Book Spotlight – Darkness (Book 2 Mythics and Mortals) #Fantasy

Title: Darkness (Book 2 Mythics and Mortals trilogy)

Author: Hannah-Louise Smith

Genre: fantasy fiction

Main character description (short). Christina Jones is a blonde haired, green eyes Greek goddess and is the long lost daughter of Hades and Persephone. She is very powerful which surprises everyone.

Synopsis: Darkness is coming for you Christina Jones.
You, and everyone you love.



After the fateful events of the charity gala, Christina Jones is now crowned Queen of the Underworld. But ruling isn’t easy. Oxyllion is rising, and danger is stalking ever closer to Christina’s friends and family.

When mythic women start being taken by Oxyllion, Christina must delve into the past and hunt for answers in the most unlikely places. Answers that could not only save her father but the mythic and mortal realms.

Brief Excerpt 250 words:

 Christina began to follow the drops of blood that soon became spatters from the hallway and into the living room, ignoring the calls from Jared to stop and the protests from forensics and other MPD officers. The image would haunt her for the rest of her immortal life. There were bodies everywhere. But they weren’t mortal, their gleams had dropped upon their deaths. A family of centaurs were strewn about the room, their blood coating nearly every surface in rust-coloured spatters, their dull lifeless eyes were staring up at her, never to blink again, Christina instantly recognized one of the victims. They had only met once a short time ago at The Collective. Christina’s stomach lurched horribly at the sight of her mangled body, her insides were in a pile next to her, and her forelegs lay at odd angles. Her eyes were drawn away from the stomach-churning scene by the sight of something else. On the living room wall, written in blood that was still dripping wetly, was a message.

Merry Christmas Christina Jones. Don’t think that we’ve forgotten about you.

The message was signed with a symbol, one that made Christina freeze where she stood. An octagon in a spiked circle. Beneath the message, lay the small, broken body of Luna the centaur foal

Why should readers buy this book (50 words max)? It’s a great book and is the sequel to Awakening (book 1 Mythics and mortals trilogy). If the reader loves mythology, fantasy, horror and a bit of romance then this is definitely the book for them. Plus it’s on kindle unlimited so that helps.

Links etc. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Darkness-Mythics-Mortals-Hannah-Louise/dp/B0BNV4R588/

British Legends – Goram and Vincent #Giants #Bristol Myth

The South West of Britain has many striking geological features – The rivers Severn and Avon, the Avon Gorge not least among them. As with many of such wonders there are myths aplenty surrounding their creation (nothing as mundane as ice – ages, glacial flow and tectonic movement). Giants were a common creature often blamed of tasked with the creation of these natural phenomena, and if the amount of myths about them are anything to go by the giants were plentiful, drunken and of a mind to fighting.

Here is the tale of Goram and Ghyston-Vincent – two brother giants who have left their legacy in the culture of Bristol, if not, in fact the scenery.

Goram and Ghyston (Vincent)

The most widespread version of this myth claims the Giant brothers Goram and Ghyston (later known as Vincent) were both enamoured of the lady Avona (who bears the name of the local river – the Avon – which is a story in itself). Avona offered herself to whichever one could drain the lake which once existed between Bradford-on-Avon (neighbouring county of Wiltshire), and Bristol.

Taking up the challenge Goram decided to dig a channel through the limestone hills via Henbury, and Vincent opted for a route just south of Clifton.

Goram, (in one version) finding the work hard and hot downed prediguos quantities of ale (did he take it with him? Do Giants have public houses or make their own?) and fell asleep in his favourite stone chair.

Ghyston-Vincent – the better planner – paced himself and completed his channel – leaving is with the narrow gorge at Hazel Brook, and the Avon Gorge, through which the River Avon now flows. On completion the waters roared into the Severn, leaving only a trickle for the Hazel Brook.

Upon waking the Giant Goram, was upset at losing the affections of the Lady Avona, and stamped his foot in a pit – leaving the Giant’s Footprint in the woodland above the Henbury Gorge, in what is now the Blaise Estate. He was so upset he threw himself into the Severn Estuary, leaving behind Steep Holm island (his head) and Flat Holm island (his shoulder).

