The Druid's Brooch Series is coming to an end!

Follow a family saga back through the centuries, all holders of a magical brooch whose origins are hidden in the mists of time and Irish legend...

Book #1 - FREE!

It started in 1846, with Legacy of Hunger. Valentia left her home in the United States to travel to Ireland. She traveled in search of her grandmother's family and a mystical brooch she'd heard tales of since childhood. A brooch which haunted her dreams....

Then, in 1800, Esme and Eithne were twins, ripped from their childhood home. Esme chose to stay in Ireland when her parents emigrated to America, and lived with her Traveler husband, Sean. Eithne married a local land-owner, but that would never be enough for her... see the rest in Legacy of Truth.

In 1746, Eamonn and Katy fell in love, but she was forced to marry a man not of her choosing. Her father sold her to a horse trader, and she had to come up with clever ways to escape brutality. Read their love story in Legacy of Luck.

Going back to the 12th century, Orlagh is a Seer to her chief in Misfortune of Vision, and has been for over forty years. However, when her visions only show death and war, he refuses to believe her prophecies, forcing her into a quest in the middle of winter to prove herself.

When Orlagh was a young girl in Misfortune of Song, she fell madly in love with a charming bard, but her grandfather, Maelan, is displeased with her choice of a man with no honor. She defies him and escapes, only to find her lover isn't what she imagined.

Maelan's childhood was full of pain and danger, as his grandmother, Etain, tried to shield her husband's abuses. Instead, she must escape in Misfortune of Time, finding a place of safety for herself and abandoning Maelan.

In the 6th century, Conall had vowed to his father to take care of Lainn, his little sister. Her studies with the druids and ability to sing to the birds made her a delightful child. But when their step-father grew cruel, they had to escape to another world in Age of Saints.

In Age of Secrets, Fingin had no friends or family, but when he rescued a half-drowned wolfhound from the river, Bran became his closest friend. Together they embarked on a quest for a mysterious woman into the land of Faerie.

Now, in the final installment of this epic family saga, Cliodhna must make a decision between her own family and her duties in another realm. Age of Druids, and the revelation of the origin of the Druid's Brooch, is due out later this year.

An excerpt from Age of Druids:

Clíodhna’s baby’s screech stabbed through her skull, making her want to abandon Aileran and escape into blessed silence. She wished to be somewhere in the forest, on a hill, surrounded by buzzing bees and yellow flowers. Perhaps flying over the rolling hills with a flock of starlings.


Her brief idyll crashed when another scream broke through. She sighed and picked him up, rocking him against her shoulder while stirring the iron pot. She cast an eye for her middle child, Donn, who helped a lot, but tended to wander off and get into trouble. She found no sign of him, but someone yelled at the horses outside. He must be doing farm chores.


Aileran cuddled into her shoulder, let out a wet burp, and promptly fell asleep, a warm weight against her neck. His hand curled around a hank of her black hair, pulling just enough to make her wince. At the same time, his adorable smile invoked her own. Despite her frustration, she loved her baby boy. It had been a dozen winters since her womb had quickened, but she’d been glad of the new child after so many winters, especially after losing one daughter at birth.


Clíodhna glanced out the window of the large roundhouse. She glimpsed Donn, unharnessing the plow with practiced hands. Though he counted but fourteen winters, he needed to be the man of the house since his father disappeared.


The baby fussed again, whimpering in his sleep. She rocked him, still stirring the stew in the pot. They’d only a few meals of dried lamb left from the autumn harvest, but still had plenty of onions and turnips, as well as chives and garlic. At least Oisinne left them a workable farm before he disappeared. She used to sell small wooden carvings she’d made, but who found time for such frivolity now?


The odor of char caught her attention, and she cursed as she tried to swivel the pot off the fire. She needed to add more water before it scorched. Baby still in hand, she bent to the bucket, trying to lift it without waking the child. She failed.


His screams shot right through her ears, a physical pain that made her drop the bucket. The water splashed on the flagstone floor.


“Son of a diseased donkey!”


“Clíodhna! Such language!”


She whirled to see Ita, a blond woman from the village, standing in the doorway, her hand upon her heart.


