Teresa Edgerton
Encyclopedia
Teresa Edgerton is an author
of fantasy novels and short stories
set in worlds that parallel the Middle Ages and the 18th century.
area until the age of 14, when her family moved to northern California
. In high school, she spent her lunch hours in the school library, devouring one historical novel after another. At about that same time she discovered fantasy
writers T. H. White
, J. R. R. Tolkien
, and C. S. Lewis
, and science fiction
writer Andre Norton
, whose combined influence would inspire her to begin creating imaginary worlds of her own. She met her husband, John Edgerton, in 1971, when she was working as a Tarot reader at a local Renaissance faire, and he was part of a Society for Creative Anachronism
troupe putting on demonstrations of medieval tourney combat. They have four grown children: Gwyneth, Daisy, Megan, and John-Miles. And she is now the grandmothers of Twin boys.
Her interest in medieval society, alchemy
, magic
, and Celtic mythology
led her to begin writing the Green Lion Trilogy, a project which was to consume the next ten years of her life. The first book of the series, Child of Saturn, was a finalist for the Compton Crook Award
. It is set in Celydonn, a fictional Celtic realm whose carefully worked out tongue is, in the writer's own words, "not intended to represent any Real-world celtic tongue of dialect" but rather is "an intentionally fanciful combination of Welsh
, Irish
and pseudo-Celtic elements" resulting from "a pattern pf migrations, intermarriages and inter-tribal cultural exchanges which could have taken place on Ynis Celydonn and nowhere else".
After completing this trilogy
, her interest turned from epic fantasy to the pseudo-sciences of the 18th century, which resulted in the steampunk
ish fantasy of manners
Goblin Moon, a book which still commands an enthusiastic cult following. Other books and short stories followed.
However, publication of The Queen’s Necklace - despite good reviews - didn't produce enough sales to satisfy her publishers, and for a time she was unable to renew her publishing contract. In 2004 she was offered the chance to relaunch under the pseudonym Madeline Howard, and has since struck out with a new trilogy, Rune of the Unmaking, with the successful first novel, The Hidden Stars.
Notable themes in Edgerton's work include the struggle to maintain decency, dignity, and kindness even when faced with dire circumstances. Her heroes and heroines are often conflicted characters who chastize themselves harshly for failings that her readers easily forgive. Edgerton’s prose is richly descriptive, reflecting her love of 19th and early 20th century writers, and her desire to construct a textured and realistic secondary reality for each of her works.
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
of fantasy novels and short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
set in worlds that parallel the Middle Ages and the 18th century.
Literary biography
Born Teresa Ann Waller in Van Nuys, California, in 1949, she lived in the Los AngelesLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
area until the age of 14, when her family moved to northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
. In high school, she spent her lunch hours in the school library, devouring one historical novel after another. At about that same time she discovered fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
writers T. H. White
T. H. White
Terence Hanbury White was an English author best known for his sequence of Arthurian novels, The Once and Future King, first published together in 1958.-Biography:...
, J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
, and C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
, and science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
writer Andre Norton
Andre Norton
Andre Alice Norton, née Alice Mary Norton was an American science fiction and fantasy author under the noms de plume Andre Norton, Andrew North and Allen Weston...
, whose combined influence would inspire her to begin creating imaginary worlds of her own. She met her husband, John Edgerton, in 1971, when she was working as a Tarot reader at a local Renaissance faire, and he was part of a Society for Creative Anachronism
Society for Creative Anachronism
The Society for Creative Anachronism is an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century...
troupe putting on demonstrations of medieval tourney combat. They have four grown children: Gwyneth, Daisy, Megan, and John-Miles. And she is now the grandmothers of Twin boys.
Her interest in medieval society, alchemy
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
, magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
, and Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
led her to begin writing the Green Lion Trilogy, a project which was to consume the next ten years of her life. The first book of the series, Child of Saturn, was a finalist for the Compton Crook Award
Compton Crook Award
The Compton Crook Award is presented to the best first novel of the year in the field of Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror by the members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, Inc, at their annual Baltimore-area science fiction convention, Balticon, held on Memorial Day weekend in the...
. It is set in Celydonn, a fictional Celtic realm whose carefully worked out tongue is, in the writer's own words, "not intended to represent any Real-world celtic tongue of dialect" but rather is "an intentionally fanciful combination of Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and pseudo-Celtic elements" resulting from "a pattern pf migrations, intermarriages and inter-tribal cultural exchanges which could have taken place on Ynis Celydonn and nowhere else".
After completing this trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
, her interest turned from epic fantasy to the pseudo-sciences of the 18th century, which resulted in the steampunk
Steampunk
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United...
ish fantasy of manners
Fantasy of manners
The fantasy of manners is a subgenre of fantasy literature that also partakes of the nature of a comedy of manners . Such works generally take place in an urban setting and within the confines of a fairly elaborate, and almost always hierarchical, social structure. The term was first used in print...
Goblin Moon, a book which still commands an enthusiastic cult following. Other books and short stories followed.
However, publication of The Queen’s Necklace - despite good reviews - didn't produce enough sales to satisfy her publishers, and for a time she was unable to renew her publishing contract. In 2004 she was offered the chance to relaunch under the pseudonym Madeline Howard, and has since struck out with a new trilogy, Rune of the Unmaking, with the successful first novel, The Hidden Stars.
Notable themes in Edgerton's work include the struggle to maintain decency, dignity, and kindness even when faced with dire circumstances. Her heroes and heroines are often conflicted characters who chastize themselves harshly for failings that her readers easily forgive. Edgerton’s prose is richly descriptive, reflecting her love of 19th and early 20th century writers, and her desire to construct a textured and realistic secondary reality for each of her works.
Green Lion trilogy (the first Celydonn trilogy)
- Child of Saturn (1989)
- The Moon in Hiding (1989)
- The Work of the Sun (1990)
The second Celydonn trilogy
- The Castle of the Silver Wheel (1993)
- The Grail and the Ring (1994)
- The Moon and the Thorn (1995)
The Rune of Unmaking trilogy (writing as Madeline Howard)
- The Hidden Stars (2004)
- A Dark Sacrifice
Short stories
- "The Ghost in the Chimney" (1991)
- "TITANIA, or The Celestial Bed" (1994)
- "My Soul into the Boughs" (1995)
- "A Wreath of Pale Flowers for Vitri" (1996)
- "Tower of Brass” (1997)
- "Rogue's Moon” (1997)
- "Dying by Inches” (2001)
- "Captured in Silver” (2004)