Goram’s lake, near Henbury, was supposedly created when Goram stamped his giant foot, and the smaller lake is Goram’s Soapdish. Goram’s Chair is comprised of two flat topped walls of solid rock sticking out from the cliff-face – they look a lot like the arms of a comfy chair.

It’s not surprising he lost – it sounds like he’d been busy creating these other features as well as wooing the ladies.

Ghyston-Vincent wed Avona and named the gorge after her.

In some versions Goram was lazy and stopped for drinkies…

Other versions of the tale

A second version of the legend says the brothers were working together and Goram fell asleep and was felled by an accident blow from Ghyston-Vincent’s pickaxe. A variation of this says the giants were sharing a pickaxe for the work, and Goram was slain when he was resting when his brother threw him the axe. Giants throwing tools and rocks to or at one another are common British myths to explain monoliths.

Ghyston-Vincent then completed the work alone, going on to complete other stone-works such as the Stanton Drew Stone Circles in remorse and later returned to his cave and died from grief and exhaustion.

Yet another version states only Goram built the Gorge and there is no mention of Vincent. Goram, having completed the work fell over an iron-age barrow and plunged into the Severn Estuary.

A similar legend tells of a giant named Gorm threw rocks at his rival, and one particularly large one fell short, thus becoming Druid Stoke.

Goram was buried beneath the barrow tumulus at Charnborough Hill – although there is not much left of the barrow now.

Transmission of the legend

The oldest version known is found in Britannia (1586) by William Camden, later reworked by Thomas Chatterton writing as Rowley the monk. Another version appears in Robert Atkyns History of Gloucestershire) in 1712.

The name Vincent may reflect that at the narrowest point of the Avon Gorge there was an ancient hermitage and chapel dedicated to St Vincent. In another version of the story Vincent is known as Ghyston, which is the name of the whole cliff-face of the Avon Gorge from at least the mid-fifteenth century. Vincent’s cave is also known as Ghyston Cave, or the Giant’s Hole.

The name Goram may have come from Iseult’s father, the King of Ireland, in the early romance of Tristran and Iseult. ‘Gorm’ is Irish for blue or ‘dark-skinned.

‘Vincent’ as a first name arrived in about the 13th Century, and became popular as a result of St Vincent the Deacon, however it is unclear whether the Clifton hermit was called Vincent and became associated with the saint, or that St Vincent became known in Bristol due to trading links with Portugal and Spain (St Vincent is the patron saint of Lisbon and vintners).

Legacy of the Legend

Blaise Castle and Estate use the legend of Goram widely, including hosting a funfair bearing Goram’s name. There is a Giant Goram pub in the area, a smokehouse restaurant called the Goram and Vincent, and even an Enterprise level E-commerce company bearing the name.

There is also a website and collection of kids’ books about Goram and Vincent/Ghyston.

There are walking tours and other tourist attractions based on the myth.

There is a carved Giant’s head at Ashton Gate, and in the Middle Ages a turfwork portrayed Ghyston’s head. Ghyston’s Cliff is in Avon Gorge.

A bit about the area

The Avon Gorge is a mile and half long and runs through a limestone ridge about 1.5 miles west of the centre of Bristol. It’s been used in the defence of the city. It is spanned by the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The gorge spanned 700 feet wide and 300 feet deep.

The gorge is mainly limestone and sandstone – it is believed to have been caused by glaciation during the Anglian Ice Age, and the limestone carries fossils from the Carboniferous Age 350m years ago. The Iron Age Dobunni tribe are believed to have dwelled in the area and there are the remains of three Iron-Age hill forts. (A variation of the myth held that the Giant Ghyst built the forts).

There are over twenty rare plant species that grow in the gorge and two unique species of trees, the rare peregrine falcons have returned to nest there since the 1990s. Much of it is a Site of Scientific Special Interest.

Check out the post from Anthony Adolph – broadcaster who gives a wonderful account of the stories. https://anthonyadolph.co.uk/somerset-giants/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goram_and_Vincent

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/leigh-woods/features/the-avon-gorge-in-medieval-mythology

Contos de Erana – Tales of Erana Portuguese Edition

Em um mundo onde a magia é ilegal, e os elfos escravizados se atrevem a ouvir as histórias da antiguidade? Cinco contos de mito, magia e monstros

A lua na água: o conto do amor entre uma deusa e um guerreiro e a terrível maldição que ele trouxe.

