Peeking Behind the Curtain at Falcon Blue

August 4, 2018

Falcon Blue, book six of The Child of the Erinyes, was the only book of the series not already drafted when I began publishing. I didn’t intend to write this story at all: my plan was to merely allude to it in other books. But after finishing The Sixth Labyrinth, I realized this story had to be told. For one thing, it’s the first reincarnation after the explosive, tragic events in the Bronze Age, as told in books 1-3, The Year-god’s Daughter, The Thinara King, and In the Moon of Asterion. That in itself makes it important—and there is more. The story of Falcon Blue as it was shared in The Sixth Labyrinth was a lie, and the record had to be set straight.

I had already written and published books detailing two of my triad’s lives, and I refused to add another unless it contributed a unique value to the series that no other book could. I’m happy to report that after much contemplation, months of research, and countless ever-changing outlines and drafts, I wrote a story that did what was needed. In fact, everything—the entire series—hinges upon the events in this book. So that’s kind of cool.

Plus, though this book turned out to be number six in the series, it can be read straightaway after the first three books without missing a beat, without any confusion, and, much like C.S. Lewis’s Narnia Chronicles, in linear fashion. His Magician’s Nephew was originally book six of that series, but it can be read as though it is book one: perhaps that’s why they started marketing it as such, although for me, it will always be book six, since that’s how I first read the Chronicles as an eleven-year-old. It’s due to Lewis that I felt comfortable leaping backward in time from The Sixth Labyrinth, set in Victorian Scotland, to the early 500s AD.

When I began researching the setting for Falcon Blue, I was surprised and rather dismayed to discover that the early medieval period (at least in Scotland) is a dark, dark place. Well, yeah, I know—I should have been prepared, since until recently, it was known as the Dark Ages. I honestly thought there would be more knowledge about this period than there was about my previous Bronze Age settings, but that was not the case. By the time I was committed, too far in to retreat, I realized this was not going to be easy or quick. Not that researching the Bronze Age Mediterranean was easy exactly, but I would argue that I had more information at my fingertips than I could find in a year of researching the early medieval period. When seeking the details I needed for this story, I came up against wall after wall, contradictory information, patchy details, and downright disagreement.

Carloway broch, Isle of Lewis, courtesy of Lewis MacDonald

One of the first things I was sure I wanted for the story was the tower—a round tower—for the main place setting in the story, a fort I call Dunaedan, in the Cape Wrath area. I ran into problems pretty quickly. Apparently there were no towers in Scotland in this era, even though there were ruins of round towers from earlier periods—brochs—some of which can still be viewed to this day.

Thank goodness my work is historical fantasy instead of straightforward history. There may not have been any round towers in northwest Scotland in the year 502 AD, but there is in my story. More problems arose as I worked on the specifications of the tower. See, it’s kind of special. My tower has two staircases—one that leads from the feasting hall in a spiral through the center, up seven floors to various chambers, but there’s another staircase no one who lives at Dunaedan knows about. It’s hidden in the outer walls, and provides access to each level—each room—through seven disguised doorways.

There are tons of castle cutaways online. With their help I was able to imagine, form, and develop this unique structure. To see some, click here.

Of course, having secret doorways meant I had to figure out how those worked. So I put on my engineer hat and studied cantilevers and latches that would make it possible to open and close these doors soundlessly and in a small space. Typical—the Irishman named Aedan in the book got the credit for all these marvels of engineering! Here are some secret doors that inspired me.

The initial title of Falcon Blue was The Black Wolf of Dál Riata. As I always do when I am choosing a title, I went off into the mists of Google-land to see if this title was already in use. Well it wasn’t…then. It is now. That exact title appeared on another book as I was editing Falcon Blue. Whew! So glad I decided against it for other reasons. When I switched to falcon titles, I saw very quickly that this, too, was going to be a bit of a problem. There are many books—maybe hundreds—titled some form of “Blue Falcon.” But as of this moment, there are no other books called Falcon Blue.

About the cover: The warrior image was provided by the amazing artist, Eve Ventrue, whose work can be seen here. I bought the image (and two more) before I even started writing Falcon Blue, because the ideas for it were swirling around in my brain and I knew this image would meld well with the story. I don’t know if any of my readers have ever noticed, but there is a pattern to the covers. Three stories, each story part of an internal trilogy, each one leaning a little more towards one of the three characters. That character is portrayed on the cover. Book one has Aridela, book two has Chrysaleon, and book three has Menoetius on the cover. When the triad enters the middle trilogy, we see the same characters with their new faces: Aridela/Lilith on the cover of The Moon Casts a Spell, Chrysaleon/Aodhàn on the cover of The Sixth Labyrinth, and Menoetius/Cailean on the cover of Falcon Blue. We at Erinyes Press manipulated the warrior image for Falcon Blue off and on for two years while the tale grew. We added color, texture, standing stones, the glowing eyes, and the wolf as they developed. I have a comparison at my website showing Eve’s originals and how they changed.

Vita the wolf was a later addition. Initially it was a human warrior who was being hailed as “The Black Wolf.” There was no actual wolf. When the title changed to Falcon Blue, I naturally wanted the protagonist to have a pet falcon. But falcons just aren’t the same as dog-like creatures. They’re very cool, but I wanted a companion who could have an almost spiritual bond with the warrior. At first, Vita played almost no part in the adventures. But she grew and grew and grew in the course of the evolving story until she almost stole it. I absolutely fell in love with that mystical, mythical, personable wolf!

One of the most interesting and unexpected things I discovered while researching, after I had already written scenes of convicted criminals being put to death by “cliff,” was “The Judgment Stone.” East of the town of Durness there is, or was, a place called Ceannabeinne. One of the legends attached to this place is the “Clach a Breitheanas,” or “Judgment Stone,” where ne’er-do-wells were tossed off the cliffs to their deaths. I thought I had made that idea up, but apparently not.

In Falcon Blue, the inhabitants of an isolated island refer to the lands around them as The Dominion of the Seventh Age. This title morphed through so many iterations I can hardly remember them all, as did the name of the actual island itself, which began, for convenience, as The Other Place. You know, one of those holding names you use until you can come back and give it your full attention. I wanted to use The Seven Kingdoms for the countries outside of the island, but soon realized this was pretty much copyrighted by George R. R. Martin! More ideas came and went—The Sand Kingdom, The Lost Kingdom, The Water Kingdom, the Cloud Kingdom, The Kingdom of the Seven Mountains…blah blah blah. Finally, The Dominion of the Seventh Age stuck. As explained in the book, it encompasses our seven continents and an ancient legend.

Speaking of seven, I realized while I was editing Falcon Blue that the number seven was coming up again and again and again, not only in this book but throughout the series.

Here are a few examples:

Cailean (In Falcon Blue) promises to return seven foals to the breeder who sold him horses.

Bharosa is seventeen hands high: he was the seventh foal to be born in Britain after the purchase of the stallions and mares.

The seventh and final door in Dunaedan’s tower is Eamhair’s bed chamber.

When a human girl sheds seven tears into the ocean, a seolh (selkie) will come.

Seven men, including Cailean, sail off to find the escaped criminal, Taranis.

