No Story Before Its Time

Some wine company used to advertise, "We will sell no wine before its time." Sometime stories are like that— one can tell no story before its time.

I had wanted to tell the story of Christianity in Wales for at least 20 years. After all, I told the story of Christian England in GLASTONBURY, of Scotland in THE FIELDS OF BANNOCKBURN, and of Northern Ireland in THE BANKS OF THE BOYNE. Wales had to come next, didn’t it? But publishers change, markets change, writers change. . .

In 2001 I researched the story of St. David spreading Christianity throughout his beloved land and the phenomenal accounts of the 1904 Welsh Revival that swept the coal mining villages of the Rhonda Valley for a nonfiction book I hoped to publish. But the time was not yet.

Then came The Monastery Murders and I had a whole new avenue to tell so many stories I had been longing to tell. And with AN UNHOLY COMMUNION, book 3 in the series, it was time to explore mystical Wales.

First, I revisited the scenes of the stories I would be telling— or rather, Father Antony, my resident church historian, would be telling. Then, because Felicity and Antony were in Wales to lead a youthwalk, I needed to experience a walking pilgrimage. So I joined a group walking the ancient pilgrimage way from London to Walsingham— fortunately, a considerably less mountainous route than that hiked by my fictional characters.
Wales, however, wasn’t the only new territory for Felicity to explore. Because one of the themes of this series is to explore the reality of good and evil and much of Felicity’s spiritual development comes from her exploration of new-to-her aspects of Christianity, AN UNHOLY COMMUNION deals with the reality of evil.

Wales is a land where there are many "thin places," as the Dean of St. David’s Cathedral said to me. It is a place where one can feel very close to God, indeed. And sometimes this same thinness can make way for forces from the other side.

This was part of the story I needed to tell— all based on careful research into experiences of deliverance ministers and those who deal with evil as part of their Christian ministry. Just as I don’t make up any of the history I recount in my novels, I wasn’t about to make up any encounters with evil. Rather, I transfered actual deliverance stories to my characters.

It’s a rather different story from others in my series, a very different story from one I would have told before. But AN UNHOLY COMMUNION was the story I needed to tell this time.

You can read more here: http://ning.it/11tcd4m

Donna Fletcher Crow is the author of 43 books, mostly novels of British history. The award-winning Glastonbury, A Novel of the Holy Grail, an epic covering 15 centuries of English history, is her best-known work. She is also the author of The Monastery Murders: A Very Private Grave, A Darkly Hidden Truth and An Unholy Communion as well as the Lord Danvers series of Victorian true-crime novels and the literary suspense series The Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries. Donna and her husband live in Boise, Idaho. They have 4 adult children and 11 grandchildren. She is an enthusiastic gardener.
To read more about all of Donna’s books and see pictures from her garden and research trips go to: http://www.donnafletchercrow.com/ You can follow her on Facebook at:
http://ning.it/OHi0MY

Fay Sampson on Her New Book The Hunted Hare

I am so pleased to have as my guest again today the prolific author of history and mystery Fay Sampson. I've asked her to tell us about her newest book  The Hunted Hare which has just been released in North America, having been out in the UK for some months.

I was privileged to review the book and found it is a truly lovely book with characters you really want to spend time with, a beautifully developed background in mystical Wales and a plot full of twists. It’s amazing how Fay balances realism and mysticism, poignancy and mystery. I’m so glad this is the first of a series because I want to get to know Aiden and Melangell better.

And now, here's Fay to tell you about the plot and the background of how she came to write The Hunted Hare.

Aidan and Jenny have brought their young daughter Melangell to see the sacred place for which she was named. Pennant Melangell has a small pilgrimage church surrounded by yews going back thousands of years. Inside, carvings tell the legend of the saint who protected a hare from the hunters. It has long been a place of healing. Jenny is suffering from cancer and has been given months to live.

The tranquillity of this remote Welsh valley is shattered by a violent death from an arrow. Who, in this small community, is responsible? Even Jenny comes under suspicion.

Undercurrents seethe below the surface, involving both staff and guests at the House of the Hare where the Davisons are staying, and the local residents.
 When it seems that Jenny may hold a vital clue to the murderer’s identity, the Davison family themselves are in danger. Can Aidan save them?


Background. I was on a course, studying the ancient Celtic history of Wales. We were taken on a field trip to a remote valley in the hills of Powys. A dead-end road led us to an ancient pilgrimage church set amid meadows by the river. A little further on, the road ran out at the foot of the mountains, down which tumbled a high waterfall.
Even before I entered the church of Pennant Melangell I was struck by the peace that hung over the valley. This is one of those "thin places", where the physical and the spiritual come close.

