Katherine Neville |

Katherine Neville’s Autumn Equinox Newsletter, September 21, 2016

merylmossmedia — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 14:55:08 +0000

Autumn Equinox Newsletter 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 next cosmic cycle. Discovery in the Autumn Garden Just before equinox, when my visiting former assistant Victor and I were at my Japanese House, weeding, pruning, and preparing the flower beds for planting, we heard a cry from our helpers, Cecilia & Melchior, who were down in the woods beneath the giant cherry tree, cleaning up the beds that Teruo Hara (who built the house) had planted in the 1960s. Lo and behold! They had discovered an entire stone terrace built by Mr Hara! A maple tree had grown up through the stones, over the past 50 years. So here is the hidden terrace now. Sowing New Seeds I always listen to the “genius loci” of a place, the secret spirit that is its soul. That’s probably why so many of my readers have connected me with the spirits of so many places as I’ve traveled around the world. The sudden surprising discovery of this hidden terrace – built by the loving hands of a famous potter and his students, long before any of my helpers had even been born – inspired me to return the land to what it wants to be: a Japanese meditation spot. I already have a forest of Ginko trees here, and an “incubator” of baby trees for us to create more. So in one weekend, just before equinox (when we are supposed to sow for next year’s harvest) I instantly obliterated a swath of “lawn” beneath the trees, and planted a hedge of native plants and bushes! To learn more about the progress of the Japanese House, see my continuing web site saga: Japonaiserie, Mon Amour See pictures of my Japanese House and an article in The Washington Post. ________________________________________ Please visit me on my web site: KatherineNeville.com.

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KATHERINE NEVILLE’S Lammas Newsletter August 1, 2016

merylmossmedia — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 20:17:23 +0000

Katherine Neville’s Lammas Newsletter 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 or hill of Lugh,” later Lyon.) One of the 8 Celtic Fire Festivals, Lammas celebrates bringing in the year’s first great harvest of corn and grain. Lammas falls between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox. The grain festival was still celebrated today, along with grape celebrations. But in ancient times it was associated with the Greek goddess Demeter (Roman Ceres,the grain goddess), her daughter Persephone (Roman Proserpina) and the all-important Eleusinian Mysteries regarding the mysteries of plowing, planting, nurturing and harvesting of crops. The story of the goddess is discussed in The Fire, the sequel to The Eight. Roman Amphitheatre at Lyons, France (above) THE FIRE (2008) (sequel to The Eight) is launched thirty years after the events of The Eight, when the Black Queen shockingly resurfaces in Russia. The children of the previous characters know nothing of the quest of their parents, but are drawn into it nonetheless — and “The Game” is afoot again. For more about Lammas Day: KATHERINE NEVILLE’S On Pike’s Peak Lammas Newsletter August 8, 2014

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Views from Olana and Church’s Paintbox

merylmossmedia — Wed, 10 Aug 2016 21:18:02 +0000

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 are views of, and from, Olana, and Church’s paintbox.

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The Caves of Cappadocia and Mural of St. George

merylmossmedia — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 13:52:27 +0000

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, who painted gorgeous murals of religious themes on the ceilings and walls. Here I am, in my fur cap and fur-lined coat and boots, hiking through knee-high snow to visit the many magnificent hand-painted churches. The mural of St George and St Theodore attacking the dragon is in the Yilani Kilise, the Snake Church; flash photos were not permitted, so I took my Super-8 movie camera with internal lights and made a film. (My “home movies” are almost always somewhere else!)

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A Recent Trip to Mont St Michel & Chartres

merylmossmedia — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 13:24:20 +0000

My visit to Mont St Michel & Chartres 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 person) I got the answer right. And I’d read Adams’ luscious descriptions and histories of these wonderful sites. But after all my years of visiting, living, working in France, I’d never visited either ancient locale until now. (While there, I also visited the glass school and watched as they crated copies of stained glass found in the windows.)

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

merylmossmedia — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 13:23:49 +0000

I’ve just returned from doing research in London, where I met up once again with St George, one of my favorite saints! The longest legend is that he was born in Cappadocia, in today’s central Turkey, one of my favorite spots! St George is patron of many cities and countries, but for me his more important role is that he is also (as St Jordi) the patron of BOOKS! The Unesco Day of the Book, founded in Spain, is celebrated on St George’s Day, April 23, which also happens to be the anniversary of the death of Shakespeare and of Cervantes! Everyone in Barcelona turns out in the streets on that day, buying and giving gifts of books (and long-stemmed roses.) My books almost always end up in the Top Ten for the Day of the Book. THANK YOU, ST JORDI!

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Throwback Thursday: French Book Tour and Palm Sunday Mass at Notre Dame

merylmossmedia — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 13:21:08 +0000

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 Palm Sunday, so I went to Notre Dame, but it was closed for the Mass – or so I thought! I stood out of the way of the tourist lines, at the center gate, when suddenly there was a waft of incense and big palm fronds coming around the side of the cathedral. The priests came up right behind me, slightly budged me to one side, unlocked the iron gates, knocked on the huge cathedral doors, and began the Palm Sunday Mass right there! I was swept inside along with them, with all the tourists following behind, and I attended my first French Mass ever since I wrote The Eight! (I still have the “program,” including the French liturgy and the convocation of the College of Cardinals meeting that week.

