Crooked cat SALE continues!

It's the Crooked cat Summer Sale time again!

Grab some fabulous bargains and enjoy escaping to other realities as you engross yourself in engaging characters and situations. Almost all Crooked Cat novels are on sale at ONLY 99p/99c across the Amazon Network.

Search for Crooked Cat Books on Amazon or try my link HERE.

Slainthe!

Holiday reading!

Tuesday Tales!

One great thing about holidays for me is that I try to squeeze in some reading for pleasure, as many novels as I can during all the in between bits of travel, sightseeing, meals and sleep.

So far I've read a few of those on my kindle queue but I've been dipping into some non-fiction hardbacks in The Black Watch Cruise Ship's Library as well.

1.
The first of these kindle novels is hard to write about since it was the worst content edited story that I've read for quite a while. I think there may have been an edit for grammar and spelling which meant those aspects were adequate but the whole text needed a thorough edit for continuity errors; possible anachronisms; frequent POV changes; and use of phrasing which was far too modern for the era. I'd need to research whether or not a band of gypsies would have been likely as entertainment at this time, because perhaps they were the earliest troubadours, but the whole inclusion of the gypsy scenes seemed far too contrived. I persevered with the read in the hope of improvement but it didn't happen for me. As such I won't be rating Ariana's Pride by Margaret Lake on Goodreads or Amazon since I can't even rate it at 3 stars. If the author had employed a competent editor then the story would mot likely have had at least a 3 star rating.

2.

Amelia and the Viscount by Samantha Holt A 4 star read!

This was a short fast read, a quick dip into the era where it was commonplace for a family to have a string of daughters to marry off, generally the elder one marrying first. However, much like a famous Jane Austen novel, the eldest daughter in this novel is not first to be wed. The storyline is simple yet a bit unrealistic for me. The hero needing the blinkers lifted before he really sees Amelia’s qualities, after being totally smitten by a younger sister, doesn’t quite match up with the given facts that Nicholas had known all the girls as they grew up. The dialogue flows well though and the story has a good pace throughout.

3.
Ready, Steady, Dig! by Rosalind Winter 

This was definitely a 5 ***** read! 

This was a highly entertaining novel with a great pace throughout. The characters, major and minor, are all colourful and well rounded with the lares being personified to a high degree. I really enjoyed the contrasts between some of these, Petro being so responsible and Stillaria being so…well, Drippy!

The whole plot is centred on the Television concept of a fast action archaeological dig, which is not necessarily the way a traditional dig might be conducted. The reader who is familiar with TV archaeology will appreciate the TV characters created by the author. And for those who don’t watch much TV, Dr. Horton seems more typical of the pedantic archaeologists of the last fifty years.

There is a lot of well researched history and archaeology within this very readable, highly imaginative and enjoyable ‘historical fantasy’ contemporary novel.     

by Rosalind Winter.


4.

The List by Joanna Bolouri  4 stars

This was an entertaining book, definitely course but very readable. The story of Phoebe’s kind of dating sounds such hard work though the end was inevitable almost right from the beginning. I liked most of the characters but Oliver gets his just desserts! Quite predictable in a kind of Bridget Jones fashion but compelling reading.






Now I'm off to read a Crooked Cat Books novel! I'll let you know about it later....

Slainthe!   

Tasiilaq Eastern Greenland ... #2 Cruise Diary

Cruising Iceland, Greenland, and Norway #2

Greetings from Tasiilaq- Greenland!

Tasiilaq is the largest town in East Greenland with a population of around 2,000. Surrounded by jagged mountain peaks the town nestles above a small bay which houses the small harbour. A pontoon/floating jetty provides landing facilities for cruise ships like the one I am currently on and larger vessels.

The slow approach to Tasiilaq before 05.00 hours was in heavily overcast skies (I’m not sure exactly when since I was asleep till though the Captain’s daily update at noon over the system generally contains such information). The occasional small iceberg dotted the fjord outside my balcony window and tempted me to have a quick photo opportunity. Pyjama clad, it was surprisingly not too cold as I snapped a few quick shots though any longer would have been a different story.