O Conto de Treyna, a Amada: Quando uma mulher mortal é perseguida por dois deuses rivais, até os céus são forjados por magia.

Nascido na Tempestade: Um mágico solitário encontra companhia de uma criatura da tempestade, mas a magia exige um preço, que preço será?

O Frasco Azul: Uma lição para ouvir atentamente as instruções, para que ninguém cometa um erro embaraçoso.

A Lenda de Oeliana: Uma história de ninfa e sapo, magia ciumenta e dívidas pagas.

https://books2read.com/ContosdeErana

TalesErana cover Portuguese

Elfhame – Anthea Sharp – Review #Fantasy #Fairytales

Elfhame – Anthea Sharp

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Mara is a girl with adventure in her soul, and she wants more than her mundane village and boring suitor can offer. Her life is one of few future prospects save a dull marriage, hard work and popping out children. She has no special skills of which she is aware, save more intelligence than usual, courage and a curious nature.

Prince Bran is the heir to not only the Hawthorne Throne, an-end-of-the-world prophecy, but he’s a fearsome Dark Elf. His life is filled with duty, war and magic. He is taciturn, a powerful sorcerer and fearsome warrior.

These two are linked – by a prophecy one has lived by and the other is blissfully unaware of. Aside from that, they have little in common.

Fate has her way and our two fine heroes meet; there are deceptions, battles with unpleasant monsters, surprises, unlikely friendships and a rollercoaster ending.

Told like a fairytale, the story is engaging (I read it through in a couple of hours as I couldn’t put it down), and the characters are great. Mara quickly captures the readers – feisty and brave, a bit naive but knows her own mind and is not afraid to say so. She is not a wallflower.

Bran is a sympathetic character – doing his duty and fulfilling a prophecy that will save his people, despite his own reservations, safety and happiness. The elves are seen by the humans as alien and ‘hideous’, with strange and mythical ways; the humans are viewed as primitive and weak. And both factions are proven wrong.

Well-crafted and filled with adventure this fantasy tale is definitely one for readers of mythic tales and fairy tales. Younger readers may find the monsters and the battles unsettling but this is a good read for any age.

5 stars.

Dark Fae – Blog Tour and Giveaway – Quinn Blackbird #Fantasy

 

Dark Fae
The Dark Fae Book 1
by Quinn Blackbird
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
He came to destroy the world.
He came to destroy us.
But he kept me alive when all else died.
It’s the end of us, the humans. Our world is ravaged, burned to the ground, destroyed by the armies of dark fae crawling all over our lands. They seek to end us, weed out the last of our survivors, and tear us to pieces.
We hide as best as we can. But it’s inevitable.
A dark fae army finds us hiding in a little village. We’re all goners. All of my group dies around me, and I’m about to join them in death—until he spares me.
**On Sale for only .99 cents!**
Taken
The Dark Fae Book 2
He’s a monster.
I’m a prisoner.
And he’s got his sights locked on me.
Caspan, the dark fae General, shows a dangerous interest in Vale, the latest human captive collected by the army.
What the dark fae want with the human captives is anyone’s guess—but it’s the last thing on Vale’s mind. As she struggles to manoeuvre the strict rules of her new life as a slave, she quickly learns that she must avoid the attention of the dark, dangerous Caspan at all costs.
His interest in her is not only a sinister mystery—it’s surely a death sentence.
Stay alive. That’s her only rule in this dark, abandoned world.
But living amongst monsters sometimes means having to bend the rules.
Dark Souls
The Dark Fae Book 3
Rule of the apocalypse. Don’t mess with the dark fae.
I did, and now this monstrous fae wants me;
Wants to hurt me,
Kill me,
And kiss me.
Vale is trapped in the dark fae army, a prisoner of monsters. To make matters worse, the dangerous and dark General isn’t forgetting her any time soon.
He corners her, watches her, and does what no dark fae should do with a human–kisses her.
His lips on her skin is a kiss of death.
But Vale sees in him an opportunity to save the life of her only friend.
Didn’t anyone ever tell Vale never to bargain with the fae?
Quinn Blackbird loves a good anti-hero.
All of her villains stay submerged in ‘dark’ so expect little redemption. She thinks them up over hot coffees and warm cups of tea on the porch.
When not writing, Quinn loves a good face mask and book on the couch with her two pups.
$10 Amazon Gift Card
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