“Sorry, Ita. Can you help me for a moment? I need about five extra hands.”


“I can see that. Here, let me take the wee one.” She reached out to take Aileran, who yanked on Clíodhna’s hair so hard it brought tears to her eyes.


She tried to be patient with her son. “Let go, Aileran, there’s a good babe.”


A crash outside made her whimper.



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Interview with Author MARY GILLGANNON

Mary Gillgannon in Wales.

When I released my historical fantasy The Silver Wheel, I sub-titled it “A Novel of Celtic Britain”. Since then, I’ve had several people comment that they never thought of Britain as being Celtic. To them, Celtic refers to only the fringes of the British islands: Ireland, Scotland and Wales. But the fact is, before the Romans arrived, the whole of the British Isles was inhabited by native tribal groups who shared a culture most people today would recognize as "Celtic". They wore vividly-dyed garments of checked, plaid and patterned wool (which would eventually evolve into the tartan). They adorned themselves with jewelry in complex curvilinear patterns, often in animal motifs. They wore their hair long and often braided. The men were generally unshaven, although some tribes shaved their chins and had long mustaches. They lived in round dwellings in fortified settlements that were often on built on hilltops. They worshiped a variety of male and female deities that were strongly connected with animals and the natural world. Their religious leaders were an educated class who transferred their knowledge orally.


These religious leaders are often called druids, which probably means “from the oak”, and they held their ceremonies in oak groves. They possessed a strong belief in an afterlife and otherworld. They were also reputed to practice human sacrifice. In fact, the initial story idea for my book came from reading about a bog body found near Lindow, England. The body was of a healthy, aristocratic young man (his hands showed he'd done very little manual labor and was healthy and well-nourished). The man had been strangled, had his throat cut and been bludgeoned (the triple death) and was then pushed into the bog. Because the body dates from the time of the Roman conquest of Britain in the early first century A.D., some researchers have surmised that this man was offered as a sacrifice to petition the Celtic deities to aid the British in their struggle against the invading Romans. We know for certain the Celtic Britons made sacrifices of weapons, jewelry and even chariots, as caches of these items have been found in lakes and springs throughout the British Isles.

The Romans characterized the Celts as warlike, boastful and ostentatious, and described them as utterly fearless in battle. The Celts were also known for their love of music and poetry, feasting, drinking, and for constantly fighting among themselves. Throughout history, invading peoples used this Celtic propensity for tribal conflict to their advantage. It can be argued that if the Celts had put up a united front, none of the successive waves of invaders—Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Norse, Normans or English—would ever have been able to establish any control over this region. At the end of The Silver Wheel, when the Roman victory seems inevitable, my priestess heroine sets a spell on the highlands of Wales, calling upon the gods to protect her people from Roman influence and keep their Celtic spirit strong. If you visit Wales today, you will find little evidence of the Romans, while Celtic aspects are everywhere. They still speak Welsh, a Celtic language, and use Celtic patterns in their art and design. They retain a love of music, a strong independent spirit, a mystical connection to the land and a fondness for tales and storytelling, all things that were characteristic of their Celtic ancestors.



Based on that, I think you can say my heroine’s spell was successful!



For more information about her books, visit Mary’s website http://www.marygillgannon.com.

She can also be found on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/mary.gillgannon

Interview with Author ADRIENNE CLARK

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of Adrienne's book!

The Lure of Long Ago and Faraway
One of the most important decisions you make as an author is when and where your story will take place. While some of us prefer to write about the here and now, others, like me, dream of stories set long ago and far away. For me, the past evokes a certain kind of longing and magic that I find more difficult to realize in the present.

When I thought of the story To Dance in Liradon I knew it would take place in medieval Ireland. Although I’ve never been to Ireland (a terrible wrong I hope to remedy in the near future) I’ve always been drawn to Irish mythology. Steeped in legend, rich with beautiful heroines, fierce warriors, heroic battles, and of course, Faeries, few cultures can compete with Ireland’s gift for storytelling. What captivated me most about Irish mythology were tales about the Tuatha de Danaan, also known as the ‘Shining Ones,’ or as I refer to them in my book, the ‘Fair Folk.’