In that early morning mist some of the colourful buildings closer to the shore peeked in and out of the shifting haar. Most buildings aren’t large, the bigger ones being warehousing, hospital, public buildings, school, sports centre. They have a very pretty Scandinavian appeal with many of them picked out with white rooftop edges.

During my short walk around Tasiilaq the people were very friendly, ready to smile to the hundreds of cruise ship tourists who landed on their shore in small batches from The Black Watch tenders. Impromptu entertainment was provided for us by young girls singing local songs as they sat near the Post Office, overseen by an older woman. I say local songs because at least one of them included the word Tasiilaq- though what the rest of the song meant I’ve no clue. Their first language is Greenlandic followed by Danish. Not knowing how to say thank you in Danish I tried it in Dutch and my ‘Haartelijk Danke’ was greeted with large smiles so it must have been similar enough.

The town used to be reliant on hunting but has in recent years diversified to include fishing and tourism to gain more economic benefits. The small Tourist Shop was crowded when I tried to have a look at the wares so I reluctantly gave that visit a miss. Some 20 -25 of the cruise ships tourists completely fills the small space to capacity. One of the shop windows had been opened for fresh air so I was able to glimpse some of the bone carvings that are a popular tourist buy.

Instead of queuing to get in to the shop and missing some valuable time on shore, I continued my hike up the road to get the best view of the area. Each new step on the sharp ascent took me into the low mist that was hovering. I’m used to Scottish haar descending so there was no use in blaming the local ‘god of the weather’ for not sending me sunshine. And for the locals it's clear that the washing gets hung outside in all weathers!

There's a tiny museum that started off life as a church but again it was very busy when I reached it, ours being the third tender to go ashore. However, finding out more about the traditional Inuit historical and religious history will have to wait for an internet connection that works more reliably. Our tour guide quite rightly advised all of us not to enter the small church if the flag was flying at half mast as that would indicate a wedding, funeral or some such event was taking place. The flag was flying high but as I saw some locals emerging I continued to seek new vistas to take more photos of the tiny harbour below.

My visit was short but I’m so very glad to say I have actually stepped foot on the terrain of Greenland!

Slainthe!         

It's the Crooked Cat Summer Sale!

Hello from somewhere on the high seas off Iceland. 

Actually, I'm in one of the fjords on the northern coast of Iceland, that leads to Akureyri our port of call for one night.

When I managed to log on to the internet (which hasn't been easy while en route to Greenland- should that surprise me?) I confirmed news of the Crooked Cat Summer Sale that lasts from the 28th August to the 31st August (2017).

That means that most of my novels are at 99p/ 99c across the Amazon Network, as well as lots of other CC books.

There's tons of genres to choose from and many of those cross the usual stereotypical genres which makes for REALLY GREAT READS!

Just pop onto Amazon, search for Crooked Cat books to see the selection and click away!

Alternatively here's a link to my own page HERE. 

Happy Reading,

Slainthe! 

Reykjavik by Tuk Tuk! ... #1 Cruise Diary

Cruising Iceland, Greenland, and Norway #1

Reykjavik  24^th August 2017

The grey, seriously overcast morning was no different from what I’m used to in north east Scotland so that didn’t put me off from watching the ship come into harbour at Reykjavik a little before eight o’clock in the morning. Like many fishing towns, Reykjavik is highly dependent on the fruits of the sea and the dockside is probably very like many you can visit worldwide. What might be different to some other ports is the cleanliness I saw around and about. There are medium height cranes but these don’t dominate the surrounding area. Other dockside machinery is unobtrusive.