Seven days pass before Cailean regains consciousness after being injured in the sea.

The Dominion of the Seventh Age: legend claims the world will exist for seven ages, and in Falcon Blue, the world is smack in the middle of the seventh age.

Bericus promises to spend seven days on his knees asking forgiveness for what he does to Eamhair.

Aridela is told she will live seven lives. (Or labyrinths).

On the island in Falcon Blue, once every seven years a human is offered instead of a ram.

Cailean becomes a kira at age seven.

When the Moon Whispers, the next book in the series and the climax, is book seven.

Last but not least, a quote from Robert Graves in The Greek Myths: “The number seven acquired peculiar sanctity, because the king died at the seventh full moon after the shortest day.”

This all happened organically, without any planning on my part. For that reason, I suspect these occurrences were inserted by my muse, Athene—for what reason, I don’t yet know.

She offered no help when it came to choosing the name of the new character introduced in Falcon Blue—or did she? She sure let me know when name after name, so promising at first, had to be rejected. Excitement soured into disappointment then into despair, over and over and over again, for literally years. This was one of the very last problems keeping me from publishing; the one dilemma I could not seem to solve.

Finally, it came to me, quite by accident, as I was reading about something else—the life of Kronos.

Gaia, Mother Earth, wanted her younger children to attack their father Ouranos for what he had done to their older children. With the aid of an adamant sickle she provided, Kronos and his brothers and sisters defeated Ouranos; the blood from his severed genitals created the Erinyes: Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera.

Well, something led me to that article, and when I began researching and learned more about the name that sprang out at me, I knew it was “The One.”

I’d best say no more about that.

I hope to have Falcon Blue available in paperback before the end of the year. Happy reading!

Book Six: Falcon Blue

March 24, 2018

the first reincarnation

Falcon Blue is LIVE!

Find it worldwide at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes and Kobo: it’s also in stock at Indigo and Angus & Robertson. The paperback is now live as well! Paperback version can be purchased at Amazon, The Book Depository, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, and anywhere else that carries real books.

I know… it’s a little unusual, making the first awakening of my triad after Crete, number SIX in the series. But early in life I was inspired and influenced by C.S. Lewis, who did something similar with his Narnia Chronicles. Did you know that originally, The Magician’s Nephew was Book Six of that series? For those who haven’t read them, The Magician’s Nephew was a prequel to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

So here I go, emulating a great writer in my own little way. And yes, all of the above is a load of doo-doo.

Truth is, I didn’t intend to make Falcon Blue part of my series. I was going to go along in linear fashion, 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7. But as I kept on writing, developing the story and the goal, I realized it had to be included. Interested readers had to see the beginning–the beginning after the beginning, I should say.

So, TA-DA, Falcon Blue was germinated, watered, nurtured, and has now been birthed.

 

 

IF YOU HAVE READ THE FIRST THREE BOOKS IN THE SERIES, YOU CAN READ FALCON BLUE WITHOUT MISSING A BEAT!

The first three books are: The Year-god’s Daughter, The Thinara King, and In the Moon of Asterion.

Aodhàn Mackinnon told the story of Eamhair, Cailean, and Taranis in The Sixth Labyrinth.

He lied.

Here is the truth.

 

 

Seeking escape from the brutality of war, Cailean journeys to the wilderness at land’s end, but instead of peace and solitude he finds conspiracy, evil, and a love that makes any sacrifice worthwhile.

When Eamhair was young, her sibylline mother predicted a king would rise out of the sea and take her away from her father and brothers. She walks the cliffs, dreaming of a new life and the lord of the seolhs.

Taranis succumbs to the relentless lure of a vision, chasing it all the way to his destiny at the outer boundaries of the earth.

 

Cape Wrath, Scotland. The first reincarnation.

 

Mist shrouds our eyes and stoppers our tongues, a grey, damp silence broken only by the softest sigh, like a dawn breeze. We know not how many centuries pass: we feel not the flow of time, until She turns her far-seeing gaze to us.

When we gasp and draw our first breath, we are newborns who never fought great wars, or loved deeply, or brought harm upon one another.

So the journey begins.

we are become Athene’s wanderers…

 

Author’s Notes: The Sixth Labyrinth

January 14, 2017

Author’s Notes

(For those who like to peek behind the curtain)

Who loves author’s notes? Well here they are. We did not include the author’s notes (and the three epilogues) in the paperback version of The Sixth Labyrinth, in order to cut down on the page count and make the book more affordable.

*    *    *    *

The Sixth Labyrinth is a complicated weave of truth and fantasy: Yes, liberties were taken. Following are notes, both about the liberties and truths, for those who might be interested.

Some of the following could be spoilers for those who haven’t yet read the book.

*   *   *   *

The maiden voyage of the Princess Louise was July 1, 1872. I moved this date back to May, for the purposes of the story. (I wanted Morrigan to be married and in Glenelg by Michaelmas.)

I was thrilled to discover some maps of Stranraer as it was in the 1850s. I used those to help describe the city, as well as my own memories from staying there.

I have an extensive library of books and other media detailing the Scots language and dialects. I have studied these, off and on, for about twenty-five years. This has equated into me understanding some but still being able to authentically speak almost none. I was extremely fortunate to receive the help of two native Gaelic speakers for this book, and I will always be grateful for their assistance and patience.

One of my favorite dictionaries is the Chambers Scots Dictionary, (compiled by Alexander Warrack, M.A.), which I purchased while in Scotland years ago. It was first published in 1911, and I’ve noticed it contains many words that apparently have been dropped from newer publications. Perhaps those words have gone out of favor, but I was happy to have access to words that were likely common in the 1800s. Here is the subtitle: Serving as a glossary for Ramsay, Fergusson, Burns, Scott, Galt, minor poets, kailyard novelists, and a host of other writers of the Scottish tongue. I’m sure I fit in there somewhere!

Beannachd leat, mo nighean: I understand this isn’t the way Gaelic speakers would say this, but I chose it because I wanted Morrigan to be able to question Curran later about those words. (Goodbye, my daughter.)

Castle Kennedy, the ruin that Curran and Morrigan explore outside Stranraer, still stands. It was built by the clan of that

Castle Kennedy by Francis Grose, pub-1789, in Antiquities of Scotland, vol-2 pp-191-192: Public Domain, Wikipedia Commons

name who controlled the area in the distant past. When I was there, it was off by itself in an empty field; we had to climb over a fence and were alone in exploring it, which no doubt added to its ghostly feel. I think now there’s a parking lot nearby, but there wasn’t then.

Lighthouses:

The description of Dhu Heartach was taken from A Star for Seamen, by Craig Mair. Work on Dhu Heartach was completed in November 1872.

Corsewall was built in 1817, Cape Wrath in 1828, Berneray in 1833, and Cairn Point in 1847, all by the Stevenson family of engineers.

The Glenelg Clearances: My descriptions of the Glenelg Clearances are an amalgam of evictions over the years, from various areas. In reality, Glenelg was cleared more than once, with the biggest eviction (500 people) occurring in 1849, and it did not happen exactly how I’ve portrayed it. The anguish I describe encapsulates almost every account I studied of people being cleared from their ancestral homes, but some were done in a more humane fashion than others, and in some instances, it was the crofters themselves who petitioned to be cleared. There are arguments about the Clearances, whether they were good or bad, kind or cruel, and I am not putting myself into those arguments. I had a vision of being a crofter in those days, of living on land my family had lived on for generations, of having everything fall apart, and of being relocated to a far away country, and that’s what I wrote.

