Mary Kuhfeld
Margaret of Shaftesbury
Same Person

Add in Mary Monica Pulver, Margaret Frazer (though I was only half of her, and only for the first six books) and Monica Ferris. An author's life can be filled with names and pseudonyms. But only Margaret Frazer and Monica Ferris are true pen names. Mary Monica Pulver is my maiden name, Mary Kuhfeld my married name, and Margaret of Shaftesbury is my persona name within the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). I've been known to joke that if I'm ever arrested, they'll hang on to me extra-long while they get to the bottom of the tangled web of aliases.

Maiden names, married names, and pen names - everybody understands them. But what's a persona name? The SCA is a living-history group with its chief focus upon the European Middle Ages. You find a time and place you enjoy, study what life was like then and there, and create yourself a persona. You decide who you would have been, and what you would have been like. You choose a name, acquire the skills, get the clothes, and become that person - at least for a weekend. And then you go out and interact with dozens, hundreds, thousands of others who've done very similar things. It's a form of learning-by-doing, and a party as well.

Since my medieval persona, Margaret of Shaftesbury, was an abbess and a scholar, it was only proper that she write. The Seven Deadly Sins was one fruit of this. Another fruit was my friendship with Gail Frazer, who (as Ailis fitz Ure) also lived in England in the time leading up to the Wars of the Roses. And the next thing you know, we're calling ourselves Margaret Frazer, and writing a series of historical mysteries set in the time and place we love so well. There's a picture of the two of us to the right. Gail, as a representative of civil society, carries the sword; I, as Abbess, carry the crozier.

There can be other side effects. Being Margaret of Shaftesbury also introduced me to Einar Lutemaker, a literary gentleman and artisan of Iceland. It didn't take long until we were married. There's a picture of us below, not that long after our wedding. And remember - I said literary. It wasn't too long before we were writing together. It was a strenuous and disconcerting experience, with good results.