As I write this post, I’m sitting in the Observatory Lounge on The Black Watch, a Fred Olsen cruise ship, on Deck 9 of 10 and I’m overlooking the harbour near our mooring point. The height means I have a fantastic vista over the city of Reykjavik. The buildings of the city are mainly low rise though there are a few modern apartment blocks dotted here and there, none of which look to be more than ten stories high. The city appears sprawled out from the harbour but the streets are very narrow and traffic tootling along on roads just above the harbour don’t travel too quickly.

Containers are to be found stacked in neat arrays at strategic places along the quayside. The modern container sheds are well designed for filling the containers, the one facing me as I type organised with bays in numeral order. There is movement below me on the dockside but nothing busy or bustling. It’s now four p.m. so perhaps I’d need to be viewing this at an early morning time to see the landings or maybe even on a different day when landings come in all day. The trawlers and whalers of today, I’m told by a local guide, are full processing ships and what comes to the dockside is already frozen or refrigerated and ready for distribution from the warehousing storage units. 

The city of Reykjavik’s tallest building is the spire of the modern white Cathedral. There are many other white buildings so being white doesn’t make it distinctive but what does make it stand out is its pinnacle shape that is so Viking like. The fabulous statue in front of the modern cathedral, started more then 20 years ago and not yet completed, is of Leifr Eiricsson who may, or may not, have discovered America before anyone else.   

The tour we picked for today (Thursday 24^th Aug) wasn’t a long one but it was a novelty to go by Tuk Tuk. The city of Reykjavik gets its electricity from geo thermal plants and I’m told is completely free to residents.  The Tuk Tuk vehicle is essentially an electric bike with sufficient power to tow a weather proofed trailer for seating tourists. The ride is supposed to be large enough for 6 people but thankfully there were only four of us inside mine, though perfectly comfy for the purpose. The ride itself is very smooth but less so when driving over cobbled streets.

The first part of the tour was around the harbour area which like many traditional fishing villages has fishing related/ industrial buildings cheek and jowl with habitation. There’s a very clean feel about the areas but I was protected from any fishing odours inside the plastic coverings of the Tuk Tuk so I can’t comment on that.

Leifr Eiricsson 

The city of Reykjavik that I saw today doesn’t seem very old from the visible buildings but habitation of the site of Reykjavik goes back many centuries. Icelandic Sagas tell us that the area was first settled by Ingolfur Arnason (apologies for the lack of accents) and Hallveig Frodadottir back in 874 A.D. The Book of Settlements (Landnamabok), written by Ari Borgillson in the late 11th or early 12th Century, records the first people to inhabit to Iceland. Details of where they settled and who their descendants were are recorded in meticulous detail. (Look out for more of Ingolfor Arnason in a later blog post.)

In such a harsh climate wooden buildings have limited lifespans so what is now visible as the oldest buildings are much more recent than those built by Ingolfor and his descendants. By 1786, the city was an official trading post and buildings and the city grew from then on. A tour of ‘The Old Town’ provides a view of the colourful older buildings along with newer ones which have been recent replacements to fill gaps. Many areas along the shoreline are being redeveloped for commercial or for local leisure uses.

The newer buildings on my tour showed a preference for more neutral colours which in winter must make them disappear in the snowy landscape. However, many of the gable ends of buildings have very decorative street art (see above image) which maybe makes them easier to recognise in a white out! I didn’t see many large houses but those which would have been originally used by one large or extended family, I was told by our guide, now tend to be sub-let into smaller apartments.

Public buildings are small with little embellishment which seems very in keeping with a practical community living in a harsh winter environment. During my tour there were occasional glimpses of the pedestrian shopping area, larger retail outlets which were dotted along the streets between harbour and centre of the city. The city isn’t built on a grid system so it felt a little as though our driver was weaving back and forth to get to the main tourist spot by the cathedral.

Our Tuk Tuk guide’s English wasn’t very fluent but since she was an Italian from Turin and had only lived in Reykjavik for two years it was great she was able to point out anything at all. (A commentary was not guaranteed on the Tuk Tuk tour anyway so some info was a bonus)

More later on the photos from my trip to Reykjavik since my internet connections are not reliable and I'm probably chancing it trying to post the above. 