Far from the tiny, winged creatures popular in British culture, Irish Faeries are tall, beautiful, extremely proud and amoral. The more I read about the Tuatha de Danaan, the more I wanted to write about them.

A recurring theme in Irish mythology about the Tuatha de Danaan is the idea of paradise; the land of promise as it is spoken of in some sources. In Faerie land there is no suffering, no disease, and no one ever grows old or inform. Those who enter its enchanted borders are young and beautiful forever.

Of course, nothing is ever quite what it seems. What does it mean to live in this kind of eternal paradise? And how does perfect happiness affect our bonds to one another? In To Dance in Liradon, my heroine, Brigid, must ask these very questions when she lifts the veil that separates human from Faerie. I love naming heroines, and I chose Brigid as a nod to the Celtic Goddess of Fire.

To Dance in Liradon takes place in two distinct but intimately intertwined worlds, Faerie and human. The juxtaposition of these worlds intrigued me, different as light and dark, but like light and dark they define one another. Both have the power to lure and enchant, but in very different ways. The Irish poet W.B Yeats imagined interactions between Faeries and humans as a magnetic pushing-pulling attraction, one for the other.

My story unfolds when Brigid finds herself torn between two worlds and two men as she struggles to understand who she is and where she belongs. It takes courage for a young woman to walk among the Fair Folk, who think themselves the noblest race on earth, and even more courage to find out what to dance in Liradon really means.

Fantasy writers spend many hours creating new and exciting worlds for their readers, and many of them draw on mythological sources. I’ll never forget my visits to Narnia, Middle Earth and Prydain. These books, among others, inspired me to create my own fantasy worlds. But the human world is beautiful too, in all its flawed, imperfect mortality. My hope is that To Dance in Liradon gives readers a glimpse into both Faerie and human worlds, and that they are in some way moved by what they find there.


Website: http://adrienneclarkewriter.com/

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/#!/adrienne.clarke.9

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To Dance in Liradon is available at:

http://www.soulmatepublishing.com/

http://www.amazon.com/

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/



Adrienne Clarke

http://www.adrienneclarkewriter.com/

To Dance in Liradon is now available from Soul Mate Publishing!


When Brigid suddenly finds herself torn between two men and two worlds, her struggle leads her into the glittering, ruthless world of Faerie where she must rescue her true love from a terrible sacrifice or lose him forever.

Cover Blurb for To Dance in Liradon

Seventeen-year old Brigid O'Flynn is an outcast. A chance encounter with the Faerie Queen left her tainted in the eyes of the villagers, who blame the Faerie for the village’s missing women and children. Desperate to win the village’s acceptance Brigid agrees to marry her childhood friend: Serious, hardworking, Connell Mackenna. But when Connell disappears before their wedding Brigid's hopes are shattered. Blamed for her fiancé’s death, Brigid fears she will suffer the same fate as the other village outcasts, the mysterious Willow Women. Lured into Liradon by their inhuman lovers, and cast out weak and broken, the Willow Women spend their lives searching for the way back into Faerie. When Connell suddenly reappears Brigid is overjoyed, but everything is not as it seems. Consumed by his desire for beauty and celebration, Connell abandons his responsibilities, and Brigid soon finds herself drawn into a passionate, dangerous world of two.

 

When Brigid discovers the truth behind Connell's transformation she’s forced to choose between two men and two worlds. Brigid’s struggle leads her into glittering, ruthless Liradon where she must rescue her true love from a terrible sacrifice or lose him forever.

The Celtic Tree of Life

The Celtic Tree of Life

    By Miriam Newman and Erin O'Quinn                                            

Erin O’Quinn: Some months back, when I was writing the final chapters of my historical WARRIOR, RIDE HARD, I wrote a passage that hit me today like “déja vu all over again.” I had the immigrants to Derry choose a huge old oak tree as the spot to build their church. Gristle, the head of the expedition who had guided the people to that spot, removed a portion of the rugged bark and inscribed a slash mark to note “day one” of the settlement. It was here that the people built a large clay-and-wattle roundhouse that served as the Church of Derry.

