[Forward]

When I first got the idea for THE ENCHANTER, though, I just knew it was going to be the kind of timeless, sweeping love story that, at some point, would involve my lead characters consummating their relationship in sizzling fashion. The premise itself had its origins in magic; specifically, a David Copperfield performance at Sacramento’s Community Center. Although I had always made it a practice to videotape his annual television specials, I’d never actually seen him in person. Unlike naysayers whose quest at such performances is to figure out how each trick is orchestrated, I was totally transported by the mysticism and suspension of belief. (And yes, he was one good-looking guy who was quite easy to fawn over.) When I came home that night and fell asleep, a burning question prevailed: What if the greatest illusionist of our time…isn’t really from our time? I woke up and had the entire plot in my head.

THE ENCHANTER was written in exactly four months from start to finish and embraced the notion that a Washington DC reporter named Catherine possesses a supernatural bond with a world class illusionist whose latest trick is to make the Washington Monument vanish off of its base. When she comes to reluctantly accept that this handsome, dark-haired stranger is, in fact, Merlin, the two of them are caught up in an exciting time-traveling race to locate the legendary Excalibur which, in the tradition of the best mysteries, is hidden in plain sight in the halls of the Smithsonian.

There was an interesting split in opinions when my agent first began shopping this project. Half of the editors loved the Arthurian fantasy elements but wanted me to lose the romance. The other half loved the steamy chemistry between the level-headed but lonely reporter and the charismatic Kyle Falconer who was not of the modern world but felt that I should lose all the references to Camelot. The one thing, however, that both factions seemed to agree on was the potency of Chapter 26.

All right, I’m going to be candid here and reveal that there are dear friends of mine (and a few total strangers) who have only read Chapter 26 of THE ENCHANTER and probably couldn’t tell you what the rest of the book was about to save themselves. Chapter 26 was my first foray into sensuality and, I must admit, it’s darned good. My typist – a woman who was on the shy side – even went so far as to divulge with a giggle that reading Chapter 26 was far better than any real-life date she had ever experienced.

Interesting tidbit: I delivered the final chapters for transcription to my typist on the afternoon of October 17, 1989, the day of a major earthquake that shook San Francisco. I remember that she came to the house to pick up her work but, instead of reading it right away, she was as transfixed as I was watching the unfolding news. Ordinarily, I’d pour us each a glass of wine and I’d sit and watch her reactions as she read my latest chapters. That day, though, the adventures of Kyle and Catherine were the farthest things from our minds.

The book was eventually grabbed up by Little, Brown & Company in New York and slated for publication the following fall. I was particularly excited because it meant that my first-ever novel would come out in hardcover. When I received the galleys for review, I was quite beside myself. It was a euphoria that lasted roughly a nanosecond. My expectations that the galley would be close to perfection were dashed when I discovered three glaring typos on the very first page, including the misspelling of my last name and the word “the”.

With the review of each chapter, whatever lofty and glamorous impressions I might have once had of the publishing industry were grossly diminished.

Until I reached Chapter 26.

From the very first sentence until the very last punctuation mark, Chapter 26 was error-free. This led me to two interesting speculations. The first was that the chapter was so scintillatingly hot that virtually every employee of the company had been invited to read it. The second was that a single editor had been so caught up in the sensual spell I had woven that he or she read it over and over and over and essentially knew the entire thing by heart.

Tidbits:

I had absolutely no approval over the cover design. While I like the purple and black, the sword depicted is a French dueling sword, not an English broadsword.

My own preference for a cover would have been the Washington Monument in moonlight. If you are standing atop the Lincoln Memorial in the evening (which I have done), you can clearly see the reflection of Excalibur in the water.

Catherine does not have a last name. I did this on purpose so that female readers would more easily identify with her. There is a scene in the book where Catherine is so flummoxed by everything that has happened to her that she can’t remember what her last name is. I can’t tell you how many readers went flipping back through the pages to find it without realizing it had never been there in the first place.

I didn’t realize it at the time but “Falconer” is a sept name that belongs to the same Scottish clan as the knight in shining armor I married at Stirling Castle in 1998.

David Copperfield owns an autographed copy of THE ENCHANTER, which I gave to him in person in 1991. With those magnificent brown eyes, he looked at me thoughtfully and remarked, “So you’re the real Catherine”. Wow.

Washington DC is one of my favorite cities in the world and it shows in the writing.

Professor Zalunardo was patterned loosely after Doc Brown in BACK TO THE FUTURE.

Larry was patterned after one of my actor pals, Jim Henderson, who once played a melodrama villain who tied me to the train Tracks because I wouldn’t marry him.

My autograph party was held by my gay hairdresser who was doing business at that time out of an old Victorian mansion. The three guys he had hired to cater this posh affair all cancelled out at the last minute and so he recruited his roommate to serve snacks and pour champagne - a devastatingly handsome young man with blond hair and arresting blue eyes. I think every older woman who attended the event wanted to hook him up with their granddaughters.

A sequel to THE ENCHANTER was written a year after the original but to date has not been published.

The original title of THE ENCHANTER was THE WIZARD OF BRYN MYRDDIN but my editor thought it was too weird.