Tags
Broken World, court, fairy folk, Irish folklore, leprechaun, paranormal, seelie, sidhe, Underwater, unseelie
In Irish mythology, the supernatural people of the mounds were called the sídhe—the sprits or goddesses and gods of nature. Gaelic tales often described them as survivors who retreated to the Otherworld after the last race settled Ireland.
Often the fair folk were stunningly beautiful, but they acted as fierce guardians of their homes—fairy hills, rings, special trees, lochs, and woods. And the Otherworld mounds are visible closer to dusk and dawn, best seen at some festivals, like Samhain, Beltane, and Midsummer.
The sidh (the place not the people) dotted the Irish landscape with tiny hills and were also referred to as fairy forts. These simple, ringed dwellings were designed to be easy to defend and protect their agriculture and livestock. And many believe that if you disturb a mound, you will suffer from bad luck, an accident, or death.
Some say it’s worth the gold one might find within, but the leprechauns make the mound much more dangerous.
Within these mounds are fairy courts, categorized as light or dark. The most common depictions are of the Seelie or Unseelie—the helpers and the delinquents. Both can bring harm to humans, but respect is the best commodity when dealing with the fair folk.
Faeries are also influenced by aristocracy amongst the families, ruling through power and influence.
The faeries mounds in my Broken World mix politics with the protection of family. Several forts are strategically placed around the world and influenced human politics: one in Russia, exploiting the fall of the Romanov family; a transitional underwater mound, taking a hand in the rise and fall of Roman, Greek, and Egyptian empires; and more tactical places, like Iceland, who hold the middle ground of the faerie hubs.
Iceland, in fact, is the last faerie location separate from the Assetato and the Celampresians—the two paranormal forces that have been at war for near eight millennia, and they house an internal affairs department because of their neutrality as well as remain the main historical keepers of their faerie artifacts.
For these reasons, Boden returns a faerie swords smuggled from a Celampresian camp to his childhood home and has to face his older brother, a council member and head of their Internal Magick Protection unit.
Want to know more about my take on the faerie mound? Read my story “The Rainbow Sprite” in Underwater. And sign-up to be get your ARC copy of “The Shoemaker’s Apprentice,” my short story about Boden’s journey home.
Long ago, the death of his little sister broke his family apart.
After a close call left him blind in one eye, Boden must return to the home he fled as a young leprechaun.
For hundreds of years, he has feared facing his family and punishment for his sister’s death.
Boden needs to make up for his mistakes before he can fight a war for the woman he loves.
Find out what secrets are unleashed in THE SHOEMAKER’S APPRENTICE.
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