Rosemary Kirstein
(1953- )
Rosemary Kirstein was born in Leominster, Massachusetts, the first US-born child of German immigrants, and grew up in Connecticut, where she studied music education at Central Connecticut University for a while before dropping out to work as a musician and songwriter. In the ’80s she moved to Greenwich Village and worked as a folk singer, holding various odd jobs, then became a computer programmer. She has supported herself with a variety of information technology jobs, including programming, technical writing, tech support, and user training.
The Steerswomen
The Steerswomen — (1989-2004) The Steerswoman’s Road is an omnibus of The Steerswoman and The Outskirter’s Secret. Publisher: If you ask, she will answer. If she asks, you must reply. A steerswoman will speak only the truth to you, as long as she knows it — and you must do the same for her. And so, across the centuries, the Steerswomen — questioning, searching, investigating — have slowly learned more and more about the world through which they wander. All knowledge the Steerswomen possess is given freely to those who ask. But there is one kind of knowledge that has always been denied them: Magic. When the steerswoman Rowan discovers a small, lovely blue jewel of obviously magical origin, her innocent questions lead to secret after startling secret, each more dangerous than the last — and suddenly Rowan must flee or fight for her life. Or worse, she must lie. With every wizard in the world searching for her, Rowan finds unexpected assistance. A chance-met traveler turned friend, Bel is a warrior-poet, an Outskirter, and a member of a barbaric and violent people. Or, so it would seem. For Bel, unknowing, possesses secrets of her own: secrets embedded in her culture, in her people, in the very soil of her homeland. From the Inland Sea to the deadly Outskirts, surrounded by danger and deceit, Rowan and Bel uncover more and more of the wizards’ hidden knowledge. As the new truths accumulate, they edge closer to the single truth that lies at the center, the most unexpected secret of them all…
The Steerswoman’s Road by Rosemary Kirstein
Some books are like a wild, whitewater rafting adventure that ends with a huge cascading waterfall. The Steerswoman’s Road is more like drifting down a slowly meandering river on an inner tube. This is an omnibus edition of the first two novels in the series, The Steerswoman and The Outskirter’s Secret.
Rowan is a Steerswoman. The Steerswomen and men must answer any question asked of them truthfully. Any question they ask in return must also be answered. Failure to answer a question will place a person under ban and they may never ask a question of a Steerswoman again.
The Steerswomen are the knowledge gatherers of their world. In The Steerswoman, Rowan is attempting to track the origin of some strange blue jewels that have been found in scattered locations when sh... Read More