Slainthe!   

Summer Surprises continue with Death in Dulwich by Alice Castle!

Saturday Surprise! 

Alice Castle

I've a special guest today, Alice Castle, who has popped in to share news of her soon to be released novel Death In Dulwich. Crooked Cat Books launch it on the 6th September 2017 but since I'll be away on my cruising holiday I'm sharing the update today, just in case I have no internet access on the 6th. 

Congratulations in advance of the launch and my best wishes that it's a fantastic and profitable day, Alice. I've got it pre-ordered and look forward to reading it very soon! 

Welcome to my blog and please tell us a little about what Summer Surprises are in store for us in Death in Dulwich ....  

A big thank-you to Nancy for having me today on her lovely blog. Nancy writes delicious contemporary romantic mysteries as well as historical and time travel novels so, as my book is a mystery with a dash of romance on the side, I’m hoping there will be a crossover appeal to some of you devoted Nancy fans.

I’m really excited about my book, Death in Dulwich, which is coming out on 6th September. It’s a nod to the Golden Age of crime fiction, in that I’ve set my story in a small, enclosed community where everyone knows each other, with all the joys and strife and intense claustrophobia that brings. The twist is that the community is set in the heart of south east London. As a major world capital, London is not the kind of place where you’d expect the neighbours to know what you had for breakfast. But then, Dulwich is no ordinary part of the city.

My heroine, too, is out of the usual mould. She is a single mum, widowed very young and now struggling to make ends meet and keep up with the mortgage payments. She lands a great job and then, on her first day at work, she stumbles over… oh, but that would be telling.

Suffice to say, she is pitched headlong into a situation where she has no choice but to clear her name. It’s a struggle which brings her up against the police, her bosses and, worse still, the judgemental yummy mummies at her son’s school.

I’m really thrilled to say I’ve already had some lovely reviews for Death in Dulwich. My favourite is, ‘a modern twist on Miss Marple.’ I have to confess, I did rather shout, ‘yesssss!’ when I read that. But the book has also been called ‘a compelling page turner’ and been described as ‘murderously good fun.’

Dulwich is undoubtedly one of the heroes of the book. I lived there for four years, my children went to school there and it is both a wonderful and daunting place to make a life. It’s at the heart of my series. The sequel to Death in Dulwich, The Girl in the Gallery, is coming out next year (also with Crooked Cat) and there will be at least two more instalments in the series to follow. I’m really looking forward to writing them and I hope you’ll read them with pleasure. I’d say the books are quite a light read, but hopefully deal with contemporary issues that affect parents, small communities and the society we live in.

Death in Dulwich

By Alice Castle

Already described by early reviewers as ‘murderously good fun’ (author TP Fielden), a ‘keenly observed page turner … highly recommended’ (Amazon) and ‘well-written, engaging and fun,’ (author Jo Blakeley), Death in Dulwich is the story of thirty-something widow Beth Haldane.

Beth has her hands full – she has a bouncy nine-year-old son, a haughty cat, a fringe with a mind of its own and a ton of bills to pay. She loves her little home in plush south London suburb Dulwich, but life here doesn’t come cheap.

That’s why she is thrilled to land a job as archivist at top local school Wyatt’s - though she has an inkling the post is not what it seems and she doesn’t think much of her new boss, Dr Jenkins, either. Then, on her first day at work, Dr Jenkins is brutally murdered. Beth finds the body, and realises she is the prime suspect, with means, opportunity and a motive.

Beth has no choice but to try and clear her name, bringing herself into conflict with the police and the school. But who is the real culprit? And is the cause of the killing a horrifying secret buried deep in the school’s past, or does evil lurk behind the comfortable façade of daily Dulwich life?

Beth grows in confidence during her dogged pursuit of the murderer and, by the end of the book, is ready for any adventures that may come her way. Which is just as well, because there’s trouble brewing at the Dulwich Picture Gallery ….