Melangell was a 6^th-century Irish princess, who fled to Wales to escape a forced marriage and became a hermit in this valley. One day Brochwel, prince of Powys was out hunting. He discovered her praying in a thicket, with the hare he was chasing hiding under her skirts. The hounds backed off, howling, and the horn stuck to the huntsman’s lips. Brochwell was so impressed with her courage and sanctity that he gave her the land to found an abbey and to be a refuge for the hunted. Her legend is carved over the rood screen in the church. In the chancel there is a shrine where people lay cards of thanks or prayer. The apse beyond has a slab of rock which was probably her original grave. The medieval shrine, to which pilgrims came for healing was destroyed at the Reformation, but more recently pieces have been salvaged from where they were thrown or reused and the shrine rebuilt.

This was my setting. The couple who come here have a daughter named Melangell.

Fay Sampson has been a published author for 38 years. Starting with children’s novels, she became best known for her Celtic fantasy series Pangur Ban (Lion). She gave up her first career teaching mathematics to concentrate on full-time writing, and branched out into novels for adults. The five-part sequence Morgan le Fay tells the story of Arthur’s half-sister, and shows that there may be more to her than the wicked witch and failed seductress of popular fiction. Star Dancer does the same with the Mesopotamian myths of Inanna. A number of historical novels followed, set in Dark Age Britain. More recently, a novel about a woman researching her family history, one of Fay’s enthusiasms, turned into a crime novel, blending dark deeds from the past and present. This has become the Suzie Fewings series (Severn House). The Hunted Hare is the first of a new crime series, The Aidan Mysteries, for Monarch/Lion. They will be set in sacred places around the British Isles.

She lives in a 16th-century cottage in Devon, the county where half her ancestors have lived as far back as she can trace them. You can visit her website here: http://www.faysampson.co.uk/

Posted by Donna Fletcher Crow, the author of 40 books, mostly novels dealing with British history. The award-winning Glastonbury, A Novel of the Holy Grail, an Arthurian grail search epic covering 15 centuries of English history, is her best-known work. She is also the author of The Monastery Murders: A Very Private Grave and A Darkly Hidden Truth, as well as the Lord Danvers series of Victorian true-crime novels and the romantic suspense series The Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries. For more information go to: http://ning.it/ca9gTf

Review: King Raven Trilogy

Interested in the legends of Robin Hood? How about England and Wales in the 1100s? If you mix these ideas together, you get the King Raven Trilogy by Stephen Lawhead.

One may believe nothing can be said about Robin Hood that is new and different--three long books worth, no less! The idea gripped Lawhead as he wondered what era would best support the legends as we know them, then searched through history to find a time period and political structure for that purpose.

He uncovered the England and Wales of the eleventh century under the reign of William the Red. Truly this was a volatile period in the history of the British Isles, and I can understand Lawhead's reasoning for tossing aside Sherwood Forest in favor of the march lands of Elfael in Wales. In Lawhead's words:

New rulers of the realm (the Normans) meant strange new laws in the land. One of the most hated was known as Forest Law--a set of highly questionable legal codes designed solely for the benefit of the crown-wearer and his cronies, and not at all confined to "forests" as we understand the word (areas of dense woodland), but could encompass large tracts of grassland, marsh, and moorland. Entire villages were razed and burned to the ground, sometimes because the settlement occupied land that the king, or members of his court, had identified as prime real estate for hunting. Other times destruction was inflicted as punishment for an infraction--such as rebellion or treason--by the local lord....

All of a sudden it was a serious crime to trespass on royal land, and the hapless victim caught within the royal forest precinct faced losing a hand or an eye at best, or if worse came to worst, death by hanging.

Does that begin to sound like the backdrop for the Robin Hood story that we know? Backdrop, yes. But the story takes some serious turns from the Walt Disney version my kids practically memorized in the 80s. For one thing, there are no talking foxes. (Who knew?) Instead, these novels are darker, more desperate tales that will appeal to a more mature audience. Lawhead is a master storyteller, and that is obvious from the first paragraph of any of his novels.

For me, this change in venue and style works well. It releases the legend from the somewhat romantic straitjackets it’s been bound in, while Lawhead has kept enough of the skeleton to make the story quite recognizable.