 

Dirty Dozen Author Interview – Lynda Maye Adams – Bundle Author #HereBeMerfolk

image Linda Maye Adams

Author name: Linda Maye Adams

*Please tell us about your publications, specifically the story in this bundle:

My story is “Dark, From the Sea.” It was part of a Writing in Public feature I ran on my blog—I wrote a scene each day and posted it until the story was finished.   It was partially inspired by Japanese pearl divers, and also by some research I did on lighthouses.

I’m also the writer of the GALCOM Universe series, which is about a woman who leaves Earth for the first time because the military pays her to deal with alien ghosts.  There are three books in the series, and a fourth coming that’s got a lot of action.  I get to blow things up!

What other bundles are you involved with?

I was in the 2018 Military Science Story Bundle curated by Kevin J. Anderson with the first book in my GALCOM series, Crying Planet.  My short story “Watcher” Ghost is in the BundleRabbit Short Flights (of the Imagination), and my Desert Storm memoir, Soldier, Storyteller was in the Remembering Warriors BundleRabbit.

Are you a ‘pantser’ or a ‘plotter’?

I’m a pantser, though I don’t particularly like the term.  I just don’t plan anything out for my stories.  I don’t even know how it ends until I get there.  It’s sort of like taking a road trip without a planned destination.  You hop on the road and follow it.  There’s this sign…looks interesting.  You pull in and it isn’t quite what you thought, so you pull out of the rabbit hole until you find something else—and that one you spend a lot of time following.  It’s a lot of fun writing like this because it makes the story unpredictable.

What piece of advice do you wish you’d had when you started your publishing journey?

That description is not a bad thing.  That gets mispresented a lot in writing books and shows up on top ten lists for “don’t do a lot,” instead of learning how to do it.

How much research do you do for your work? What’s the wildest subject you’ve looked at?

I start with subjects I’m already familiar with, so I don’t have as much research to do. My GALCOM series came out of my military experience.  I’m also working on a mystery in 1940s Hollywood.  I grew up in Los Angeles in the 1970s and devoured everything on Hollywood I could find.  So the majority of my research tends to be on the spot—how cold is it in space (over 450 below zero)?  What is it like in zero-g?  What causes an aurora?

What’s the best advice you’ve received about writing/publishing?

It’s to have fun (which is from Dean Wesley Smith).  Writers can get so focused on getting published that they forget that writing has to be fun.

What’s the worst piece best advice you’ve received about writing/publishing?

That you must outline.  I started out writing when I was eight, and it was natural to me to put pen to paper and simply write.  Everyone around me thought I was doing it wrong because I wasn’t outlining.  There’s such a lot of pressure on pantsers—everyone looks at how we write and they don’t understand how it can be done like that.  It scares everyone, and they try to convert the pantsers over to outlining.  I always cringe when I see “I’m a reformed pantser,” because it makes me wonder if that person is still writing.

Tell us about your latest piece?

I just finished Last Stand, the fourth book in my GALCOM Universe series.  Colonel Graul catches a contagious flu and ends up in quarantine on a space station.  Then disaster happens and the space station is attacked!  So it’s a lot of action, and I blow up spaceships.  The aliens look like creepy bugs I saw when I was growing up, potato bugs.  Fitting that they are aliens. We never thought they looked real.

What’s your next writing adventure?

 Non-fiction: Writers Toolkit: Research on the Go For the Fiction Writer.  This book blends my experience as a travel administrator and how to research when you travel.

Golden Lies: The first book in my Al Travers Mystery series.  He’s a private eye in 1947 Hollywood, at the point where the studio system was about to collapse.  He’s also a veteran of World War II, and his secretary was a nurse over there.  So they both have the effects of the war as they try to find a missing actress.