Pre-Order your copy  HERE 

Alice Castle

Twitter: @DDsDiary

Blog: www.dulwichdivorcee.com

Alice Castle was a national newspaper journalist for The Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph before becoming a novelist. Her first book, Hot Chocolate, was a European best-seller which sold out in two weeks.

Alice is currently working on the sequel to Death in Dulwich, The Girl in the Gallery. The second instalment in the London Murder Mystery series, it will be published by Crooked Cat next year.

Alice is also a top mummy blogger, writing DD’s Diary at www.dulwichdivorcee.com.

She lives in south London and is married with two children, two step-children and two cats.

Thank you for visiting today, Alice, and once again best wishes! 

Slainthe! 

Welcome to my Friday Feature! 

Miriam Drori

Today, I'm delighted to welcome a return guest, Miriam Drori, a lovely lady I've met many times both 'in the flesh' and virtually during the last few years. Miriam's a fellow Crooked Cat Books author who has visited this blog a number of times promoting her fiction titles but today she comes with information on a new venture, one fits into the newest category of non-fiction from Crooked Cat Books. 

Social Anxiety Revealed by Miriam Drori will be published very soon on the 22nd August 2017.

I'm very interested in the topic of Miriam's latest book because I believe that Social Anxiety can affect pretty well all of us at some time in our lives. Not all people experience it the same way, and it has more lasting and lingering effects on some more than others.

I'm very keen to have a read of what I know will be a very well polished book and Social Anxiety Revealed by Miriam Drori will be one of the books on my kindle that I hope to read during my coming holidays. I've already Pre-Ordered my copy from Amazon and all I have to wish for now is that I get sufficient access to the internet on my cruise holiday to download it onto my tablet! 

Welcome again to my blog, Miriam. What a great image for your latest book, it really captures the essence of your topic. Thanks for sharing with us your non-fiction journey...

That Question Again

“I’m an author,” I might begin. “I’ve had two books published so far and one more will be released very soon.”

“Oh really,” they’ll say with some surprise, because I didn’t give the impression I’m clever enough to write a book, let alone have it published. “What are your books about?”

“The first is a romance set in Jerusalem. The second is a novella written with another author; it’s the first of a series, based on a painting by Klimt. The third is non-fiction and it’s about social anxiety.”

Eyebrows are raised again. Then they’ll ask that question: “What’s social anxiety?”

And I want to shout at them, “How can you ask such a question? Social anxiety is the most common anxiety disorder there is. It’s the third most common mental health issue. About 12% of people will suffer from it at some time in their lives. And you ask what it is! You wouldn’t ask what depression is!”

But I don’t shout at them and I know I’d be wrong to shout. Because social anxiety, despite being very common, is hardly known about. Most people don’t even know the term and even fewer understand anything about it.

That’s why I’ve been so keen to publish this book: Social Anxiety Revealed, and why I’m delighted that it’s happening now (August 22). It’s a book I first wrote in 2004 and have recently updated. I began it when I became passionate about raising awareness of social anxiety. The reasons for that passion will appear in a different post on someone else’s blog.

The book isn’t just my story. It contains quotes from many other people with first-hand experience of social anxiety. It shows similarities and differences amongst those experiences, because people with social anxiety come from different places and have led different lives. And it contains humour, because humour provides a relief to the tension. And because even those who suffer from social anxiety can see the funny side of its illogicality. It is a fact that several stand-up comedians have or had social anxiety.

***

Miriam Drori can be found all over the Internet, including:

Miriam’s website and blog, a blog devoted to social anxiety, Facebook author page and Twitter.

Social Anxiety Revealed will be available from Amazon from August 22 in paperback and ebook formats.

You can Pre-order Social Anxiety Revealed from Amazon HERE. 

Thank you for coming today, Miriam. Best wishes for a fantastic launch next Tuesday (22nd August) and for great sales of Social Anxiety Revealed. 

