Mr. Stroud,

First, I want to let you know that not only did I LOVE the series, I did so while expecting not to like it at all. A friend insisted I read it and she normally has horrid taste in books. This time, however, she was absolutely right. It was an excellent series and I never wanted to put the books down.

Question 1: In Golem's Eye, Nathaniel sees Harlequin carrying a candle made of something revolting, though what that is is never specified. What was the candle actually made of?

Question 2: What do you think of the way Kitty thinks and acts? It seems to me she can be just as stubborn and wrong as the magicians she fights (for instance, quite a bit of what the Resistance does such as stealing from the magicians just to use those weapons against them), yet no one really has a problem with it. However, when the magicians are in the wrong, no one hesitates to act out against them. I realize Kitty is under the rader by comparison, but do you think all she does is right?

Question 3: In Buried Fire, another "Kitty" is mentioned. Does that name have special significance to you?


Thank you for taking the time to answer your fans' questions. I can't think of other authors who are so dedicated as to do so on such a scale as opposed to inviting one or two to ask and leaving the rest with questions. It's very amazing of you.

Dear KittyJ,

Hello and thank you for the questions. Sorry to have taken several months to reply!

1. Well, I think it would be indelicate for me to answer this one. I was careful NOT to specify the exact nature of the candle in the books, but suffice it to say that it's based on the old legend of the 'hand of glory' in which the hand of a criminal was cut down off the gallows and closed around a candle made of assorted repellent materials; when a thief lit the candle as he entered a house, all the people in it went to sleep. Harleqin's one is a variation and it seems he's cut something down from a corpse, only I'm not sure it's a hand in this case. Best left to the imagination of us all.

2. You're right that Kitty is involved in some pretty questionable activities in book II, and the Resistance are not nearly as noble as she originally believes. As the book goes on she becomes disillusioned with the notion of violent resistance, mainly because she's seen Pennyfeather's naked greed close up in the tomb of Gladstone. The magicians would of course argue that the Resistance are simple terrorists, and by the end of Golem's Eye Kitty has realised that she has to find a different way to make a difference - one that doesn't morally compromise her. You're right that she's stubborn, but she always retains her idealism that she can make a better world. That makes her a Resistance fighter to begin with, but she is not corrupted - her idealism survives intact and is flexible enough to change her course. Compare it to Nat, who is also idealistic in book I, but by the beginning of III has definitely been corrupted by power. Of the three main characters, Kitty is probably the most conventionally heroic and least morally compromised. Having said that, it DOES get murky and mucky for her in Book II, before she reorientates herself.

3. Good question! It actually wasn't until I was in the middle of the trilogy that I remembered the Kitty folktale in Buried Fire. I was a bit aghast, but I suppose the repetition doesn't matter. The answer to your question is 'not really', except that obviously I like the name. It has a dynamism about it, I think - it's attractively feminine but also full of energy and zest: perfect for a heroine!

Best wishes,

Jonathan