Kelley Heckart's Blog, page 60

Favorite Friday

I’m sharing a favorite TV show today.

Vikings on the History Channel

 

I love this show. It is fast-paced and compelling to me. Finally, someone who gets what the Vikings were—family men and women, farmers—normal people. Sure, they invaded England and killed people and stole treasure—some of the Vikings were cold-blooded killers, but most of them were not. My favorite character is the Shield-Maiden Lagertha. She stands up for her beliefs and doesn’t let anyone or any man walk all over her. There is a lot of eye candy for me—muscular men with long hair. One thing I really like about this show is how authentic the settings and people look. They look like they make their clothes out of animal skins. The women wear little or no makeup. Highly recommended.

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Weird Word Wednesday

AD HOMINEM1ad ho·mi·nem adjective \(ˈ)ad-ˈhä-mə-ˌnem, -nəm\
Definition of AD HOMINEM1
:  appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect
2
: marked by or being an attack on an opponent's character rather than by an answer to the contentions made
Origin of AD HOMINEMNew Latin, literally, to the person
First Known Use: 1598
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Musing Mondays: How to deal with hard to pronounce names in fiction

I read and write books that sometimes have names or terms that are difficult for the average reader to pronounce. If I am writing a story set in a particular time period with real people I am using as characters, strange and difficult names cannot be avoided. I realize this can cause some aggravation for readers and for that, I apologize. But I can’t change historical names.
Since I’ve been reading fantasy and historical fiction most of my life, I have come across more than a few names I couldn’t pronounce. This was before you could Google a random name and probably find the correct pronunciation online. Anyway, I came up with a way to make it easier to read the book without driving myself crazy. I came up with my own way to pronounce the name or word and don’t worry if I am using the correct pronunciation. It’s easy to do and doesn’t throw me out of the story.
As an example, here are two names from Daughter of Night:
King Suppiluliuma: This one is a tough name to pronounce so what I did whenever I came across this name in my book was simply pronounce it like this—Sup il luma.
Becuille: This one is a little tricky so I pronounce this name like this—Be keel.
So, the next time you come across a name or word you can’t pronounce in a book, try this technique instead of giving up on the story.

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Two mortals are caught in the midst of the battle between the Titans and Olympian gods.

http://kelleyheckart.com/daughter_of_night.html

Favorite Friday

I’m sharing a favorite book today.

The Werelord Thal, A Renaissance werewolf tale

I picked this book because it looked different—set in an unusual place and time period and not like every werewolf story I see. Set in the 1500s in Prague, I found this story interesting and hope this is part of a series because the end left me wondering about Thal’s origins. This was a time when anyone “different” was considered a witch and killed. A lot of innocent people suffered terrible deaths because of this misguided thinking. The only thing that bugged me was the editing could have been better. I found myself pausing many times in places where commas should have been inserted. But overall this was a good book with an engaging story and characters to keep my interest. Highly recommended to readers looking for a different kind of werewolf tale.

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Weird Word Wednesday

Acequia ace·quia

noun \ə-ˈsā-kē-ə, ä-\

Definition of ACEQUIA

Southwest

:  an irrigation ditch or canal

Origin of ACEQUIA

Spanish, from Arabic al-sāqiya the irrigation ditch

First Known Use: 1844

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Musing Mondays: Pets in our lives

My two boys. It’s strange how pets come into our lives, usually when you don’t expect it. After we lost Xena, we decided to wait until Herc passed before getting another dog, mainly because he doesn’t get along with other dogs. But when we started pet sitting my niece’s Chihuahua, we discovered how well he fit right into our family, and Herc tolerated him just fine. As if it was meant to be, Loki soon became a permanent part of our family. With his lively personality, he fills that hole left when Xena died.




Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Tabby's Nocturnal Nights: Shapeshifting rules

Tabby's Nocturnal Nights: Shapeshifting rules: There are different ways to handle the laws of shapeshifting. I’ve read books where clothes can magically appear when shifting from animal t...

Favorite Friday

One of my favorite animals is the wolf so I will buy just about anything with a wolf on it. I found this cool wolf pendant.

 

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Weird Word Wednesday

Accipiter ac·cip·i·ter

noun \ak-ˈsi-pə-tər, ik-\

Definition of ACCIPITER

:  any of a genus (Accipiter) of medium-sized forest-inhabiting hawks that have short broad wings and a long tail and a characteristic flight pattern of several quick flaps and a glide

— ac·cip·i·trine adjective or noun

See accipiter defined for kids »

Origin of ACCIPITER

New Latin, genus name, from Latin, hawk

First Known Use: circa 1828

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Musing Mondays: Aftermath of winter thunderstorm in AZ

We have some dramatic thunderstorms here in Arizona. I caught this rainbow by accident. You can even see the raindrops that hit my camera lens.

A sunset just after the thunderstorm that blew through our town in March.

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604