Slainthe! 

A classic 'Ancient Roman' bestseller - Eagle in the Snow

Thursday top up...

This is about a recent read that took me a while since leisure reading time has been seriously curtailed over the last week. 

I can see why this book, written around the 1980s, set a trend for later Roman military history authors. I didn’t find it read as easily as some other Roman legionary battles’ novels that I’ve read recently but the style was similar in that it told the tale via one main protagonist, in this case General Maximus. In parts the tale seemed longer than it needed to be but there was certainly plenty of enjoyable action in other places. Though fiction, I think it’s still a good read for getting a general gist of Roman military life both in settled peaceful times, as in northern Britannia, and in the horrors of engagement on the frontier in Gaul. (I confess to not seeing much in the novel that would have led to the script for a very famous film.) 

I'm not sure the addition of his cousin Julian/ friend of his youth was dealt with adequately. I can believe that some jealousy might have occurred between two youths when one got all the family 'rewards' and the other got less but as Julian pops in and out of the plot it seems irrelevant to the main storyline. 

Having read yet another piece of fiction set loosely around some factual Ancient Roman military details I'm glad I have personally chosen to write my novels predominantly from the Celtic perspective. That said, something like 'Eagle in the Snow' gives me some ideas for the creation of the roman characters who do appear as minor characters in my Celtic Fervour Series.

I'm sure that this novel will appeal to those who love a good tale that's brimful of Roman military details. 

Slainthe!  

Travel weary Celtic gods and goddesses

Wednesday Wishes to you! (it's late GMT time but still Wednesday)

My summer surprise today is a whole gamut of questions for you to help me with.

How well travelled were the ancient Celtic gods and goddesses?

This is very much a possibly and probably post!

In my current writing set in A.D. 84, I have a number of *Celtic characters who are working towards a common goal even though their origins are from different areas of what we currently geographically term Great Britain. This means I have to work hard to discover which gods and goddesses might be appropriate for them to pray to since it seems that, in the Celtic culture, belief in their deities was likely to have been strong. Since I strive for historical accuracy whenever possible it means a bit more research to see if I can find any references I can happily use for my protagonists in Books 4 of my Celtic Fervour series.  

My Enya via www.123rf.com

My main female character in Book 4 is Enya, a young warrior who was born at the hillfort of Garrigill in northern Brigantia (present day northern Yorkshire). Enya’s young life has been peppered with strife brought about initially by the invasion of the Roman armies of Quintus Petillius Cerialis, Roman Governor of Britannia in A.D. 71. In Book 2 of my series, when Enya is around the age of nine, she’s towed along when her family flee from Brigantia and head to her Aunt Nara’s homeland, Selgovae territory (southern Scotland), which lies north of Brigantia. In Book 3 she’s again on the move as her family move further north to the lands of the Taexali and the Caledons (north-east Scotland) to challenge the domination of General Agricola’s armies. By A.D. 84 (Book 3) she’s one of the young warriors involved in the confrontation that takes place between the armies of General Gnaeus Julius Agricola at Beinn na Ciche. (My version and location for the potential Mons Graupius battle)

Book 4 begins in late AD 84 in Caledon territory (north-east Scotland) and I have to surmise from scant historical evidence that although the peoples of northern Britannia were diverse tribal groups they most likely shared a common language—some form of Common Brythonic—and probably many of their religious beliefs were broadly similar. However, some historic references and archaeological finds seem to point to localised differences in the worship of deities. (e.g. My FutureLearn studies on Hadrian’s Wall makes mention of deities only ever mentioned in this geographical area on ‘tombstone’/monument evidence, though admittedly these remains post date my A.D. 84 period)

What language/s the tribes of north-east Scotland spoke in A.D. 84 isn’t known but from etymology studies it’s thought that some three hundred years later the Picts of the area were likely to have used a P-Celtic Brythonic based language. This form of Celtic is believed to have derived from the original Common Brythonic language which came with people who probably migrated from Europe. The Pictish language is grouped as a Brythonic language along with Welsh, Cornish and Breton and the extinct Cumbric language. For me that link with the language of Cumbria is an interesting one because my fictitious hillfort of Garrigill, Enya’s birthplace, is not so far from Cumbria.  