Randall Benedict, the story’s landowner at the time of the Glenelg clearings, is my invention, and bears no resemblance to any true-life landowners.

In the late eighteen hundreds, the Highlands of Scotland were gradually converted from sheep farms to open parks for killing deer and birds. The pastime was popular among the wealthy British.

The Macleods did own the land around Glenelg in the 1600s, and would have been the builders of Kilgarry, (if Kilgarry existed. Which it didn’t— doesn’t. Kilgarry is my invention.)

My descriptions of Glenelg are not exactly what one would see these days, because I was trying to envision what the area might have looked like in the 1870s. I think there would have been more forest and less agriculture.

The Five Sisters of Kintail: it’s a nice label, although not used in Gaelic, and much easier than listing each one individually:

Sgùrr nan Spàinteach (The Peak of the Spaniards): Sgùrr na Ciste Duibhe (The Peak of the Black Chest): Sgùrr Fhuaran (The Peak of the Springs): Sgùrr nan Saighead (The Peak of the Arrows): Sgùrr na Càrnach (The Peak of the Stony Place)

In August of 1872 a sea serpent was indeed sighted and documented swimming through the straits of Kylerhea off Glenelg’s coast.

I’ve never actually heard that selkies have a magic “gaze” that will bewitch any they turn it upon. That was my invention.

Syncope and concussions have obviously been around for a long time (as long as we have had brains?) The word syncope has two meanings: it appears that the word as it pertains to fainting has been around since about the 1400s. There was work being done in the Victorian era on concussions, but no one knew the depth of details that we have today. So diagnosing Morrigan’s fainting would have been mostly guesswork. The aura she often sees before fainting is a symptom of concussion as well as other medical conditions, and there is speculation that concussions can sometimes cause nightmares (although I think it’s safe to say there are other powers at work with Morrigan’s nightmares!)

Origin of syncope: The American Heritage Dictionary: “Middle English sincopis, from sincopene, from Late Latin syncopēn, accusative of syncopē, from Greek sunkopē, from sunkoptein, to cut short : sun-, syn- + koptein, to strike.”

The word “concussion” has been around since ancient times, but came into general use in the 16^th century, along with descriptions of some of the common symptoms.

A few people who have had concussions continue to experience symptoms for the rest of their lives— dizziness, headaches, mood changes, etc, and often stress or anxiety will bring on the symptoms. Current theory suggests that post concussion syndrome is more likely to persist in those who have suffered several concussions, as Morrigan has.

Hypnotism: as I mentioned in the book, hypnotism was developed by James Braid, a Scot. He coined the term “hypnotism” in the 1850s and used self-hypnotism to alleviate pain. After Braid’s death in 1860, interest in the procedure died out in England, and was later revived in France.

Readers might detect similarities between Heinrich Baten, my fictitious Papal Inquisitor, and Konrad Marburg, a historical figure. Yes, I did think of him as I wrote the Inquisition scenes. Klaus Berthold, however, is completely fictitious: I did no reading about any historical archbishops, and all I know about the Archbishops of Cologne is the title.

As noted, Curran is not a true laird, but is called “Laird” by his crofters as a sign of their respect. The “Eilginn” title is my invention, an honorary moniker given by the locals, and hearkens to the area around Glenelg, the Pictish Ruins, and the forest over to Shiel Bridge. Curran is not landed gentry and so it is proper for people outside of his little world to call him “Mr. Ramsay.”

Dun Troddan. Photographer: Anne Burgess, Creative Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dun_Troddan_-_geograph.org.uk_-_8424.jpg

Dun Troddan and Dun Telve are two of the most well preserved brochs (ancient stone buildings) left in Scotland.

Only Clydesdales are used in the oda? No. My invention. The part about the horses being stolen the night before is real though.

Don’t go up to Cape Wrath thinking you’ll find tunnels under the lighthouse, or the remains of a fort! (This will all be detailed in Falcon Blue.) They live only in my imagination. The higher oxygen content of the air at Cape Wrath is documented, and the Clo Mor cliffs at Cape Wrath are the highest on the British mainland, at over nine hundred feet.

I also made up the MacNeil house in Castlebay, on Barra, and of course Bishop House as well.

Anachronisms: Not. The setting of The Sixth Labyrinth runs parallel to the work women were starting to undertake in Britain to obtain equal rights. Obviously, women were thinking the things that are brought up in my book. Many might not have, and many more who did might never have breathed a word about it, but change was on the horizon. Additionally, Morrigan, who possesses the subconscious memories of Aridela, has at this point five previous lives influencing her thoughts and the way she sees the world. See Elizabeth Clarke Wolstenholme, John Stuart Mill, and others.

I could go on and on about Josephine Butler, Elizabeth Wolstenholme, and the efforts of the Ladies National Association in trying to repeal the Contagious Diseases Acts. It’s true that prostitutes were seen in a different light than the men who had sex with them. The women were perceived as unclean, “degraded,” and it was believed that they alone carried syphilis (at least that’s what the lawmakers said they believed). The men were not considered unclean or degraded, nor were they bothered with exams after they protested the idea. And it’s true that women who were not prostitutes were pulled into this net of forced examination. The Acts were at last repealed in 1886. The LNA continued their work and were instrumental in getting the age of sexual consent increased from 12 to 16. The actual 1871 Commission Report can be read here: https://archive.org/details/b21365945

The LNA was a real team effort and a role model for me: the group had many committed male supporters as well as female. This concept is of passionate personal interest, as I feel we will never get anywhere unless we’re all willing to leave gender prejudices behind and achieve it together. The discerning reader will see that as Aridela lives her various incarnations, she receives support and assistance not only from her reincarnated female followers, but men and women in the current time periods. In The Sixth Labyrinth, she is helped and influenced not only by those you might expect, but also her brother Nicky, Robert Louis Stevenson, Seaghan MacAnaugh, James Whistler, Lily Donaghue, Jamini, and Hugh Drummond.

Separate but connected: I reject the idea that love and feminism are mutually exclusive.

White bread was available by the 1820s, but it wasn’t exactly what modern people might think. It wasn’t pre-sliced, and the term simply meant that it was baked from a more finely ground flour, not modern bleached flour.

Poetry and Songs:

My Love She’s But a Lassie Yet, lyrics by Robert Burns

Bonny Wee Thing, lyrics by Robert Burns

I’ll Meet Thee on the Lea-Rig, lyrics by Robert Burns

Ae Fond Kiss, lyrics by Robert Burns

Ca’ the Yows to the Knowes, lyrics by Robert Burns

My Heart’s in the Highlands, by Robert Burns

Ode to the West Wind, by Percy Bysshe Shelley

She Was a Phantom of Delight, by William Wordsworth

Tristram and Iseult, by Matthew Arnold, published 1852

 

Master McGrath did win the Waterloo cup in the years mentioned.

