As I hinted in my last post, I have a new release. An ebook boxed set of my fantasy romance series: Stewards War is now available for preorder.
The roots of these novels lie in Celtic Mythology and Lore. The heroes of Keeper of the Grove and its sequel Bitter Thorn Tribe is one of many immortal warriors in the Tuatha dé Danann’s army known as the Harshad Warriors. They are an elite regiment for the Tuatha dé Danann whose leaders love and protect each generation’s Steward from the evil god Balor. The struggle between the Tuatha dé Danaan and Balor represents a war spanning from mythic Ireland through the Medieval period and into present day Florida overseen by one daughter of a special, chosen family without whom, the world might truly be in peril.
The set includes all three books in the trilogy:
Stewards War boxed set
Keeper of the Grove and the flash fiction “About a Warrior”
Bitter Thorn Tribe
and Druid Defiance.
The boxed set (at the moment) gives you a bit of a discount than if you bought the three books separately.
Who can believe May is almost over, raise your hand.
*crickets*
Yeah, neither can I! So, what’s new in the writer’s sphere? Well, I’ve been busy busy with house stuff, (ugh!) and busy editing. Editing what, you ask? Why, the next Antique Magic book! Yes, my next urban fantasy book will be coming, very, very soon. I had hoped to get it out before now, but pesky thing is longer than I planned–and I got knocked down for two weeks not being able to keep anything in my stomach, which in turn left me with no desire or strength to edit.
(Oh, yeah, right. And there was reading through the monstrosity that was that pile of papers I showed you last month, and I sort of roughly plotted a new historical romance “series”. Yes, I cannot control the plot-bunnies, ever.).
Then, we had some house things we had to take care of, nothing too shocking, but it was to us. So, that’s been a minor nuisance.
As an addendum to my post about the new story in the Antique Magic series, A LIGHT YULE PROBLEM, if you’d like to listen to the author read the story to you, I put up a video of myself reading it that you can play on my Youtube channel.
I’m not used to reading on camera, so please, be kind to my nervous mistakes. But along with the story, I thought you, my friends and fans, might enjoy hearing the author read it to you.
If you’d like to get a copy to follow along with, you can find it at Amazon, or here. Also, if you’d like to check out The Artist’s Inheritance, book one in the series, it’s currently on sale for $.99 at Amazon, for until New Years. Enjoy!
Our guest, Rebecca Buchanan, has been a feature in the pagan fiction community for a while, we are pleased to have read her latest release, a fine collection of ranging from fantasy to scifi to mythological retellings entitled A Witch Among Wolves.She is the editor of Eternal Haunted Summer. Her short stories, poems, and essays have been published in a number of different venues. When she is not editing EHS, she is also the Editor-in-Chief of Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the publishing arm of Neos Alexandria. She also blogs fairly regularly at BookMusings: (Re)Discovering Pagan Literature at PaganSquare and Gods Among the Stars: Paganism in Genre Fiction at Luna Station Quarterly. She recently took time out of her busy editing schedule for a little interview about the book.
Hi Rebecca, thanks for being here. I really enjoyed your anthology and I’m happy to have you here. Can you briefly describe the anthology?
Rebecca Buchanan: Thanks for inviting me! A Witch Among Wolves, and Other Pagan Tales is a collection of five of my short stories. Each is a different genre — science fiction, contemporary horror, a political tale, an eco-fable, and an urban fantasy — but all feature Pagan/polytheist themes. For instance, “Alexander’s Heart,” set in a far future ruled by the descendants of Antony and Cleopatra, follows the Captain of a solar barque and his crew as they try to safely deliver the Pythia of Delphi to a colony far from Earth. The title story, “A Witch Among Wolves,” stars a traditional Lithuanian ragana as she negotiates with a pack of shape-shifting wolves for access to their hidden valley.
My next anthology, A Serpent in the Throat, and Other Pagan Tales, also features a variety of genres, but each story contains strong Pagan/polytheist themes.
How long have you been a practicing pagan?
Rebecca: Oh, gosh …. Over twenty years. I started having serious problems with the Church in college, but continued to go through the motions. As soon as I set out on my own, though, I fully embraced Paganism: the altar, the festivals, the hymns to the Gods and Goddesses, the works.
Is there a particular mythology you’re found of?
Rebecca: Greek. Hands down, that is my favorite. I’ve always been most strongly drawn to those stories, so, when I finally embraced Paganism, I came out as Hellenic.I have a bit of a soft spot for Egyptian and Norse mythology, too, but Greek is definitely at the top.
The Magic Appreciation Tour, a lovely little group of Fantasy authors with which I’m involved is having a sale–and some free goodies are involved. All books are magical fantasy to some degree, all books are under $5. Do check it out , won’t you?
My first Sweet Saturday Sample of the new year, and let’s go with the new story, shall we? This is from my newly released story, Caitlin’s Book of Shadows, available at Amazon.
“What do you have there, Abigail?”
“More recipes, I guess.” She opened the cover and read the title, drawn in Trevor’s sure hand:
Caitlin’s Book of Shadows
Abigail gasped. No, not recipes.
Was it true? Had she really committed something like this to old-fashioned pen and ink? She flipped a few pages, reading entries.
I’d like to put in some orange trees.
Trevor told me Arianrhod might stop by.
She narrowed her eyes at the text. Was this really Caitlin’s work? She’d have to compare it to what they called Caitlin’s ideas pages—those pages scattered throughout Trevor’s five decades of collected sketchbooks wherein his wife had jotted down random thoughts and lists. Though the bulk of Caitlin’s work existed in electronic print the notebooks and this shared a similar slant. Although their grandson’s handwriting did seem comparable to this . . .
She set the book on her desk, running her fingers over its soft leather cover again. Caitlin’s book of shadows. She couldn’t wait to read the story therein.
Had Caitlin written it herself? If not, who had?
Some said she entertained the devil. Some said she spoke to the dead and heroes from the distant past. Was it true? No one knew, but perhaps this would solve some of the mystery?
***
What’s inside Caitlin’s book? Well, you know you have to read to find out! If you’d like to, Caitlin’s Book of Shadows is available at Amazon for $.99.
Would you like to read more? Then visit all the other contributors to this Saturday’s blog hop at Sweet Saturday Samples.
Juli D. Revezzo, author of the Antique Magic series and more 