The Lunar Society

What’s Inside the Box? Katherine Neville introduces the fascinating history behind her Mystery Box story, “The Lunar Society.” See a preview of Katherine Neville’s short story: here. As a former technological person myself, who’d participated in the early commercial phase of the computer revolution, I had long been fascinated by its predecessors: that handful of scientific entrepreneurs […]

How I Became a Basque Celtic Sorceress

How I Became a Basque Celtic Sorceress: Protectress of the Sacred Forest of Oma, Spain I was attending a private retreat at a Basque farm, following a conference of the World Congress of Music Therapy in Vittoria-Gasteiz, in northern Spain. The scientists at our retreat  were sitting outside on the farmhouse porch, giving talks on […]

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S Twelfth Night Epiphany Newsletter Jan 6, 2017

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S Twelfth Night – Epiphany Newsletter January 6, 2017   Twelfth Night Epiphany, the twelfth day of Christmas, is one of my favorite holidays: traditionally, the night when the three Magi, bearing gifts from afar, following a star, came to visit a baby born in a manger. But the Magi were not the first powerful […]

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S Autumn Equinox Newsletter Sept 21, 2016

KATHERINE NEVILLE’SAutumn Equinox NewsletterSeptember 21, 2016 Autumn Equinox Equinox (the day each year when day and night are equal in length) is the time to sow and plant, to prepare for us to reap next Spring! Today is one of the eight Celtic Festival Days, when it is time for us to plan for the […]

Views from Olana and Church’s Paintbox

View from Olana Returning from my editor’s memorial, I revisited Hudson River artist and naturalist Frederick Church’s wonderful home, Olana. Chock full of ‘Orientalist’ items like Persian rugs, Moroccan Windows, and even a stuffed peacock, it reminded me of a huge version of the treehouse in Sausalito where I wrote my early books. Inspiration! Here […]

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S Lammas Newsletter August 1, 2016

KATHERINE NEVILLE’SLammas NewsletterAugust 1, 2016 Lammas-Lughnassadh Today, August 1, is the Eighth and last station of the Celtic calendar. It is called in northern lands Lammas (‘Loaf-Mass,’ baking bread from the first crop) or Lunasa (Lughnassadh, Festival of Lugh, the great Irish warrior and leader, for whom the later Roman town Lugdunum was named, “fortress […]

The Caves of Cappadocia and Mural of St. George

Over the years, I was invited to Turkey many times, to lecture and to visit with the Sufis in Konya. On one trip, in the dead of winter, I hired a driver and went to Cappadocia. There are many caves that were hollowed out of the soft pumice, and provided the residences of early Christians, […]

My Visit to Mont St Michel & Chartres

Mont St Michel & Chartres Mont St. Michel One of the questions on the Graduate Record Exam before I got into grad school was: “The author of Mont Saint Michel & Chartres was also the author of what other book?” Answer: The Education of Henry Adams! Having read Henry Adams’ autobiography (written modestly in third […]

An Ode to St. George, Patron Saint of Books!

I’ve just returned from doing research in London, where I met up once again with St George, one of my favorite saints! As the card states, “In Genoa, the houses were often built in narrow, steep streets. This made the lintel the best place for any exterior decoration. It was often carved with images of […]

French Book Tour and Palm Sunday Mass at Notre Dame

Cathedral of Notre Dame (Photo: Katherine Neville) I went to Paris for my French book tour, and over that weekend, I tried to go to Notre Dame on my birthday. But instead, I ended up going to a wonderful restaurant on the Left Bank and some art supply stores. The next day happened to be […]

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S Midsummer Night Newsletter June 20, 2016

KATHERINE NEVILLE’SMidsummer Night NewsletterJune 20, 2016 Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary! I am just back from England & Belgium, finishing the last bits of research for my New Book! While in London, I was staying on Stratford Place, which reminded me that 2016 is the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. I mentioned, while lunching with my wonderful […]

“Know Thyself” and “Nothing in Excess”: The Delphic Oracle Diet

The difference between my books and those of many of my fellow suspense/adventure novelists, is that in my stories, my characters always take the time to eat something fabulous! I love foods of all kinds, but I never learned to cook anything until I was in grad school –trained in the primitive kitchen of my then-boyfriend, Jones, […]

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S Carpe Diem Newsletter May 1, 2016

Katherine on Pike’s Peak, Colorado 1980s KATHERINE NEVILLE’SCarpe Diem NewsletterMay 1, 2016 May Day Eve on the Mountaintop The eve of May Day is called in German “Walpurgisnacht” (the night they purge the woods), and in the Celtic languages it is called “Beltaine” (the fires of the hero-god Bel). One of the oldest pagan festivals – […]

