Bush, Anne Kelleher 1959-

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BUSH, Anne Kelleher 1959-

(Anne Kelleher)

PERSONAL: Born March 31, 1959, in Ocean City, NJ; daughter of Michael J. Kelleher (an engineering consultant) and Frances Kelly (an administrator; maiden name, Castaldi); married Raymond G. Bush, March 16, 1980 (marriage ended, February 1, 1996); children: Katherine, James, Margaret, Abigail. Education: Johns Hopkins University, B.A., 1982.

ADDRESSES: Home—CT. Agent—Donald Maas, Donald Maas Literary Agency, 157 W. 57th St., Ste. 1003, New York, NY 10019. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer.

WRITINGS:

SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY NOVELS

Daughter of Prophecy, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1995.

Children of Enchantment, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1996.

The Misbegotten King, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1996.

The Knight, the Harp, and the Maiden, Warner Aspect (New York, NY), 1999.

Love's Labyrinth, Jove Books (New York, NY), 2000.

The Highwayman, Jove Books (New York, NY), 2001.

(As Anne Kelleher) Silver's Edge, Luna (Buffalo, NY), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Anne Kelleher Bush's fantasy novels are full of good and evil wizards, quests, and romance. Her first was Daughter of Prophecy, published in 1995. It is set in North America, circa 2714, when much of the world has been reduced to rubble. Abelard Ridenau, the king of what is now called "Meriga," is a leader who wants to restore his homeland to glory. To this end, he must wage an ongoing fight against groups such as the Harleyriders and the Mutens. Treachery even comes from within his circle of friends. His love interest is Nydia Farhallen, a woman who secretly possesses the ability to use the type of magic that led to the destruction of so much of the world. The story revolves around Nydia, "and as such, it suffers from her bad character and her loyalty to an unsavory cause," noted a reviewer for Publishers Weekly. Still, the writer approved of Bush's "vivid imagination" and concluded that the story "is sufficiently intriguing to raise interest in subsequent works." Bush created another fantasy world in The Knight, the Harp and the Maiden. This story was set in the land of Sylyria, where a wizard named Lindos curses the people after his proposal of marriage is refused by a young singer, Juliene. Fleeing her home to protect her family, Juliene joins forces with a knight who may be the fulfillment of a prophecy.

Bush discussed her writing with Rosa Salter of the Allentown Morning Call, commenting: "I don't find it particularly hard to write from a male point of view." She has written from the perspective of both men and women, but she admitted: "It's not so much because I understand men, because I don't think it's possible for a woman to understand man, but because I think I have a good idea of what reader's expectations are. I think that has more to do with creating a believable character of the opposite sex."