called Tarocchi became popular amongst the wealthy in what we know today as Italy. [Amongst: a sign my brain is living in the UK, now!] It was known by different names in different parts of Europe, including Tarot in France. These cards...

First things first! For some reason a notice did not go out in email to let you know about my most  recent post. So since you probably missed it, here is the link. It’s about how Harry Potter influenced The Fury Triad and if you have read either or both, I think you might find it interesting. Oh yes, and fanfiction! It’s the first in a series and a new post will be going up in a few days. Now, back to your regularly-scheduled...

This would be Hermione Granger’s bliss. Chicago Library Seeks Help Transcribing Magical Manuscripts Three texts dealing with charms, spirits, and all other manners of magical practice are now accessible online “You don’t need a Ph.D to transcribe,” Christopher Fletcher, coordinator of the project and a fellow of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, tells Smithsonian.com. “[The initiative] is a great way to allow the general public to...

  It’s a rare writer who doesn’t get seduced down many a research black hole in an effort to bring the very best story to her readers. And by black hole I mean information so fascinating, alarming, and/or delicious she just might keep clicking and reading and reading and clicking a teensy bit longer than the need for information might justify. And when food is involved? Yeah, count me guilty! Right now I’m doing final...

  This is another blast from the past as I rebuild the site. It was Day Two of the blog tour for This Crumbling Pageant and I was given a really fun Q&A by Maureen McGowan over on Get Lost in a Story. GET TO KNOW PATRICIA MAUREEN:  Where do you most like to read and how often? PATRICIA:  I have a comfy chair with a ratty old footstool to put my feet on. It’s probably my favorite place to read, but you know what? I’m more likely to read...

“I loved the healing wells in your book. Are they real?” A reader who prefers to be anonymous asked that question, and I love getting to respond to it. Though this is a repost republished as part of the great reclamation and rebuild post tragic incident of perfidious hackage, I don’t have its original post date and I have now added new contents, so I’m considering it new. Where to begin? First off, healing wells or holy...