With the influx of indie authors do you think this is the future of storytelling?

It has to be.  Traditional publishing is going to run out of writers.  When they gutted the mid-list writers, they cut off the water supply.  Those writers could be developing the skills to become best sellers in the future, and they’re either indie or no longer writing.  That only leaves the current best sellers.  One day, those writers going to start dying off.  There’s a lot of disruption, and traditional publishing is pretending like it’s 1980 and everyone will go back to the way it was. By the time they come around, it’s going to be too late.

Are indie/self-published authors viewed with scepticism or wariness by readers? Why is this?

While I still hear from a few people who think of the old days when you self-published a book because you couldn’t get published, I think most readers just want good books to read.  They don’t care where it comes from.

Is there a message in your books?

I don’t do message stories.  As a reader, I don’t want to be lectured to.  If I smell it from the description, I won’t even buy it.  I’m all about escapist fiction…grab the popcorn and sit down for a good read.

Bio

Linda Maye Adams was probably the least likely person to be in the Army—even the Army thought so!  She was an enlisted soldier and served for twelve years and was one of the women who deployed to Desert Storm.  But she’d much prefer her adventures to be in books.  She is the author of the military-based GALCOM Universe series, including the novel Crying Planet, featured in the 2018 Military Science Fiction StoryBundle.

Connect with Linda Online:

https://lindamayeadams.com/how-to-contact-linda/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LindaAdamsVA

Pintrest: https://www.pinterest.com/garridon/

Linda’s fiction site: https://lindamayeadams.com/

Dark, From the Sea features in Here Be Merfolk

boxset merfolk

Part of the Here Be Bundle Series

Amazon

Kobo

Barnes and Noble

I books

Bundle Rabbit

 

Review – A Sword’s Poem – Leah Cutter

Review – A Sword’s Poem – Leah Cutter

https://amzn.to/2LuiVmc

#Fantasy #Fairytale #Japanese

When Hikaru’s new husband is murdered by a wicked sorcerer, his soul stolen and forged into a mystic sword she risks all to find her love. Magic, betrayal, courage and love weave an intricate tale in Heian-era Japan; the author spins the world beautifully – as seen by the fox-fairy, and the human heroine. This is a tale of love, sacrifice, revenge and self-understanding – but more than that it’s a wonderful fairy-tale set against a background with which many Western readers will be unfamiliar. Ms Cutter brings this world to life, and its vibrancy and ritualism are everywhere in the story. Poetry features everywhere, and the language is very lyrical. I can imagine sitting around a campfire as someone recounts this as a heroic tale and getting totally caught up in it.

It’s primarily told from the point of view of the female characters – in a largely male-oriented world, which makes a nice change. These women are powerful, resourceful, braver than the men (in many cases), dutiful and self-reliant and such characters bring this sword and sorcery tale to life.

Recommended! 5 Stars

Swords Poem

Review – Beneath the Knowe – Anthea Sharp – Fantasy/Fairytale

Review

Beneath the Knowe

5 stars

This is a rich and lyrical short story of fairyland, glamour, one woman’s courage and magical music.

Maeve is a resourceful young woman who wants more from life than marriage to a man she barely knows, and the mundane existence of her kin. She has music within, a glorious melodic soul that yearns to be heard, but women cannot be bards.  When the fairies who ‘protect’ the clan take the chieftain’s baby son, Maeve’s nephew, nothing is to be done. Such is the bargain. Eventually, the menfolk challenge the fairies, and are sent home beaten and ashamed, minus the human infant.

It takes a woman, and a magical, musical soul to challenge the great Fairy King on his own turf -Maeve, and her music. Of course, bargaining with fairies has its price.

I loved this tale, with its vibrant imagery, innocent yet determined courage and a glimpse of the power of Anthea Sharp’s writing. Although this tale is short, it is enough of a taster to want more of this author’s work.  I will definitely be venturing into fairyland with Ms Sharp again.