The builder and owner of the famous Cutty Sark was Jock Willis, who built her in 1869. The race between the two clippers Cutty Sark and Thermopylae happened as described in the summer of 1872.

At the time of Nicky’s death (August 10, 1872), RLS was in Frankfurt. I used my authorial license to have him come back briefly to attend the funeral.

RLS did agree, reluctantly, to study law, though he wanted to write. Louis’s father attempted creative writing when young, but hid that fact from his son, and pressured him to become an engineer. Thomas believed that women should be able to divorce their husbands, but that husbands shouldn’t be allowed the same privilege.

Public Domain image: copyright expired, per United States, Australia, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 80 years. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert-louis-stevenson.jpg

RLS wrote that he thought he would never be great or rich. He did want his own children very much. He loved opera, and stated that he wished he could live his life inside one.

I used the older spelling for the May 1 festival of Beltain. The spelling “Beltane” appears to have been adopted from James Frazer’s The Golden Bough, which wasn’t published until after my story. The spelling I use is from Anne Ross’s wonderful book The Folklore of the Scottish Highlands, which I highly recommend to anyone wanting to read more about the early customs, traditions, and beliefs of Scotland.

I made up the Catholic Church at the estuary in Glenelg.

Queen Victoria loved Scotland; she made it a popular place to go on holiday. She and Albert purchased Balmoral Castle and she often attended the Highland Games at Braemar.

As everyone knows by now, gossip ran rampant in the years after Albert’s death that Victoria was having an affair with her Scottish servant, John Brown. She even had statues made of him.

Gladstone was lampooned for trying to rescue the prostitutes of London from their sins, but he was actually quite generous and helpful in that regard, when he certainly did not need to be.

James McNeill Whistler was a well-known figure in 1870s London. Whistler often went to Victor Barthe’s art classes in order to disrupt them.

The rumor that Richard Wagner may have been King Ludwig’s lover is an old one that is no doubt rumor by association, and is doubtless untrue. Why can men never be friends with other men without being accused of homosexuality? Ludwig may have been gay— Wagner was not. Ludwig helped Wagner financially and was his patron. Without Ludwig’s patronage, much of Wagner’s music might not have become a reality. (I’m grateful to King Ludwig for this.)

As far as the conductor— Lily has heard wrong. It was one of Hans von Bülow’s assistants who had a breakdown and had to be institutionalized.

The place where the denouement occurs is loosely based on Gunamuil, the lower promontory next to Dun Mingulay, but is really a composite of the various cliffs, arches, and caves on the west coast of Mingulay, adapted for the story’s benefit.

St. Brigit: the name of this important saint of both Ireland and Scotland has several different spellings. I chose to use the one Anne Ross used in her book Folklore of the Scottish Highlands.

 About the word “all right.” Apparently it wasn’t coined yet in the 1870s. I used it anyway, for convenience, clarity, and modern ears, but I tried not to use it very often.

Did Scots put on mourning clothes after the death of a loved one? I can find no evidence that they did NOT, except for a mention in Scottish Customs From the Cradle to the Grave, where there are 5 or 6 mentions of YES on the mourning, and one mention of NO, and that was offered by a woman in 1988, not the Victorian period. I searched and searched for a definitive decision on this: most of what I found suggests that Victorian Scotswomen did put on mourning: besides, Queen Victoria made the white wedding dress popular, so she probably made the widow’s weeds popular as well.

I did read in The Pictorial History of Scotland: From the Roman invasion to the close of the Jacobite Rebellion. A, Volume 1, by James Taylor, published in 1859, that mourning dress was not known in Scotland until 1537.

I didn’t want my book to be as long as Clavell’s Shogun, so I had some people speak English who probably would not have in real life, like Kilgarry’s servants.

Lebadeia was a shrine in Greece, north of Delphi; Pausanias tells a story about seeking prophecy from the oracle there, and how terrifying it was.

Epilogues to The Sixth Labyrinth

January 7, 2017

Spoiler warning! Don’t read these if you haven’t yet read The Sixth Labyrinth!

Epilogue: One

“Auntie! Auntie!”

“You’re hurting my ears, child. Where have you been?”

“Walking by the bay.”

“I wish you’d come back before dark, Sophie.”

Image: Shutterstock

“Because of the selkie?”

Eleanor laughed. “Because I don’t want you getting lost, or falling and hurting yourself.”

“Auntie, listen to me!”

“I’m listening.”

“I saw it!”

“Saw what?”

“The selkie! It came out of the water and turned into a man.”

“Ah, well, it must have been a selkie then. What did he look like?”

“He was old. His hair was white. Long, like a king’s. He was tall.”

“And what did he do?” Eleanor pushed her great-niece into a chair and brought her a slice of orange marmalade cake.

“He went over to that old blackhouse by the bay.”

“Seaghan MacAnaugh’s.”

“Aye. He was greeting, Auntie!”

“Was he? And what did you do?”

“I watched and didn’t make a sound.”

“Tea?”

“Aye, thank you. Olivia Ramsay says it’s bad luck to go to the beach at the full moon.”

“That’s a well-worn tale meant to get children home before dark.”

“She said anyone who does it is cursed. She said only fools walk on Glenelg’s beach during the full moon.”

“Olivia Ramsay has an imagination.”

“She said the selkie is her da’s brother.”

“So Curran Ramsay has a selkie brother, does he?”

“She says the selkie cries for the human girl he loved and lost.”

“Is that so?”

“Auntie, I don’t want to go home.”

“You must. If you never went home, your mam and da would miss you and be sad.”

“Like the selkie?”

“Aye. Like the selkie.”

“Why is it sad? Did it really lose its true love?”

“How would I know?”

“You know everything.”

“Oh, child, I wish I did.”

“You do know, though. I can tell. You look sad, too.”

“I can pity those who suffer, even when they might deserve it.”

Epilogue: Two

The first of September became the traditional date for holding an annual charity fundraiser at Kilgarry for the orphan project, as the weather was generally beautiful and the Michaelmas daisies were in bloom. It soon became the social event throughout the surrounding Highland counties, drawing Curran’s wealthy friends and associates from Glasgow, Edinburgh, and even as far as London. Every year the guest list grew, until Glenelg had to build a new inn to accommodate those who couldn’t fit into Kilgarry. Extra help was hired from Fort William and Mallaig to assist with cooking, cleaning, and serving; musicians were brought in for the evening balls and dances, and the manor house nearly burst its seams with so many people.

The first of September 1883 cooperated with warm sunlight and gentle breezes. Pavilions and tables were set up around Kilgarry’s pond, near the old oak. Guests wandered in and out of the gardens, enjoying lemonade, tea, and whisky, and there was a great deal of food for anyone who was hungry, as well as horseback riding, hunting, fishing, archery, and of course the ballroom was in great demand every night. The ferryman was kept busy transporting explorers to Skye for sightseeing, and for the most intrepid, there was mountain climbing. Interspersed with all the entertainment were the speeches, promises, and donations.

Morrigan, Eleanor, and Diorbhail sat together upon cushioned chairs beneath the oak, a table between them holding lemonade and cakes.

“You haven’t taken your eyes off Mr. Abernathy,” Morrigan said to Eleanor, only half teasing. “Are you going to marry him and leave us?”