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S “News”letter Flash: Art & Literature March 21, 2016

Literary award judge William Woodward, Katherine Neville, and author Mary Lynn Kotz KATHERINE NEVILLE’S“News”letter Flash: Art & LiteratureMarch 21, 2016 The Art & Literature Award Over these past five years, while ramping up research for my new book about artists, I was also instrumental in ramping up the creation of a brand-new literary award: Art […]

Adventure in Virginia Horse Country

Taking a ride with my neighbor’s Belgian ponies. Living here in Virginia horse country reminds me that, in the eras I like to write about, horses were the chief means of land transportation. To refresh my memory, I took off for a two hour cross country carriage ride with my wonderful French neighbors and their […]

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S Candlemas Newsletter February 2, 2016

KATHERINE NEVILLE’SCandlemas NewsletterFebruary 2, 2016 Candlemas Today, February 2, is one of my favorites: the beginning of the New Year for many cultures around the world. For the Celts, who divided the year unto EIGHT seasons, all of them celebrated by fire festivals, today was called Imbolc, the moment between the winter solstice (when the […]

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S “Moving On” Newsletter December 9, 2015

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S“Moving On” NewsletterDecember 9, 2015 This photo of me was taken just after my return from Algiers (with a great tan and a weird illness!) I’ve put it here, because another great “moving event” has just occurred in my life… I Have Moved! As most of you know from reading my books, I’ve spent […]

MomCentral

MomCentral interview with Katherine Neville“International Best-selling Author Katherine Neville Captivates a New Generation”October 27, 2015 International Best-selling Author Katherine Neville Captivates a New Generation   A jewel-encrusted chess set once owned by Charlemagne. Two young nuns embroiled in the French Revolution. An American computer expert assigned to a high-stakes mission. More than 25 years ago, […]

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S Galactic Travel Newsletter July 21, 2015

KATHERINE NEVILLE’SGalactic Travel NewsletterJuly 21, 2015 KATHERINE’S BOOKS START TRAVELING TODAY, BY THE COSMOS! Today, the anniversary of the date that we first set foot on the Moon, marks the FIRST DAY that my books are now available as E-Books!       Time Travel: Fiction Inspires Reality Tonight, July 21, at 10:56 pm (US Eastern time, 2:56 […]

Random House Interview

Interview with Katherine Neville about The Fire Random House Interview: A Talk with Katherine Neville It’s been twenty years since The Eight. Why did it take so long to write The Fire? I don’t actually write my books, they kind of write themselves—but they also seem to decide on their own when they are going to be […]

David Bohm: June 1992

Prague: The Holographic Paradigm In June of 1992, Karl Pribram and I were on a 16-hour train trip from Karl Jung’s remote center, Eranos, on Lago Maggiore in Switzerland, where I’d been doing research for my book The Magic Circle (in which Jungian archetypes play a great role.) We were headed to Prague, where Karl was to […]

Maya Angelou: Christmas 1989

Christmas in Maya Angelou’s study, (Katherine’s unique hand-made mohair Picasso sweater discovered by Karl in Venice.)

Maya Angelou: Christmas 1989 Maya Angelou and I had many interesting encounters and many mutual connections; a few are included here. When Karl Pribram and I left Stanford University in 1989, we barely had time to cross the country and get to Virginia with our pets, unload the moving van with our 26,000 pounds of […]

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S Solstice Advent(ure) Newsletter Dec 21, 2014

KATHERINE NEVILLE’SSolstice Advent(ure) NewsletterDecember 21, 2014 Advent: Return of the Sun Today is the last Sunday of the season of Advent (from Latin adventus, a coming) a period of four Sundays when the Christian church traditionally asks us to prepare for the arrival of the baby Jesus’ birthday on December 25th. People keep calendars with 24 […]

The Mysterious Symbol

The Mysterious Symbol August 8, 2014 Late at night, my first winter in the Japanese house, I was sleeping on cushions on the floor when my resident herd of deer ran through the front courtyard, and set off the motion detector light at the upper entrance, flooding the interior with light. Wearily, I crawled out […]

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S On Pike’s Peak Lammas Newsletter Aug 8, 2014

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S On Pike’s Peak Lammas Newsletter August 8, 2014 This photo of me was taken on a Lammas Night, many years ago, on Pike’s Peak in Colorado, just after my return from living in North Africa. (Described in my book, The Eight.) Lammas or Lugnassadh Lammas is the Eighth station of the year in […]

Wind and Water (Feng Shui)

“Wind and Water” (Feng Shui) There is a system of building design that precedes Neutra’s by millennia: Feng Shui is the ancient oriental art of siting and designing buildings in keeping with key features of the natural landscape, like mountains and valleys created by “winds and waters.” I had studied it for years, including a […]