Beneath the Knowe Amazon UK

Beneath the Knowe Amazon US

Beneath the Knowe cover

Dirty Dozen Author Interview J.M. Ney-Grimm

Author: J.M. Ney-Grimm

 Please tell us about your publications. I write fantasy in which the intimate and personal intertwine with the great forces of history and culture. Most of my stories are set in my North-lands, a world inspired by the watercolor illustrations of the Danish artist Kay Nielsen. My novels include: Troll-magic, Livli’s Gift, Caught in Amber, Fate’s Door, and The Tally Master. I also have a handful of novellas (plus a few short stories), among them: Sarvet’s Wanderyar, Hunting Wild, and Winter Glory.

Caught in Amber

What first prompted you to publish your work? In 2007, I re-discovered Maddy Prior’s amazing song ‘The Fabled Hare.’

Listening to her powerful lyrics and expressive voice, I grew suddenly aware that time was passing, I was getting older, and I didn’t have forever.

The imagery of the hunter and hounds closing in on the hare made me feel as though death were snapping at my heels.

If there was something I really wanted to do, something I had not done yet, I’d better get going or I might miss my chance entirely.

I didn’t ‘click the publish button’ in 2007, but that year and that song were the beginning of my publishing journey.

Are you a ‘pantser’ or a ‘plotter’? I do some of each.

I prefer having a skeletal outline at the start of a story. Doing without —pure ‘pantsing’—feels like walking a tightrope over Niagara without a safety net. Very uncomfortable! And yet…I’ve done it.

Once I awoke in the middle of the night, so afire with inspiration that I got up out of my bed to write the first scene of what would become the novel Caught in Amber. I didn’t work out an outline until I was a third of the way through the book!

More usually, I sort out the foundational plot line before I start writing. I need to know what happens, but (oddly) I need to not know how it happens. I discover the how as I write, and that keeps the story feeling fresh to me.

Even when I follow an outline, I always feel free to ‘have a better idea.’ Sometimes my outline writhes like a river in flood!

 

What piece of advice do you wish you’d had when you started your publishing journey? I’m going to pretend you asked me about my writing journey. 😉 Because there’s a piece of advice that I really, really needed and didn’t get, way back when.

For some reason, I thought that the process of writing was much more cut-and-dried than it ever could be. Why I thought this, I don’t know. Perhaps because I formed the impression when I was very young, at age ten or eleven.

But the result was that, when I sat down in my early twenties to write my great fantasy novel, and didn’t get anywhere with it, I concluded that I must not be made of such stuff as goes into the bones of real writers.

I longed to write novels, and believed I could not. I spent more than two decades believing this and writing poetry and story vignettes and gaming adventures instead.

And then I listened to Maddy Prior’s ‘The Fabled Hare’ and got serious about my creative aspirations. I read Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, did every last one of the written assignments in the book, and read several of the titles in its bibliography.

That’s when I encountered Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande, and one of her suggestions set me free.

So the advice I wish I’d gotten? Find out how other writers do it! Not just one or two, but dozens. Ask them. Read biographies. Whatever it takes, find out.

Because if I’d learned that there are as many ways as there are writers, I might not have concluded so wrongly that I was not a writer. I might have been writing novellas and novels (as well as poetry and vignettes and gaming adventures) between 1980 and 2007. I might not have been so unhappy in my creative desert.

 

What are your views on authors commenting on reviews? Do not go there! Reviews are a reader space. What reader wants to write his or her honest opinion and then discover that the author of the book has been peering over his or her shoulder the whole while?

 

Sort these into order of importance: Great characters. Good plot. Awesome world-building. Technically perfect.

As a reader (not a writer), I want them all. If the characters aren’t great, I have no interest. If the plot is stupid, I get cranky. If the world-building is unconvincing, I get thrown out of the story. If there are grammar errors, I’m tempted to email the author with the necessary fix. Gah!

I believe I’m known as what one writer calls a ‘fussy reader.’ That’s being kind!

As a writer…what can I say? I go for all four. One of my writing mentors told me that I need never worry about grammar or word choice; in her words, I’m stellar at that.

My readers tell me that my world-building is so thorough that they feel like they are ‘watching a movie on the insides of their eyeballs.’

Another writing mentor says that plot is clearly one of my strong points.

And yet more readers claim that the relationship dynamics between my characters feel utterly real.