With one of her signature snorts, she replied, “The most he’ll get from me is a night or two. He is rather handsome.”

“Eleanor!” Morrigan pretended shock then giggled with Diorbhail at the midwife’s brazen ways, but a moment later, she winced and rubbed the side of her stomach.

As usual, Eleanor didn’t miss it, and questioned with raised eyebrows.

“It’s fine,” Morrigan said. “Just my bones being stretched. I remember this from Olivia and Eirene.”

“It won’t be long now,” said Diorbhail. “We’ll have another wee lass to spoil.”

“I do think Curran might want a son. Can you arrange that?”

“No,” Diorbhail said with a wide smile. “You’ll only ever have girls. Girls and more girls. If you were having all the babies, the world would die out for lack of boys.”

At that moment wee Seaghan ran up to them, nearly falling as he hadn’t quite mastered running yet, and placed his fists on Morrigan’s knees. His right hand was stuffed with daisies, and he turned up his face, seeking approval.

“Are these for me?” she asked, taking them.

He nodded. She picked him up and placed him on her lap. “You’re a grand lad,” she said, kissing his cheek, and he nestled in as best he could against her.

To think what might have become of him, if he hadn’t been found two years ago in that awful place in London, barely six weeks old, sold by his father. Now he lived at Kilgarry, and had twenty other orphans for playmates, along with the local children, and since he’d had no name, he was called Seaghan in honor of Morrigan’s father, even though hearing it made her suffer his loss all over again.

Seaghan’s body was found, stuffed under a pile of rocks, a week after the events on Mingulay. Someone had murdered him with a knife, and a local man went missing right after, but he was never found, and the investigation languished. Right when Morrigan learned she had a true father, he was taken from her; not being able to speak to him as his child remained an unrelenting anguish and regret.

Soon Sophie joined them. Eleanor’s great-niece was a little lady, at ten. She and Olivia were the same age and the best of friends, though very different, with Olivia being a wild boyish child who, more often than not, could be found in the branches of the oak rather than sitting demurely beneath it. Sophie came to Glenelg every summer at her own insistence to stay with her aunt. She never wanted to go home to Edinburgh, though she loved her mother and father, and often wept for missing them. Her dream of a perfect world was one in which her papa agreed to move to Glenelg.

She perched on the edge of a chair and sipped tea.

“What is it?” Eleanor asked, in her usual perceptive way.

The girl didn’t answer immediately, but pursed her lips and frowned.

“Well?” Eleanor pressed.

“Livvy’s telling that story again,” the child said in her soft Edinburgh brogue.

“Which one?” Morrigan asked. Olivia loved making up tales. She was turning into Kilgarry’s own seanchaidh.

Sophie would only say that she wasn’t supposed to tell, but she hated the story because Livvy always refused to give her a part in it.

“Where have those lasses gone off to?” Diorbhail asked then. “I haven’t seen any of them in an hour.”

It was true. There was no sign of the local girls. “We’d best find them,” Morrigan said, “before they get up to mischief, if they haven’t already.”

Sophie wanted to stay, have cake, and admire the pretty dresses, so the three cronies left Seaghan with her and went off in search of the missing girls. They weren’t at the pond, nor the walled garden, or the gazebo. Guests stopped them to chat and ask after Morrigan’s health as she neared her ninth month of pregnancy, hampering their search. Lily found them and reported happily that Sir John Beechforth had promised to donate a building in Soho that had been in his family, unused, for years. She whispered that the old sot hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her bosoms, so she credited them for the prize.

Eventually, the three took note of a striped pavilion set some distance away from the others, and Diorbhail remembered that Olivia had asked Kyle and Logan to erect it for her and her friends.

They couldn’t see the children as they walked up, but heard a flurry of female chatter, and paused outside the pavilion to listen.

“How many sisters do you have?”

Morrigan recognized the voice of Rachel’s daughter, Jean.

“I don’t know,” she heard Olivia reply. “Lots.”

“Am I there?” This was asked by Eirene, Olivia’s younger sister.

“Of course you’re there,” Olivia said impatiently. “I told you already. The new sister will be there too. All my sisters will be there, all, from the first.”

“But how, if they’re dead?” This was Jean again. Though she was only nine months older than Olivia, she often expressed disdain for what she called the younger girl’s silliness.

Olivia huffed. “The lady says they’ll come back to life and we’ll be together.”

“People don’t come back to life,” Jean said.

“My sisters will. The lady promised.”

“How can they be your sisters? Your mam’s only had the two of you.”

“I want to dream of my other sisters!” Eirene said plaintively.

“Maybe you’re not old enough,” Olivia said. “I only started having the dream two months ago.”

“Tell us their names again,” Jean asked. She sounded disbelieving, like she thought she might catch Olivia in a mistake and prove the tale was make-believe.

Olivia gave a sigh and Morrigan heard a whimper, probably from Violet’s baby, Grace. Olivia loved that child, and was always running off with her.

As she began to speak, a large eagle landed on a nearby rowan branch. It made no sound but cocked its head and leveled the women with a fierce stare.

“There’s Romy and Claire and Evie. There’s… oh aye, Rosabel. And the ones with the unco names— Xanthe and Pasithea. And Iphiboë. And Alecto. And the new baby. The lady said her name will be Willow.”

Morrigan had sagged against Diorbhail as Olivia spoke the first three names. Her legs felt too weak to support her.

“Alecto,” Diorbhail whispered.

Morrigan took in a breath and straightened. The three women regarded each other, their eyes shining, and reached out, placing their hands on each other’s shoulders, creating a perfect circle.

The Three Graces: original image from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Les_Trois_Gr%C3%A2ces_2.jpg

 

 

Epilogue: Three

1894

The jeweler frowned upon seeing the items. He spent a long time studying them with his magnifier, turning them over repeatedly.

“What is it, Philip?” Curran finally asked. “Are they sham? Stolen?”

“No, Mr. Ramsay. Well, I know nothing about any theft. I do not believe they are imitation. Excuse me, sir.”

He went through a curtain into the back and soon returned with another man, who also inspected the knife and necklace carefully.

They spoke together in low, rapid Greek. Curran understood only a few words, having lost most of the Greek he’d learned at university.

“Will one of you tell me what is so interesting?” he interrupted.

The two men exchanged glances. Philip, whose surname, Curran suddenly remembered, was Christopoulos, said, “I believe these are ancient, truly ancient, but I would like the opinion of an expert. There is a fellow connected to the new museum in Athens, the National Archaeological Museum. With your permission, I would like to take these items there for him to examine.”

“You want to take them to Athens? I don’t know. They belong to my wife. It took her years to agree to this appraisal.”

The men exchanged another glance.

“You aren’t telling me everything,” Curran said.

“How did she acquire these pieces, may I ask?”

“They were gifts.”

“From a collector, perhaps?”

“No. Just a man.”

Christopoulos stared at him, frowning deeply.

“They are stolen. Is that what you are not saying?”

“No, no, Mr. Ramsay. Please forgive me. It is odd, of course, how pieces of such antiquity could spend years in… your wife’s possession? These should be in a museum.”

“And you have now suggested that twice. What guarantee do I have, Philip, that they will be returned if you take them to Athens?”

