About Our Contributors

A good many of the books listed in the bibliographies do not have complete information, usually a lack of year of publication, publisher, or author's first name. Again, this is not scholarly, but the contributor did not know at the time that he or she was "compiling a bibliography"; they are usually notations made for that person's own reference, so they could find the book at the library again. With the same information -- title and author's last name -- you, too, should be able to find it. With time and your help, we hope to fill in the gaps.

We invite anyone coming through to contribute to the bibliographies -- no one can read everything! While you might keep the best stuff to yourself until the book is at your agent, you can pass on the items that didn't quite make it for you -- but that someone else would love to know exists -- or send us your bibliography and opinions when you're finished with the project. If you like, we'll include you and a mention of your new book here.

Many of our contributors prefer anonymity. Others, for reasons of security on the Internet, use pseudonyms. The few who will confess to existing are:

Pat Bastetka

A hunter and outdoorsman since childhood, he took his first deer with iron sights "in the single digit ages." His teaching credentials are in history. He has taught at the Air Force Academy in Denver and for LA City Schools. During a period of informal Western recreationism, he and a few compatriots were seriously mistaken for phantoms of old outlaws on at least one occasion.

Freyadisa

"If I didn't get to be a Norse viking in a previous incarnation, I'm trying my best to make up for it now." With a formal background in archeology and anthropology, she is building her reconstruction of the period in greater depth and detail than most people could. She collects and uses the weaponry and armour, as well.

Gunnora Hallakarva, the Viking Answer Lady

One of the shining lights of SCA in Texas, Mistress Gunnora has a web site of her own (to which we provide links) dedicated to her Viking research -- including why it's okay to use Viking as a term for the culture. She "has a daytime job" but defines herself as a historian with an unquenchable appetite for amber acquisition.

Her unvarnished opinions can be noted in the Middle Ages and Dark Ages bibliographies, set off in square brackets [like this]. She has contributed heavily in women's studies of the Viking Age, which overlaps both.

Lady Melisande of Hali

Joining the SCA in 1973, Lady Melisande earned her arms in 1978 for her work as one of the three Califians who founded Tir-y-Don. She was a professional costumer from the late Sixties into the early Eighties, when she hit burnout. She's not sure where her sewing machine is, but she now feels up to hand-sewing and embroidery again. Her especial interest, both for research and teaching, was narrow-loom square-cut clothing, and other authentic cuts, "rather than just changing details on modern-cut clothing patterns."

She twice went through binges of Japanese culture. The first was triggered in 1971 by a book on the Heian Court, which led to her first semester of Japanese language, and the mastery of saimin and ramen. The second, from 1980 for a few years, included studying kendo, kenbo, folk dance, attending Shinto ceremonies, working with Kabuki Hawai'i as a dresser, watching innumerable subtitled movies, and studying the various theatre forms. She collected several score episodes of her favorite chanbara shows, and every few years enjoys them again.

Marina Richards

is a historical romance writer with an interest in anything Irish, especially prior to the 17th century. She is currently working on a novel which takes place in Ireland and Cornwall during the reign of Henry VIII.


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