Character Tour: Deb Kinnard

God’s greeting to all. I dictate this to Father Pridain, our new priest here at Mostyn, since I have not clerkly skills. Someday I shall learn to read, but by the rood! Babes require more hours than the day holds.

Greatly blessed are my husband, Cadell ap Sior, and I, for this past Christe’s mass we welcomed a daughter to our family. Young Lisinwy is a sprite and a constant joy. I had younger brothers, but I did not notice how they consumed all of our mother’s care. I had not seen how a babe makes one ill-fitted for any cares but hers!

From my present state, as hlæfdige of my husband’s hall (that means lady, to you who do not speak the Saeson tongue), it seems when I was young I cared for naught but play. My brothers and I ran wild along the headlands and shingle beaches of north Clwyd, nor gave sufficient thought to the morrow. Growing into our years took no time at all, by my troth! I see better now why my lady mother did chide me for my unmaidenly ways. It seemed to me then, though my shame to admit, that I saw not why a girl should not run as free as her brothers.

In that I paid little heed to her chidings, I lack much learning I ought now to have. It burdens me much to have to recall how my mother dealt with meal-bugs in the ground corn, or the proper mixture for stavesacre salve. A thane’s lady must know all and seek after modest speech, remaining ever chary of praise. By the rood! Running the hills of my dear homeland did not well prepare me for a lady’s lot.

Given at Mostyn on this eve of the Purification of Our Lady, A.D. 974

Anmair uerch Efan, lady to Cadell ap Sior, king’s thane for Clywd and the Marches

Deborah Kinnard started writing at age ten, frustrated because there was no preteen girl with a horse on “Bonanza.”  From there she progressed to short stories and dreadful poetry.

In college, she gained two degrees in health care and spent time observing hippies, basketball stars, el-ed majors and other strange species.

While raising two active girls and cherishing a husband, she’s enjoyed a career that has encompassed Spanish translation, volunteer work at a crisis line, years in assorted ERs that don’t resemble the one on TV, and a day job at a big Chicago teaching hospital.

She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, works with an eclectic writers’ group in Schaumburg, is a member of the SCA, and confesses to being a loud singer at church. In the early 2000s, she sold her first two novels, POWERLINE and OAKWOOD to Treble Heart Books. ANGEL WITH A RAY GUN, ANGEL WITH A BACK HOE, DAMAGES, ALOHA, MY LOVE, and POWERLINE are available from Desert Breeze. SEASONS IN THE MIST, from Sheaf House, won the Grace Award in speculative fiction in 2010. “The Faith Box”, a series of medieval romances, will release from Desert Breeze starting with September 2012’s release of PEACEWEAVER. Follow-up titles are THE HEALING TREE and WHEN THE ROSES BLOOMED.

When Deb’s not at the computer writing, she keeps busy with gardening, reading, beadwork, and needlework. She loves to travel and meet new people, some of whom turn up later in her stories.  So if you meet a short woman with a light in her eye…

Told ya she was a feisty lady!

Now, time to announce the winner of an ebook copy of Devi’s Hit List by Frank Creed.

The winner is:

ANDREA GRAHAM

Come back next week to see what Ginny Aiken has in store for us!