Design for Living

Escape from Structured Environment As a child, I’d always wanted to be outside climbing trees, picking persimmons or pears to eat, or buckeyes that bring luck if carried in your pocket. I hated being trapped indoors in the sterile “educational” environments created to torture young children. Some of my least favorite recollections are of being […]

Heaven & Earth

As layers and years of neglect of the Japanese House were peeled away, something interesting emerged: a vision of “the house within the house.” It was not my vision, however. I am not an expert in Japanese architecture or any other. It was the vision of what the house itself wanted to be. I had […]

Zen is When…

The sounds of Japan are evoked by temple bells, wind chimes, water over stones, wind in bamboo groves, taiko drums (first created, as myth assures us, from a Sake barrel!) – and one of my favorite combinations of all of the above: Jazz Impressions of Japan, the 1964 album of musician Dave Brubeck’s trip to […]

The Garden

When I write a piece of music I note on the score the kind of emotion I have in mind. A garden should be calm and still, but at the same time it should be a strong calm. So I say: ‘Ecstatic’. One might think you can’t combine the two – calm and ecstasy. But […]

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S New Epiphany Newsletter January 6, 2014

KATHERINE NEVILLE’SNew Epiphany NewsletterJanuary 6, 2014 The Birth of Phanes Last year I wrote an epiphany newsletter for my favorite day of the year: epi-phanes, “upon the birth of Phanes,” the child who popped out of the world egg, wrapped in the serpent of wisdom; his name means “I bring light.” To read my 2013 […]

KATHERINE NEVILLE’s September 11 Newsletter September 11, 2013

KATHERINE NEVILLE’SSeptember 11 NewsletterSeptember 11, 2013 The Battle of Spirit & Matter This morning marks the 12th anniversary of the airplanes that changed our perception of the role we play in the world. My first thought when I realized that the plumes of smoke had attacked the very heart of the financial district, was that […]

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S Japonaiserie, Mon Amour Newsletter Aug 8, 2013

Katherine in Japan KATHERINE NEVILLE’SJaponaiserie, Mon Amour NewsletterAugust 8, 2013 One August, decades ago, I journeyed to Japan. It was the hottest August on record, the Tokyo sidewalks were scalding, one couldn’t walk on the pavement after five o’clock in the morning; when we went to the fish market at four a.m., the fresh fish […]

Japonaiserie, Mon Amour

One August, decades ago, I journeyed to Japan. It was the hottest August on record, the Tokyo sidewalks were scalding, one couldn’t walk on the pavement after five o’clock in the morning; when we went to the fish market at four a.m., the fresh fish were already spoiling in the heat. Even up in Kyoto, […]

KATHERINE NEVILLE’S Summer Solstice Newsletter June 21, 2013

KATHERINE NEVILLE’SSummer Solstice NewsletterJune 21, 2013 The Longest Day Today is Summer Solstice, when the sun seems to stop in the sky, stop moving north and head south for the winter. Whether the sun was Apollo, Ahura Mazda, or Ra, it always takes him a long time to turn around. So today is the longest […]

Magic Circle: Further Reading

For those Readers who wish to pursue these topics further, here are some lists of suggested reading. On Russia, Central Asia, the East Not long before my final Russian research trip, the Treasures of Schliemann’s Troy had been found in boxes in a basement in Moscow and were on public display, at the Pushkin, for […]

Secret Societies: Knight’s Templar

The Knights Templar Excerpt From Essay “Secret Societies” by Paul Witcover One of the oldest and most influential of Western Secret Societies was the medieval military/religious order, The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, known by their familiar name as the Knights Templar. Founded around 1119 by two veterans of the […]

Secret Societies: Freemasonry

Freemasonry Excerpt From Essay “Secret Societies” by Paul Witcover Freemasonry is a fraternal order that arose in Scotland and England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and spread throughout the world. There are a number of different branches of Freemasonry; for instance, the United Grand Lodge of England and its affiliated lodges require prospective members […]

Secret Societies: Hashshashin

Hashshashin Excerpt From Essay “Secret Societies” by Paul Witcover The Islamic world also has its secret societies. The Hashshashin – from whom we get the word “assassin” – were just that: a secret society of religious mystics devoted to the targeted killing of their enemies. The notion that these assassins rendered themselves impervious to pain, or […]

Secret Societies: Carbonari

Carbonari Excerpt From Essay “Secret Societies” by Paul Witcover … in The Fire, an allusion to another secret society surfaces, when Alexandra “Xie” Solarin (the daughter of Cat Velis and Russian grandmaster Alexander Solarin from The Eight) first appears as the apprentice of master chef, Rodolfo Boujaron, whose posh Washington, D.C. restaurant is called Sutalde, […]