The series starts with Hood, the story of how Bran (not known as Robin Hood) became an exile. It delves a lot into the history of the day with a fast paced story woven through it. The second book, Scarlet, continues the tale, but from the point of view of Will Scarlet as he relates his life story to Ordo the scribe from a jail cell. The longer Will keeps talking, the longer he stays alive, so it's to his advantage to tell a good story! Lawhead finishes off the trilogy with Tuck. This novel carries the merry band (only they're a bit less than merry most of the time) to London and back, as they fight the system of the day.

This series is truly a winner for those who love Welsh history.

Stephen Lawhead is an internationally acclaimed author of mythic history and imaginative fiction. In addition to his twenty-four novels, he has written nine children's books. Many of his titles been published in foreign languages. He has won numerous industry awards, and in 2003 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by the University of Nebraska. Lawhead makes his home in Oxford, England.

Valerie Comer writes contemporary romance set in British Columbia, Canada, as well as fantasy set in uncharted dimensions. Her day job is split between flooring sales and writing. She lives on a small farm with her husband, an energetic dog, two psycho kittens, several hives of bees, and a herd of Herefords. Visit her website and blog to find out more about the various writing projects she has in progress.

Homework, Fieldwork and the Fun of Setting Research - LeAnne Hardy

On Monday Cathy wrote about her novel manuscript set in Viet Nam.  One of the fun parts of writing international fiction is the travel. My first two books were set in places I knew well because I had lived there. When I wrote Glastonbury Tor (part historical fiction, part fantasy of the Holy Grail) I had lived in England, but not in the sixteenth century and not in Somerset where Glastonbury Abbey was located. I needed a visit to soak up the details that would create the atmosphere I wanted. Here are some things I learned about researching my setting.

Do your homework.
The public library provided me with more than thirty books about medieval and Elizabethan life in England, the monasteries, and the Dissolution under King Henry VIII. I was surprised at how many books I found specifically about the history and geography of Glastonbury. (Libraries are the best thing about living in a developed country—that and fast internet.) Descriptions stimulated my imagination and filled my mind with elements for my story. Besides all the notes on facts and plot ideas, I soon had a list of places I wanted to see in person.

Keep a journal. 
This is not only what we writers to do, it is also a good way to convince the IRS that your travel was a business expense. I found that I alternated scrawls of information with pages of dialog and description as they came together in my head at the site. It didn’t hurt that my hosts loaned me a bicycle to take the canal path into town through a nature reserve. The bird hide with a view of the Tor (Celtic for ‘hill’) was a perfect place to gather my thoughts and think about what my characters would do with what I had seen that day. One evening I came upon the starlings roosting in the reeds of one of the bogs that still dot the Vale of Avalon. That experience became a key romantic scene in the book. Fog creeping out of the bog across the bike path found its way into a darker scene. The day I climbed the Tor in the rain, I rushed home to the farmhouse where I was staying and drafted the scene when Colin climbs the Tor, visiting the Stations of the Cross in an effort to purge his soul. Of course, it is raining in that scene.

Use a digital camera to take notes. 
After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. The photograph of the monastery wall edging High Street reminds me of its height and the crenulations along the top. I take pictures of signs  to remind me of where the next pictures were taken or to be studied for information later (being careful not to position the flash so it produces a glare that makes the sign unreadable.) One of my numerous shots of the photogenic Tor became the basis for the book’s cover design.

Buy a geological survey map of the area. .
These are sold in shops for hikers. Mine not only kept me from getting lost in my rambles, but I also spread it on the floor of my study back home to plan the approach of King Henry’s men and Colin’s route in search of the stolen Grail.

Local people are great resources
When I visited Glastonbury, I stayed with a family I found by contacting a local church and explaining who I was and what I wanted to do. I offered to pay for hospitality--something that was hard to convince my new friends to accept in the end. They filled my ears with local data and later checked my dialog for authenticity. When I went to Wales to research a sequel (my current work-in-progress) I took advantage of the local Rambler’s Associations. These groups organize country walks. When my fellow walkers found out why I was there, they were eager to suggest other locations I should visit. One hike proved to be shorter than expected and half the group accompanied me to a near-by waterfall they thought I should see. I would never have found the location on my own, but it was the perfect inspiration for several key scenes.

What books have you read whose setting most interested you? Is there a dream setting you would like to visit?

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LeAnne Hardy has lived in six countries on four continents, sipped cream tea in Oxfordshire, eaten stewed goat at a Mozambican wedding, slid down rocks in a Mato Grosso river and shopped at Mall of America. Her books for young people come out of her cross-cultural experiences and her passion to use story to convey spiritual truths in a form that will impact lives. Visit her at www.leannehardy.net