The door at the front of the shop opened just then and Morrigan came in, flanked by Diorbhail.

“There you are.” Curran held out his hand.

She came forward, clasping his hand and smiling at the two men behind the counter. “We’re finished with our errands,” she said, and perused the knife and necklace. “Well? Is there a verdict?”

“Not really. These men want to take your antiquities to Athens.”

Morrigan did not react as he’d thought she would. She blinked, but her smile didn’t falter. “They are wonderful, aren’t they?” she said.

“Yes, Lady Eilginn,” Philip said. “In fact, they are astonishing.”

The other man came out from behind the counter. “I am Spiro Michelakis, Mrs. Ramsay,” he said. Philip sounded like a native Londoner, but Spiro’s Greek accent was pronounced.

She held out her hand and he took it briefly. “May I tell you about our new museum in Athens?” he asked.

“There’s a new museum? I would be very interested,” she replied, and the two walked over to another counter, where he brought out several cases as he spoke to her.

“Mr. Ramsay, sir,” Philip said, “Greece has a moral right to her artifacts.”

“You are certain these are Greek.”

“The meander on the necklace suggests it might be Cretan. There have been other items found there with this pattern.”

“Ah.”

“Does that mean something to you, Mr. Ramsay?”

“No.”

“How was the knife broken?”

“It was dropped. I suppose that hurts its value.”

“I suspect nothing could harm the value of these pieces.” He picked up the knife, very carefully, and ran his thumb over the sheared-off edge. “Obsidian,” he murmured. “The hilt is ivory.”

“My wife believes the figure is Athene.”

“Oh yes, no doubt of it. The owl and the aegis tell us this.” His eyes filled with tears.

“Philip?” Curran said. “What have I done?”

“Oh, sir, it’s just that… look here. You can see the tool marks. I feel certain I am holding something in my hands that was created thousands of years ago, in my country, by men just like me, perhaps. Artisans. I feel them, you see, in my flesh. I feel I am looking through their eyes as they carve this image. I can almost smell their forge fires.”

Curran didn’t know what to say. It was odd, for he too sometimes saw flashes of things when he held the necklace and the knife.

“Is your wife knowledgeable about our history?” Philip asked.

“Very much so.”

Morrigan returned to his side. “Curran, I have an idea. You know how Livvy has always wanted to see an excavation. Let’s gather up the weans and go with these gentlemen to Athens and see their museum for ourselves.”

“Well….”

“We can take the lasses to see Schliemann’s Troy and his other excavations, at Mycenae, and Tiryns.”

“I would be honored to escort you to Crete,” Spiro said as he joined them. “Sixteen years ago, part of a building was dug up beneath a mound there, and many of our antiquarians believe this is the actual palace of Knossos— the legendary place named in Homer’s Odyssey! And as I was just telling your wife, sir, I am most intrigued by the pattern on your necklace, for it matches the pattern on coins that have been discovered nearby.”

Morrigan’s excitement was clear to see, as was Diorbhail’s. Curran felt excitement rise inside him as well, almost as though he was contemplating going home.

His wife was looking at him in that way she had, communicating without words.

He realized he was nodding.

So be it. They would embark on a new pilgrimage— this time with their children.

Image: Shutterstock

Bringing Color into The Sixth Labyrinth

April 4, 2016

“I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me.” ~~~~Robert Louis Stevenson

image via Shutterstock

In The Child of the Erinyes, a series dealing with reincarnation, only one of the main characters retains memories from previous lives. Because the others come back with a clean slate, so to speak, I’ve had to work out how they find each other in every new experience.

One of several methods I use is the aura. It’s part of what draws the triad and keeps them together.

Auras are interesting phenomena. Described variously as “a breath,” “an emanation,” “a vibration,” and an “electromagnetic field,” these are colors that circle around people, invisible to most of us, but seen or sensed by some. Individual colors mean rather specific things, though there isn’t always agreement on what.

Brilliant, clean colors envelop people who are farther along on the spiritual trail, “higher beings,” while muddy, dark colors point to trouble—a person mired in distress, hate, or sickness.

Thoughts and feelings can alter the color and density of the aura. When colors flash and change swiftly, it’s an alert that thoughts and emotions are in flux.

Generally, auras are made up of a mix of colors, though one will be dominant.

Since our auras come in a wide panorama from subtle pastel to blazing primary, I needed to understand these characters and their desires/motivations on a deep level in order to choose the most appropriate aura. Here are the ones I used and why.

Stranraer, Scotland, 1872: the first time Morrigan Lawton sees the stranger Curran Ramsay, he is standing inside a train getting ready to step off, and is in shadow. She’s looking up at him from the outside.

“A mist of color surrounded the being on the step, like a rainbow glimmering through watery clouds, but this rainbow offered only the blue spectrum, with hints of violet.”

Blue signals a person who is visionary, intuitive, and sensitive. But an aura isn’t simply “blue.” There are different shades of blue, and Curran (Menoetius from the Bronze Age) has them all in abundance. His aura communicates his ability to accept others and love deeply. Vivid blue tells us he is generous and spiritual. Indigo deepens that. Violet reveals that he is idealistic, even somewhat magical.

Curran Ramsay also sees Morrigan’s aura. He describes it as pure gold, glittering like a sea of mica, with entwining whispers of lavender.

Gold is a rarely seen aura, so of course I reserved it for the high point of the triangle, Goddess Athene’s child and brightest hope, Aridela—Morrigan Lawton in this incarnation. A person washed in gold is protected by divine beings. He or she walks a special, guided path. Lavender affirms that Morrigan is as much a visionary as Curran, but also a daydreamer—someone with a very active imagination.

Later, in Glenelg, Morrigan is introduced to the local midwife and healer, Eleanor Graeme, whose aura is a restful green. Green is not only a healer’s color but a teacher’s, a person who wants to help others. As Eleanor is the reincarnated Themiste from the Bronze Age, it makes sense. Themiste’s most ardent desire was to follow Aridela, to help her and make amends for the things she felt she had done wrong.

Chrysaleon of Mycenae is the problem child of the series, and in The Sixth Labyrinth, his aura displays this. Here he is Aodhàn Mackinnon, a guy with plenty of secrets—and the only character burdened by previous life memories. Perhaps that’s why his aura is red, with accents of orange, and sometimes mud! A red aura suggests a person who is not so advanced spiritually. He or she is stuck in earthly interests like jealousy, anger, sexual obsessions, and amassing power. It’s not always a bad color: it can mean dedication, and as noted in The Sixth Labyrinth, can be the prevailing color in rebels, ascetics, and artists—anyone who is passionate about something. Orange combined with red announces Aodhàn’s deeply rooted need to control things. It has, after all, kept his defiance alive and fired up for over three thousand years at this point.

