KINGDOM CHRONICLES, 7552

Notes from the Realms in Exile

The Rt. Hon. the Countess of Harlindon, Lady Steward of the Household, is, with Josepha Sherman, author of Vulcan's Heart (New York: Pocket Books, 1999), a sequel to their 1997 Vulcan's Forge.  A quick check of commercial book distributors reveals some thirty items that the prolific Countess has written or edited. A web-page dedicated to the Countess may be found at:    http://www.sff.net/people/SusanShwartz/  and the Penn State Science Fiction Consortium has posted an interview with the Countess at: http://www.personal.psu.edu/dept/scifi/intv/shwartz/index.html. (Photo by Bachrach Photo Studios.) 

As of Midsummer Day (7 Cerveth 7552 [22 June 1999]), Sir Eric Joseph Orsay Hadley-Ives, K.E., has been raised to the rank and estate of a Baronet by the Palatine Authority of  His Grace the Duke of Númenor, Regent . Sir Eric was, along with the Rt. Hon. the Baron Dunharrow and the Rt. Hon. Sir Jonathan Reich, K.E.,  Mayor of the Shire, one of His Grace's students at John Burroughs School in Ladue, Missouri. The new baronet is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work of Washington University in Saint Louis. He and Lady Hadley-Ives are parents of two sons, Sebastian and Arthur.

On 15 Norui 7552 (31 May 1999), at The Greater St. Louis Renaissance Faire,  His Grace the Duke of Númenor, Regent  raised David Andrew Bell, N.O.M., to the dignity of Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Flame of Anor. Sir Stewart Burns, K.F.A., presented the candidate. Also present at the ceremony, conducted under a somewhat inadequate canopy during the only rain storm of an otherwise muggy Missouri spring day,  were Messrs. Drew Pilkerton and Richard Ferguson, as well as various casual bystanders and observers from the Society for Creative Anachronism.  Foreign Office sources were at pains to point out that the latter circumstance was a personal tribute to the new knight, and not a renewal of the Kingdoms' former relations with the society in question.

Sir Stewart, His Grace, Mr. Bell	Sir David, Mr. Ferguson, Sir Stewart (obscured),  His Grace	Sir Stewart and Sir David

The annual International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, continues to be a magnet for some of the Kingdoms' academic leaders. At the 34th Congress, held 20-23 Lothron 7552 (6-9 May 1999) Sir Jonathan Mitchell Evans, K.E., Associate Professor of English and Director of the Medieval Studies Program at the University of Georgia, presided over a session on Beowulf and its analogues. Among others attending the congress were Lady Evans; His Grace the Duke of Númenor, Regent;  J. M. B. Porter, N.O.M., Ph.D., former Mayor of Caras Nimduin; and Ross and Eileen Shanley-Roberts, who were accompanied by His Grace's god-daughter Emily Elizabeth Shanley-Roberts.

Subjects of His August Majestie who are regular readers of Scientific American  may have noticed in the May, 1999, issue an article, "Quantum Sculpting," featuring research by The Rt. Hon. the Baron Glanduin, Captain of Ships,  and Otto Laporte Professor of Physics in the University of Michigan. The article, reporting on a January 21, 1999, publication in Nature, discussed work by Lord Glanduin and his graduate students to use laser pulses to shape the quantum wave function of electrons excited to very high energy levels known as "Rydberg States."
        Lord Glanduin has served three terms as Lord High Chancellor and is Seneschal of the Palatine Duchy of Númenor. Lady Glanduin has served for the last twelve years as Lady Chief Justice.