 

How much research do you do for your work? What’s the wildest subject you’ve looked at? A surprising amount! I’ve heard those who don’t write fantasy speculate that fantasy writers need do no research at all: they can just make it all up.

Nope!

Because my world is make-believe featuring magic and fantastical creatures, it is all the more important that I get the details of living there right. Horses better behave like the real beasts. The combination of wet and cold better be appropriately dangerous. Travel attempted under medieval conditions better be realistically inconvenient. And so on.

I’ve researched the horse sandals of the ancient Romans (horseshoes weren’t invented until 500CE), the forging of Bronze Age swords, the details of how fishes’ gills work, and more.

 

How influential is storytelling to our culture? To be human is to be a storyteller. We remember our past with story. We predict and plan for our future with story. We make meaning out of our present with story. We cannot be ourselves without story.

That’s an existential answer to a more grounded question, but I stand by it. 😉

 

Which authors have influenced you the most? I love the sense of wonder present in the fantasy of Robin McKinley. I adore the cultural creativity in C.J. Cherryh’s Foreigner series. The poetry of Patricia McKillip’s storytelling inspires me. And the great characters within the amazing worlds of Lois McMaster Bujold carry me completely out of myself.

 

What is your writing space like? All I need is my laptop! I prefer quiet, but I can write amidst noise and hullabaloo if need be. (I learned how when my kids were still little and would nestle against me while I tapped away on my keyboard.) When I had a badly broken foot (doctor’s orders to keep it elevated and bearing no weight for 10 weeks, so as to avoid surgery), I learned to write while semi-reclining on the couch. I got so used to this position that I use it still!

 

Tell us about your latest piece? My novel The Tally Master released in April 2017. Here’s a little bit about it:

Seven years ago, reeling from a curse in the wake of battle, Gael sought sanctuary and found it in a most perilous place.

The citadel of a troll warlord—haunt of the desperate and violent—proves a harsh refuge for a civilized mage. But Gael wields power enough to create an oasis of order amidst the chaos.

Set in the Bronze Age of my North-lands, The Tally Master brings mystery and secrets to epic fantasy in a suspenseful tale of betrayal and redemption.

 

What’s your next writing adventure? I’m really excited about the novel I’m working on now. Its tentative title is To Thread the Labyrinth. Here’s a bit about it:

Ohtavie de Bellay craves safety. Craves obscurity. She seeks solitude and secrecy and shadows. Because only hiding holds death at bay.

But Ohtavie fears that all her care—decades of prudence—won’t be enough. No, she knows it won’t save her.

One day an angry mob will come to drag her forth from her long retreat and stone her. Or pinion her within her refuge and burn it down around her. Or, worst of all, summon the executioner who will hold her unmoving with his enigmatic magic, while his great axe parts her head from her living body with brutal precision.

So Ohtavie lurks and hides and fights her fears alone.

Until that one day arrives, bringing…no mob, no stones, no flames, and no axe.

Just one sweet-faced girl who threatens Ohtavie with something more perilous still.

A gripping story of quiet courage and fortitude.

 

Is there a message in your books? I don’t deliberately include a message, but I suspect my most cherished beliefs seep into my fiction.

There is hope. If the first attempt fails—or the second, or the third—try again. How you do a thing will shape who you become, as well as the ultimate result. You are loved. There is beauty in existence. ‘All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.’

 

Links

Website: http://jmney-grimm.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009200970533

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JMNeyGrimm

Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/315055.J_M_Ney_Grimm

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/J.M.-Ney-Grimm/e/B006QRFNAS/

 

J.M. Ney-Grimm lives with her husband and children in Virginia, just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She’s learning about permaculture gardening and debunking popular myths about food. The rest of the time she reads Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, and Lois McMaster Bujold, plays boardgames like Settlers of Catan, rears her twins, and writes stories set in her troll-infested North-lands.