Lastly, we have Diorbhail Sinclair—the reincarnated Selene. Selene is arguably the most resplendent champion of my saga so far: I actually refer to her in my own mind as the “Samwise Gamgee” of The Child of the Erinyes, and not surprisingly, she has the most complex aura. Hers is overwhelmingly white, and this is the color I had the most trouble researching. On the one hand, white can be interpreted as undiluted potential, a personality in transcendence. Some say angels themselves are cloaked in white. It represents not only spiritual qualities but also concentrated truth. On the other hand, there are those who believe white alludes to disease, near death, or a disordered noise, a failing of balance and harmony. After reading these opposing definitions, I knew white was the perfect choice for Diorbhail. She ardently wants to help her friend, Morrigan, but her allegiances are conflicted by her love for Curran, who is Morrigan’s husband. Loyalty fighting desire fighting resentment—as it was in the Bronze Age. She is on the verge of ascendance, but is held back by these earthly factors.

Curran’s aura also turns white during times of high emotion, for instance when the submerged Menoetius responds to the submerged Selene. They are, and always will be, connected.

The contrary qualities of Diorbhail’s white aura are set off by traces of pink—a promise that this woman is close to achieving the highest balance of all. Diorbhail’s is the most dazzling of all the auras in The Sixth Labyrinth. It nearly blinds Aodhàn.

image via Shutterstock

It was quite fun learning about auras. After researching them, I pondered their influence outside of novels. Perhaps they play a part when we meet someone for the first time and are inexplicably repelled or attracted. It could be we are subliminally seeing and responding to that person’s aura.

So… the next time someone seems to be avoiding you, or you feel strangely turned off by a new acquaintance, maybe it’s not because of the onions at lunch. The reason could be a far more subtle influence—the influence of color!

Pre-order at the following places:

Amazon Kindle

iTunes

Kobo

Tolino

Will be live on Friday, April 8, at Barnes & Noble, HERE

The Child of the Erinyes is an eight-book journey spanning 4000 years. Beginning in the Bronze Age, it follows the lives of two men and a woman as they are reborn seven times through history. The Sixth Labyrinth, Book 5 of the series, is being released 8 April, 2016.

 

Child of the Erinyes Series is Everywhere Again!

December 18, 2014

Greetings and Happy New Year!

Mycenae Lion Hunt Seal Ring: Attribution below

I wanted to let everyone know that my exclusive enrollment period with Amazon has run its course, and my books are available everywhere again…Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo, iTunes, Scribd, Inktera, and of course they’re still at Amazon.

Here are all the links. (They’re listed at my website as well.) iTunes is taking its time approving a couple of them, but they’ll be live soon.

Thank you to everyone who has gone to the trouble and cost to acquire one of my books, and taken the time to read it, and put forth the effort to review! During my recent Amazon Select promo, nearly 21000 copies of The Year-god’s Daughter and The Moon Casts a Spell were downloaded all over the world.

The Year-god’s Daughter (Book One):

♦ Amazon Multi-link  ♦ Barnes & Noble ♦ Scribd ♦ iTunes

The Thinara King (Book Two):

♦ Amazon Multi-link ♦ Barnes & Noble ♦ Scribd ♦ iTunes

In the Moon of Asterion (Book Three):

♦ Amazon Multi-link ♦ Barnes & Noble ♦ Scribd ♦ iTunes

The Moon Casts a Spell (Book 3.5 A Novella):

♦ Amazon Multi-link ♦ Barnes & Noble ♦ Scribd ♦ iTunes ♦ Kobo

Child of the Erinyes Collection, A Boxed Set of the first three novels:

♦ Amazon Multi-link ♦ Barnes & Noble ♦ iTunes ♦ Kobo

*******

Image: Bead found in Grave Circle A, Grave III, Mycenae, Second half of the 16th century BCE https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mycenaean_ring2.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Mycenaean_ring2.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:GNU_Free_Documentation_License,_version_1.2
Unknown authorUnknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons: Rounded off corners of image

Reviews: The Moon Casts a Spell

October 15, 2014

At Amazon:

“The beautiful and mysterious cover of ‘The Moon casts a spell’ perfectly illustrates the events of this subtle book, the fourth episode of Rebecca Lochlann’s powerful love story, ‘The Child of the Erinyes’. Three lovers reincarnate, drawn together by the emotional tangle that binds them. Unfortunately, hatred sustains another protagonist who pursues the lovers across the centuries, bringing destruction and death.” Mary Josefina Cade, author of The Bermondsey Grail, and other stories.

 

“Superbly written with compelling characters, this novella is my favorite, so far, in The Child of Erinyes series.” J. S. Colley, author of The Halo Revelations.

 

“Everybody who read my review on Child of Erinyes The Bronze Age Collection knows just how much I love these characters so I’m not even going there, apart from saying that they continue pretty much alive in “The Moon Casts a Spell”, their capacity to love just as endearing and some of their actions or inactions just as infuriating as ever.
And I keep hoping…oh how I hope…
I find this ability to actually feel strong emotions for these characters such a wonderful thing since it happens rarely when I read new authors.” Amazon reader

Read all the reviews

 

The Moon Casts a Spell: A companion novella in the series

October 15, 2014

The series skips a few thousand years to take up Aridela’s story in Victorian Scotland.

The Child of the Erinyes

Book Four, a Novella prequel introducing

Book Five, The Sixth Labyrinth

The Moon Casts a Spell dips into one of the triad’s seven lives, on the remote isle of Barra, in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides.

Set just before The Sixth Labyrinth begins, in the tumultuous Victorian years from the 1830s to 1853, The Moon Casts a Spell brings Athene’s triad together again as they work their way through the seven lives they are bound to experience.

 

New News! The Moon Casts a Spell is now available in both digital and paperback! We had a lot of fun adding artwork to this book, in both versions. The e-book has full color watercolors, and the paperback beautiful chapter introductions.

 

Click HERE for the Multi-Region Amazon link

The Moon Casts a Spell is available everywhere. See “Links to Purchase” tab.

A tale of star-crossed love, of superstition and zealotry, as a goddess brings her ancient triad together again on the windswept isle of Barra, in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides.

The Chief of Clan MacNeil is forced to sell his ancestral island to John Gordon of Cluny, a mainlander. No one knows what to expect. Will life get better or worse? Will John Gordon take care of his tenants or evict them, like so many other landowners are doing?

* * * * *

Impetuous, irreverent, derided as Barra’s peculiar changeling, Lilith Kelso has little use for anyone but Daniel Carson, the orphan her mother has taken in. Everyone expects them to marry someday.

But then John Gordon buys the island. He sends his steward to collect rents and squeeze out profits.

The steward doesn’t come alone. He brings his son, and nothing will ever be the same.

Click HERE to read a sample at Amazon.

* * * * *

 I’d like to invite you to sign up for my email newsletter, which I use ONLY to announce new releases and to offer subscribers special offers. I will never spam, or clutter up your inbox with chatter, nor will I ever share your email address. It’s easy: just enter your email address, approve it, and, to be safe, add it to your approved addresses so it doesn’t disappear into a junk folder. Here’s the link.

Child of the Erinyes Box Set

August 22, 2014

“Duh,” you might be thinking. “Why did she never do this before?” Good question. A light bulb finally went off in my brain and I have rectified my lapse, which means that a digital box set of the first three books in The Child of the Erinyes series is available at Amazon!