Back to my search for which gods and goddesses I might use and it seems feasible that I could use some of the god names of Welsh derivation and of Cornish, Breton and Cumbric. Searching for gods and goddesses of Celtic Scotland draws many blanks and few hits but there are more for the Welsh tradition. I have yet to investigate any Breton and Cumbric ones. I have to decide if it’s reasonable to assume that the god names may not have changed all that much from the earliest known Welsh use and before any Latin influences brought by the Ancient Roman usurpers changed some things. Hmmm…

It’s very tempting to use some of the gods and goddesses that are handed down via the Irish, Scottish and Manx traditions but they are grouped as the Q-Celtic Goidelic form of the Common Brythonic language. Here lies one of my big questions—if the language evolved differently in those areas from the Common Brythonic was that only after the Roman invasions?  Were the god and goddess names across Britain and Ireland the same pre- Roman influence and only changed some time after?

I’d love an expert to tell me the answers.

Till I find out otherwise, I’m using a mix of those thought to be the most common gods/goddesses across Europe and some nicely sounding local ones.

The older generations of my Garrigill clan in Books 1-3 have specific favoured gods and goddesses but Enya has not got to a point yet where she has her own favourites. I’ve no doubt that there would have been some powerful influences from parents back then and I’m making the assumption that adoption of personal deities was probably done before the onset of adulthood. (I’m not sure that any particular reference exists which states that everyone had to have chosen their gods etc by puberty-though again,  if anyone knows, please share!). At the beginning of Book 4 Enya’s feeling a bit let down by all of the deities and her faith in any of them is fragile. Will the events of Book 4 make that insecure faith totally crumble… or not? 

Nith- via www.123rf.com

Another of my main characters is Nith. He’s a Selgovae and a distant relative of Enya’s aunt. Nith has not lost faith but has chosen to rely on his own guidance rather than the gods who let down his brother and allowed Esk to perish during the confrontation with the Legions of General Agricola at Beinn na Ciche (Book 3). Does Nith turn more to his gods as the book progresses? I definitely think so because he has a couple of agendas to solve…

Then there’s my young Taexali warrior named Feargus who journeys along with Enya and Nith. Are Feargus’ local gods and goddesses the same names as Enya’s or Nith’s? I don’t think so though some of his local deities will have similar functions to some of theirs. My thinking is that a good geographical distance separates the birth places of all three of the above. Feargus’ Taexali territory lies around 200 miles from where Nith was brought up and probably 300+ miles from Garrigill, Enya’s birthplace. Feargus has some well chosen names for his local goddesses which he definitely adheres to with a deep conviction.

(Note to self: I must get a working image for Feargus)

Agricola-
Wikimedia Commons

Another main character who needs his own pantheon of gods to pray to is General Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Governor of Britannia in AD 84 and Commander of all Britannic Legions, including those of the Classis Britannica. His Roman gods and goddesses might have some similarities to some of those of my Celtic clan members worship but my Agricola needs plenty of Roman deities to entreat to aid his decision making. Finding names for Agricola’s gods/ goddesses is proving easier than those of my Celts. Though having said that Agricola was born and raised in a region of Gaul called Gallia Narbonensis ( Frejus, France) and may well have been aware of some of the local Celtic gods and goddesses since his forebears were Romanised Gauls of local origin.   

Which gods might I be using for Agricola?  And which for my other main Celtic characters? That’ll be my next instalment. Watch this space…

*I use the term Celtic fairly broadly because I have no better name for the late Iron Age peoples who inhabited the island the Romans named Britannia by A.D. 71.

Slainthe!