Dirty Dozen Character Interview – Sorcha #Fantasy #Mythic

Welcome; SORCHA

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  • Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m a fully-trained sorceress, though my mother sometimes forgets this. I guess I’ll always be a child in her eyes. I’m in my early 20s, trim, active, and healthy. I’m not particularly beautiful, but then my physical appearance has never been important to me. I’m not interested in fashion or the latest hair styles. I wear sturdy, serviceable dresses and my long dark hair is usually in a single braid. My eyes are my most interesting facial feature, deep blue with an exotic slant that people often compare to a cat’s eyes. I’ve never met my father, but Mother says I inherited his eyes.

  • What is your world like? How does it differ to mine?

I believe your people would refer to my world as medieval and feudal, but those are political terms which we’ll discuss later. As far as the world itself is concerned, it is much like Earth, possessing mountains and lakes and oceans, and even deserts, though I’ve never seen one of those. The mountains near my home are tall and rugged and capped by brilliantly white glaciers.

  • Is your world populated by different races? How do they get along?

The intelligent races of my world are humans and dragons. We have the usual non-sapient creatures. Domestic animals such as horses, sheep, cows, dogs and cats, and wild animals such as wolves and bears and predatory cats.

How do humans and dragons get along? Not very well at the moment. In fact, that’s the reason for my adventure.

  • Within your culture what is the political structure?

Human society is made up of feudal kingdoms. My mother and I live in Glengorm under King Leofric. Our nearest neighbor is Rossal, which is ruled by King Dougal. Each kingdom is divided into hereditary holdings ruled by lords and their ladies. The common folk who work the land live in villages and are often represented to their lords by village elders who are elected by their neighbors for their wisdom and experience.

  • What is your greatest fear?

I’m so afraid that King Leofric will declare war on the dragons of the ice aerie that I’m considering a rash action. Mother has advised me to stay out of it, to let Leofric and his counsellors deal with the situation, but if I have the power to stop a war, don’t I have a moral obligation to use it?

  • Tell us why you’re embarking on this adventure?

To prevent a war between my kingdom and the dragons of the ice aerie, thereby saving my people. I don’t think King Leofric truly understands how completely outclassed his knights are by the dragons.

  • Tell us about your family?

My family? I don’t really have one. It’s just mother and me. My father deserted Mother before she even knew she carried me. Mother is the bravest woman I know. She’s a sorceress, as I am, and women aren’t usually accepted for training in anything more challenging than the potions of a hedge witch. But Mother refused to be held back by bigotry. She fought to be accepted and finally found a wizard willing to train her, though he had his doubts. Not about her ability. He knew she was powerfully gifted, but about her commitment. He believed women were fickle. Too prone to fall in love and desire family and children. When Mother confessed her pregnancy, he sent her away and told her not to return until she’d been delivered of the child and found it a suitable home. Mother stood up to him. She would not hide her pregnancy for his convenience, neither would she give me up. She would continue her studies and raise her child. The force of her personality and her magical potential were too much for him. She remained his apprentice and I was not given away.

  • Would you die for those you love?

Without a second thought. I’d rather not, of course, but if my death would save my people, I would sacrifice myself gladly.

  • Do you believe in magic?

Of course, don’t you? Its power courses through my veins. My entire reason for being is the study and responsible use of magic.

  • What is your greatest skill/asset?

My determination. Once I decide upon a course of action, nothing can deter me.

  • What is your greatest weakness (we won’t tell).

I’m very stubborn. (Another name for determination.) Once I decide upon a course of action, nothing can deter me.

  • What do you think of your author/creator?

She’s an adequate chronicler. She has told my tale fairly and well.

 

For the author

Books in which this character appears:

Also appearing in  Mythic Tales

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Links, short author bio…

 

Website: http://debbiemumford.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DebbieMumfordWrites/

Newsletter: eepurl.com/bTXLhX

 

Bio:

A prolific copywriter by day, Debbie Mumford has been published in WMG Publishing’s Fiction River anthologies, Heart’s Kiss Magazine, Spinetingler Magazine, and other markets. She has also published several novels, novellas, and short story collections, including the popular Sorcha’s Children series. Debbie writes about faeries, dragons, and the supernatural for adults as herself and for tweens and young adults as Deb Logan. Find out more about Debbie’s work at debbiemumford.com or follow her on Facebook: @DebbieMumfordWrites. Join her newsletter list at eepurl.com/bTXLhX to receive an exclusive FREE story!