Honestly, the Bronze Age segment of the series was always meant to be ONE book. That’s how it was written. But it was just too big. Put all together, it runs nearly 900 pages. As a new author, I didn’t think anyone would be willing to take a chance on such an enormous story, especially in print form, (so heavy!) and those with far more experience advised me to split it up. But my heart always wanted it to be one, so I am thrilled to announce this new release. The entire Bronze Age portion can now be read in one fell swoop, and priced at $7.99, that makes one of the books FREE when compared to buying each separately.

The ebook boxed set includes the following full-length novels: The Year-god’s Daughter, The Thinara King, and In the Moon of Asterion. At the end there are also previews to Book Four, The Moon Casts a Spell, Book Six, Falcon Blue, and Book Eight, Swimming in the Rainbow.

As you may or may not know, the first three books encompass the “beginning,” of The Child of the Erinyes series. All three are set in the Bronze Age–1600s BCE Crete, (and Mycenae)–to be exact, during the era of the cataclysmal volcanic eruption on the island north of Crete, nowadays called Santorini. (In my books, it’s called Callisti, one of its ancient names.) It’s a coming of age tale, a mythic saga, a story of love, hate, lies, subterfuge, the struggle for power, and the hope of redemption.

For ninety days, I’ll be pulling the books from other retailers in order to comply with Amazon’s requirements so that I can run a few handy-dandy promotions. Which means two things: if you read books on a Kindle, keep an eye on Amazon for upcoming special deals on the individual books, and, if you’re a member of the Amazon Kindle Unlimited program, you can read each book for free.

Once the box set is up and running, I’ll be able to get back to work on The Sixth Labyrinth. It, too, is a colossal book: nevertheless, I’m hoping to publish it in one volume, and the one after that, as well, if possible. The last book of the series (Swimming in the Rainbow) is currently a mere 70,000 words–hardly bigger than a novella!

For those of you who have already read the Bronze Age portion of the series, I hope to whet your appetites for what is still to come.

A silenced but enduring Goddess has seen her place in the souls of humans systematically destroyed, but she bides her time. For Athene, thousands of years mean nothing.

The Bronze Age prophecy:
I have lived many lives since the beginning, and so shalt thou. I have been given many names and many faces. So shalt thou, and thou wilt follow me from reverence and worship into obscurity. In an unbroken line wilt thou return, my daughter. Thou shalt be called Eamhair of the sea, who brings them closer, and Shashi, sacrificed to deify man. Thy names are Caparina, Lilith, and the sorrowful Morrigan, who drives them far apart. Thou wilt step upon the earth seven times, far into the veiled future. Seven labyrinths shalt thou wander, lost, and thou too wilt forget me. Suffering and despair shall be thy nourishment. Misery shall poison thy blood. Thou wilt breathe the air of slavery for as long as thou art blinded. For thou art the earth, blessed and eternal, yet thou shalt be pierced, defiled, broken and wounded, even as I have been. Thou wilt generate inexhaustible adoration and contempt. Until these opposites are united, all will strangle within the void.

She vowed to bring back her daughter and “an immortal corps” of followers, and she does. Aridela and her companions experience history first hand, living it as it unfolds, not as royalty any longer but as ordinary human beings with extraordinary psyches.

The Sixth Labyrinth: nineteen-year-old Morrigan Lawton knows she is different–fears she could be a changeling, or even mad. She tries to hide her oddities, because this era in history is quite fond of their insane asylums–especially for women. She is plagued by nightmares, sacrilegious thoughts, an intense imagination, and an indomitable nature that just doesn’t fit in straitlaced, conservative Stranraer, Scotland, during a very tightly corseted and patriarchal Victorian era.

Her wild, high-flying spirit is nearly crushed beneath the expectations and mores of the time, not to mention her father’s iron fist. Thankfully, change arrives in the form of one Curran Ramsay, a young landowner from the Highlands. Is their meeting chance, or was it designed? Where is the third point of the triad…and the rest of the immortal corps promised by Athene? All are brought together again, to live and learn in a place very far removed from the palace and labyrinth on Crete so long ago.

The setting has a big role to play in this sweeping tale, from sleepy Stranraer on the shores of Loch Ryan to the remote, enchanted village of Glenelg, tucked beneath the imposing summits of the Five Sisters of Kintail. Here, in a spot still utterly devoted to the mystical beliefs of a rich Celtic past, Morrigan comes face to face with destiny. The story stays on the move, to moody Loch Torridon, to the thundering 900 foot cliffs at Cape Wrath, to cosmopolitan London, and finally, to the awe-inspiring, sea-scoured Hebrides islands.

Why Scotland? I needed a change of scene, a completely different culture, new research challenges. So did my protagonists! Scotland is a magical place, where the veil between ancient myth and mortals is thin. I spent a month in Scotland visiting these settings while researching the book, and believe me, there is something about it that I have never sensed anywhere else–especially at the haunting ruins of Castle Kennedy, not far from Stranraer.

I was raised on huge books. I like feeling immersed in a big, encompassing tale. I hope there are others who feel the same way, and if A Game of Thrones is any indication, there remains a healthy contingent of long-story lovers out there. So I offer my usual disclaimer: it’s not for everyone, but if you enjoy disappearing into a long, complex saga with sequels, what I like to call a myth with meat, I hope you’ll give The Child of the Erinyes a try.

Bibliographies, myths, history, links to excerpts, and more can be found at my website: Rebecca Lochlann

“What seems the end is only the beginning.”

 

Purchase links:

The Year-god’s Daughter multi-region Link
The Thinara King, multi-region link
In the Moon of Asterion, multi-region link

Child of the Erinyes Collection, the Bronze Age Box Set, multi-region link

Last Day to get The Year-god’s Daughter Free

FREE FREE FREE

THE BEGINNING TO THE EPIC SERIES, THE CHILD OF THE ERINYES

by Rebecca Lochlann

Friday, May 25th is the last day to grab a free copy of The Year-god’s Daughter for your Kindle. Pop on over to Amazon before the giveaway ends tonight!

Click HERE to download a copy.

The Year-god’s Daughter

For time beyond memory, Crete has sacrificed its king to ensure good harvests, ward off earthquakes, and please the Goddess. Men compete in brutal trials to win the title of Zagreus, the sacred bull-king, even though winning means they’ll die in a year.

Two brothers from predatory Mycenae set out to thwart the competition and their deaths as they search for exploitable weaknesses in this rich, coveted society.

Hindering their goal is the seductive and fearless Cretan princess, Aridela, an uncommon woman neither man can resist, and ancient prophecies, which predict that any threat to her people will spark Goddess Athene’s terrible wrath in a calamity of unimaginable consequences.

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The sequel to The Year-god’s Daughter is now available as well, and Book Three, In the Moon of Asterion, will arrive soon.

The Thinara King

Book Two

Goddess Athene’s white-hot rage incinerates the isle of Callisti and inflames the seas. Crete is left in ruins.

Ash, earthquakes and tsunamis devastate Crete. The will of the survivors fades as the skies remain dark and frost blackens the crops. Aridela must find a way to revive the spirit of her people along with rebuilding her country’s defenses.

More threats loom on the horizon. Greek kingdoms see a weakened Crete as easy prey. And now Chrysaleon, he who carries the ancient title of Thinara King, feels the shadow of Death over his shoulder.

Will he thwart his fate? No other man ever has.