How do you incorporate a fire and fertility festival into a Young Adult medieval fantasy novel?
Very carefully.
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| Photo by Social History Archive on Unsplash Part of a set of glass lantern slides of May Queen images believed to be from the early 1900s, possibly in the Cheshire area. |
In ancient times, Beltane festivals celebrated the Celtic sun god, Belenus, and heralded the start of the Celtic summer and growing season. Beltane symbols include the maypole, Green Man, May Queen, bonfires, May wreaths, and The Lovers tarot card.
In The Beltane Escape, Book One in The Two Realms Trilogy, Beltane acts as a ticking clock. A spell cast forward to medieval Scotland strikes Lady Fenella and leaves her stolen, betrothed, and lured back centuries into Fairy. By Beltane, nine days hence, she must find her cousin in a dangerous world of magic, unshackle herself from a sorceress, and return through time before her kidnapper destroys all she holds dear.
The heart-pounding energy often associated with Beltane sexuality, is transformed in The Beltane Escape, into pulse-pounding suspense as time runs out for Fenella. She smells the nervous cattle about to be driven between balefires; hears the pipers; and sees villagers waving cowslip wands attached to peeled willow wands.
The one element that eludes her - a means to escape.
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In anticipation of the upcoming release of the epic conclusion to The Two Realms Trilogy, The Beltane Escape, The Amber Elixir (A Two Realms novella), and The Viking Mist can be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. Ebook and print versions are available for purchase.
Happy Beltane and May Day!
~Ariella Moon
