by Kerry Adrienne
Anya’s wish for
a normal date—away from the old man she is caretaker for—comes true in
unexpected ways when she finds herself whisked to an ancient Irish stone circle
on solstice eve.
Carrick’s
decision to follow the path to become an Ovate druid has not come lightly, and
he plans to spend the solstice eve in meditation unless fairies or evil spirits
disrupt the circle. When a feisty girl walks right up to the fire, more than
sparks fly.
They each seek
healing and a connection, but the darkness of summer is short, and once the
solstice sun breaks through the circle at dawn, the magic of the night will be
over. Even Madame Eve can’t stop the day from rising.
My
second 1NS in the All Mine series
releases this week is Druid, Mine, a
time travel that takes place in ancient
Ireland when Druids thrived. Much of our knowledge about these
Druids is sketchy. There are plenty of different opinions on how the Druids
lived, worked, and communed with nature. To write about the ancient Druid, I
had to take some of the current scholarly research plus the writings from
classical times and just go with it.
When I
started writing, I didn’t really know about the different classes of Druids. An
Ovate is a healer, herbalist, and diviner. Imagine my surprise when I found out
that Ovates were time travelers! They were believed to be able to communicate
with the ancestors both in the past and future (as past, future, and present
are merged where the ancestors exist).
I
wanted to bring in some elements of Druid life—the solstice fire, the herbs,
the ritualism—without bringing in too much history.
I also
wanted to bring in a bit of fairy lore. Aine (her name meaning brightness) is
the queen of the fairies—and summer is her time of splendor. Her greatest feast
day is summer solstice and she is known to be a helper to men. Another
fairy/goddess in the story is Danu. She is a water goddess (the river Danube is
named after her).
The
hero, Carrick, in Druid, Mine is an
initiate Ovate—and he is struggling with whether it is his true path. At the
time, Ireland was besieged with skirmishes and violence, and he has lost his
entire family to the bloodshed. Anya is likewise lost—working as a caretaker to
an older man and having no real life of her own. She lives in modern times in
the mountains of North Carolina (the mountains of NC have a rich Scotch-Irish
heritage). To bring Carrick and Anya together, Madame Eve enlists the help of
Danu. When Carrick and Anya meet, he believes she is Aine, the fairy queen.
I just
love writing time travel stories—I get to oblige my love of history and
research while also writing about love. A third book in the All Mine series will release in the
fall—Pharaoh, Mine. The first book in
the series, Senator, Mine, is already
available.
I’ll be giving away a copy of Druid, Mine to one person
who comments on this blog. What place and time in history is your favorite to
read and or write about?
I’d love for you to follow me on Twitter: @kerryadrienne