Imagine my surprise when I read the following passage this morning from the internet source THE SACRED CELTIC TREE OF LIFE:

When a tribe cleared the land for a settlement in Ireland, they always left a great tree in the middle, known as the crann bethadh (krawn ba-huh), or Tree of Life, as the spiritual focus and source of well-being. They held assemblies and inaugurated their chieftains beneath it so that they could absorb power from above and below. . . .

 Even though I had no knowledge of the tradition, I naturally selected that old oak to be the spiritual center of a settlement whose very name Daire comes from the Irish Gaelic word for  “oak.” My friend Miriam would tell me that the spirit that moved me to select that oak is the same spirit that drove people from time immemorial to place their spiritual center at or in a tree.

That same internet article on the tree of life goes on to say: From its roots drinking the waters of the Earth to its leaves reaching to the gods, such a tree was considered magical.  The largest such tree in the middle of any settlement was invariably left standing and venerated. So respected was its power that the greatest ignominy warriors could inflict on a defeated village was to cut down their sacred tree, removing the life force from an entire group of people.

Miriam Newman: The druids of the lands we call “celtic” held trees in just such a place of sanctity. But the concept is an ancient one, and it transcends both countries and religious beliefs. I think that those of you who have some knowledge of the Jewish kabbalah will see a resemblance between the two images below:

Art by Katelyn Mariah

Both are modern images.  The one above is a representation of how the druids connected numerals written in the ancient ogham style with different trees. The one on the right is a sketch by artist Katelyn Mariah from her blog “Medicine Woman Art,”  a rendition of the kabblalistic tree of life. Both emblems are heavy with mystic connotations, but the message is clear nonetheless. The spiritual center is a tree, whose symbolism we understand on an almost subconscious level.

Many people have remarked on the fact that the well-known “celtic knot’ is a kind of tree of life itself, with roots and branches interwoven into an inextricable knot that echoes the endless cycle of life.

The imaginative tapestry below is a marvelous reflection of this immortal cycle, as the celtic knot becomes the root of the tree itself:

Note the similarity between the celtic knot tapestry above and this beautiful rendition of how the tree canopy echoes its roots:

It’s not much of a stretch to see how artists have seen the human form integrated with that of the tree of life:

I think the whole elemental concept of trees–their roots sunk into the Earth, drinking its knowledge–was so sacred to the druids that we feel that power even in our times.  I believe the tree of life was simply that–the symbol of this life or any other. It was all the same to the druids. Nothing was ever lost, only changed, just as the water of the earth became the leaves that sheltered it. A very simple concept, really, yet so profound it represented an entire civilization.

The Druid Stone in Austria

The Book of Kells

(Portrait of Madonna and Child)

The Book of Kells is Ireland's most precious medieval artifact. The stunning manuscript contains the Four Gospels. It is considered to be the finest illustrated manuscript to have been produced in medieval Europe.

It is believed that the Book of Kells was written at a monastery on the Isle of Iona, Scotland in the 8th century. This was done in honor of Saint Columba. The book was then moved to Kells, Ireland in the 9th century after a Viking raid.

The book is well preserved considering what it has been through. Sometime in the 11th century, the book had been stolen; it's cover torn off and thrown in a ditch. The book has suffered little water damage and the cover has never been found. It most likely held gold and gems.

In 1541, when the English Reformation was taking place, the Roman Catholic Church took the book and held it for safe keeping. During the 17th century, it was returned to Ireland. Archbishop James Ussher then donated it to Trinity College in Dublin, where is still resides.

(Portrait of John)

The book of Kells was written on vellum or calf skin. It was time-consuming to prepare the vellum properly, but this made for a smooth writing surface. 680 pages have survived. Only two of those do not contain some sort of artistic illustration. In addition to the character illuminations, there are entire pages that are primarily ornamentation which include portrait pages, "carpet" pages, and partially decorated pages with little writing on them.

It is said there are 10 different colors that were used in the illustrations. Some of them are rare and expensive dyes that were imported from the continent. You need to use a magnifying glass to see some of the workmanship because the details are so fine.

The Fine Art Facsimile Publisher of Switzerland and Trinity College of Dublin began a project in the 1980's to produce a facsimile of the Book of Kells. Faksimile-Verlag Luzern produced more than 1,400 copies of a reproduction of the manuscript.