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KATHERINE NEVILLE’S Midsummer Night Newsletter June 20, 2016

merylmossmedia — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 16:26:02 +0000

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 literary agents, Andrew Nurnberg & Associates, that since Shakespeare has a small walk-on part in my book, I’d like to go to the Globe Theatre and see one of my favorite Shakespeare plays: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They confirmed that all the performances, even standing room in the pit, were sold out. So I did what any creative writer would do: I had cocktails at the Connaught hotel (where I used to stay) and asked the concierge if he could get me reasonably-priced tickets. And he did! It was the performance of a lifetime! So much fun that everyone on-and-offstage was dancing, singing, clapping, laughing. Shakespeare himself seemed to be among us, no longer a musty bard studied by stuffy scholars, but an official “King of Mirth,” a celebrant of the great midsummer Solstice! (Find more about Solstice, the day when the sun stops and heads south, see my earlier newsletter: click here) Ticket and Program for Midsummer Night’s Dream at Globe (below) The World’s a Stage The interior of the newly restored Globe, below, is constructed of beams of Green Oak, the tree most sacred to the Druids. As Shakespeare seems well aware, tonight, Midsummer Eve, is one of the eight great Celtic fire festivals. It is a time suspended, as the sun prepares to “turn in its course,” a night when things turn topsy-turvy. In the Languedoc (“Language of the Oak,” in the ancient Celtic tree language), Midsummer Night is ruled by the god of misrule, mischief and mirth (represented here by Puck) when anything after sunset can, and will, happen. But all is made right by dawn. Interior of new Globe Theatre (above) You can walk around and inside this globe that is really a bookcase without walls, at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Modern Globe (bookcase) at Victoria and Albert Museum (above) For more about Shakespeare’s 400th: Shakespeare 400 Shakespeare’s England Shakespeare’s Globe COMING SOON! CERVANTES’ 400th Anniversary!!! ________________________________________ Please visit me on my web site: KatherineNeville.com

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Official Release: Noumena Pictures Options The Eight for Film

merylmossmedia — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 15:03:48 +0000

For Immediate Release Meryl Moss Media 99 Saugatuck Avenue Westport, CT 06880 203-226-0199 meryl@merylmossmedia.com amanda@merylmossmedia.com NOUMENA PICTURES OPTIONS CLASSIC BESTSELLER: THE EIGHT Hollywood, CA (June 4, 2016) Katherine Neville’s epic, globetrotting bestseller, The Eight, and its sequel, The Fire, have been optioned for an undisclosed sum, by Noumena Pictures in Hollywood. The Eight has topped scores of charts over the years, selling 8 million copies in 40 languages, in more than 80 countries. Publishers Weekly once called the book “a feminist answer to Raiders of the Lost Ark,” and more recently, said it had “paved the way for books like The DaVinci Code.” Neville reports that her “swashbuckling adventure thriller” had been under option several times in years past, to large studios like Universal and CBS, but “only recently has cinema technology reached a level of delivery that could serve, as my readers would expect, the complex demands of my stories, replete with multiple timeframes, exotic locales, and rigorous special effects. We’ve been waiting a very, very long time for this moment.” Noumena’s founder, entertainment industry veteran Robert Jesuele, has enjoyed involvement in a number of successful book-to-film adaptations, including as advisor to the C.S. Lewis Company in connection with the Chronicles of Narnia film series. Mr. Jesuele said: “We are thrilled that Ms. Neville has entrusted us with the film and TV rights to The Eight and its sequel, The Fire. These books are true originals with an intelligence, mystique, and artful storytelling that have inspired countless readers and writers, and we intend to create a truly magical piece of entertainment for audiences throughout the world.”

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

merylmossmedia — Wed, 18 May 2016 14:50:39 +0000

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, a gourmet chef, who apprenticed me as his sous-chef, and taught me to dice, mince, chop, mouli (grate on a French food-mill), and to clarify butter. Other than learning the basic skills, Jones’ method of teaching was to have me read hundreds of recipes from every world cuisine, and try to imagine how each would taste if we changed one or more ingredients. That trick has served me very well, in appropriating recipes from some of the great places I’ve dined all over America and the world — recipes that are, like my characters, simple but eloquent. (See forthcoming “Secret Venetian Soup,” “Stuffed Viennese Kohlrabi,” etc.) Today, I also love cooking, but I almost never gain an ounce! Why? Because years ago I discovered (invented, really) something I call “The Delphic Oracle Diet.” On the stone walls of the ancient Oracle at Delphi — frequented, over the millennia, by everyone from Socrates to Lord Byron, two mottos are carved into the stone wall: “Know Thyself” and “Nothing in Excess.” THE DELPHIC ORACLE DIET will begin in June of this year (complete with recipes collected from everywhere!)

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