I discovered Katherine Kurtz in the NAAFI newsagents back in the early 80’s with her first Deryni trilogy. The tale of a young king trying to come to terms with his Sorcerer heritage whilst at the same time trying to cope with a repressive Church (think Inquisition), a cabal of ‘evil’ Sorcerers and a repressive, religious fanatic Queen Mother. The people trying to aid him are already exiled on pain of pain or suspect by the church. Nice and gritty series with plenty of back stabbing (and leaving you with a deep, deep urge to thump the Queen).

Sadly we lost touch for a few years afterwards. Then she teamed up with Deborah Turner Harris and they came up with the Adept series. Wow. I was hooked.

The series follows the activities of a group of people acting as a Spiritual Enforcement Team attempting to minimise the damage done by those using psychic abilities for their own use and other ‘eedjits’. In some ways this is very much a war story, albeit on a spiritual level. Set in the now, the majority of characters seem to have occupations and or privileges that free them up for a spot of enforcement. But that’s my only gripe and I must admit I’ve used the same mechanism in Chill games. The action is tight and you come to care about the characters. By now your thinking why Fantasy? Well, a lot of the plots involve British Folklore. So far the hero’s have had encounters with the Fairie Raide, Red Cap, a Banshee and Gog & Magog. There’s scrying, mediumship, psycometry, and astral travel worked in with Ritual Magic, murder and mayhem. A nice, engrossing series leaving you wanting more, more, MORE !!

Ogre

that sounds really good
Cheers Ogre I will look out for thoses ones