Ray McCarthy's Blog, page 3

Coming soon: Exiles and Rooks

Absolutely complete and in preparation for publishing!

Will be published in 2017.

Exiles and Rooks

The working title was ‘The Cunning Artificer’.

Celtic Otherworld VI

Action is parallel to “Hero Genesis” and “No Silver Lining” in the partially Steam Punk world where the Tuatha Dé live. Alice’s half sister’s two children (met briefly in “Seeking the Flaming Spear”), Tony (Anthony) Brody and (Alice) Marion Brody are exiled from Ireland because they too have magic.

Notes:

Cover is based on ‘On the Threshold’ by Edmund Blair Leighton.

While it can be read on its own, you’ll have more fun if you read the first five books in the series.

Formats

It will be available as a DRM free eBook (all formats) on Amazon, Smashwords, Apple, Google Play, Barnes & Noble, Flipcart, Kobo, Aldiko as well as paperback that can be ordered in any bookshop. Free ebook versions in ePub or Kindle format are available from Corvids Press for all purchasers of any paperback edition.

Sequels

This is the start of a detective series set on the Inamok Otherworld. The sequels ‘Conspiracies and Rooks’ (in proofing) and ‘Artists and  Rooks’ (revising 3 draft) are complete. Another book, featuring Eilis / Alice is ready to publish, ‘Fairy Godmothers’. It covers an event near the end of ‘Exiles and Rooks’.  Also complete is ‘The Fay Child’ (in final proof) which will be published between ‘Conspiracies and Rooks’ and ‘Artists and  Rooks’.

Focus

The focus of my work will be soon switching to two other ‘projects’, the narrative for a Mediaeval Fantasy Board Game (designed by some in Co. Limerick) and editing the last three ‘Talents Universe’ novels, ‘The Legal Talent’, ‘The Second Talent’ and ‘The Mission’s Talent’.

 

 

 

Maybe last two releases in 2017?

On 19th May 2017 Hero Genesis, #4 of Celtic Otherworld, but with a sideways shift at the start. Also on most other retailers.

Then on 23rd June, No Silver Lining, #5 of Celtic Otherworld set slightly in the future (months or years) when we are more dependant on Cloud Computing. Sample may have some “typos”. Final version will be uploaded by 10th June 2017. Also other retailers.

No DRM available for Kindle, Kobo and all other eReaders and eReading applications. Paperback eventually.

While five other books are at various stages of draft, I think it’s possible these will be the last released this year.

Carrying the Shining Sword progress

Release of the 2nd Celtic Otherworld book, Carrying the Shining Sword is on Sun/Mon Midnight 3rd April 2017

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XJHVZQN

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/710537

also iBooks etc.

Paperbacks of the series in Bookshops soon.

The last “treasure” book will be out in May. There are eight books in the Otherworld series completely written already, though some need a bit of work before final proof.

Two more, including “No Silver Lining” should be out this summer.

Release Date: Carrying the Shining Sword

Release has been brought forward a week to midnight 2nd / 3rd April 2017. Also available in paperback from your local bookshop, CreateSpace and Amazon as well as all online eBook stores except Google Play.

Leprechaun Day

A recent survey conducted by iReach Insights shows that 57% of adults think far too much alcohol is consumed on St Patrick’s Day.

1,000 adults were asked about St Patrick’s Day and their plans for the national holiday.

The results show that 47% of people in will drink alcohol and 53% won’t.

From Breaking News

 

Insp Butler also noted that St Patrick’s Day “ranks in the top days as far as deadly holidays go”.

Road Safety Officer Noel Gibbons said “Our numbers are going up, and that is not a trend we want to see.

“We want to see those numbers going down, preferably to zero.”

So if you see a Leprechaun, share a selfie, and never ever drink and drive.

From Breaking News

 

Drugs, even prescription, can be a cause of accidents and deaths. Read the prescription leaflet. Don’t do drugs and drive. You are risking other people’s lives.

Now there is a roadside equivalent of the Alcohol breathalyser.

Driving under the influence of drugs remains a significant problem in Ireland. Between 2009-2015, the MBRS found that of 9,734 specimens of blood and urine tested for the presence of a drug or drugs, 6,232, confirmed positive.

Research suggests that many drug drivers see little risk of being detected.

Those days are about to come to an end.

From the Independent.

Finally, Leprechauns are a modern idea, not part of ancient myth and legend. So any “little people” you see are either children, the result of intoxication or something else.

Lugh is known by the epithets Lámfada, meaning “long arm” or “long hand”), possibly for his skill with a spear or sling, Ildánach (“skilled in many arts”), Samildánach (“equally skilled in many arts”), Lonnbéimnech (“fierce striker”), Macnia (“youthful warrior/hero”) and Conmac (“hound-son”).

Leprechaun is probably a 17th or 18th corruption of Lugh of the long arm. There are no ancient stories. As a teenager I thought they were a Hollywood invention. (Darby O’Gill and the Little People mixes up a lot of myths).

Prior to the 20th century, it was generally held that the leprechaun wore red, not green.

See Lugh on Wikipedia (warning, not entirely accurate!)

See also this blog, and “Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia. Vol. 1-, Volume ” page 1200

Saint, Snakes, Shamrock

As I write, it’s nearly the 17th of March again.

I groan when I visit the shops and especially commercial web sites.

St. Patrick was a real person, though probably Welsh Celtic rather than Irish. Unfortunately most Irish traditions about him are not just made up, but as late as the 18th and 19th Century. Or even the 20th Century. He lived in the 5th Century and didn’t actually bring Christianity to Ireland or convert Ireland, though he was influential. He may have been even Roman – British, though even by the 12th Century only really Wales, Cornwall and Devon had “British” people Queen Elisabeth I in 16th Century decided England was British to bolster her claim to the Americas as a Welsh prince was supposed to have “discovered” them before Columbus.

According to the ‘Confessions of Patrick’, he was captured by Irish pirates from his home in Britain, and taken as a slave to Ireland when he was about 16. He is supposed to have looked after animals on Slemish Mountain. Then after six years escaped and returned to his family. After becoming a cleric in France, he returned to northern and western Ireland. Later he served as a bishop, but little is known about the places where he worked. By the seventh century, he had already come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland. The 17th March is supposed to be the date of his death.

Fake snake myth

He never chased snakes from Ireland, nor were they associated with Irish Druids, as snakes (and moles) never came to Ireland after the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago!

Shamrock

Shamrock and Clover are only two different words in English. In Gaelic, ‘Shamrock’ is ‘seamair óg’, in Irish an ‘s’ is almost always ‘sh’. Shamrock technically doesn’t exist! It’s from the Irish for Young Clover, and we don’t know which clover the ancients meant! A 17th Century English writer mistranslated “wood sorrel” as “shamrock”, a word in English from about the 16th Century. Perhaps that is why the UK coins, UK coat of Arms and even Aer Lingus has a very indented wood sorrel style leaf.

Not actually a shamrock!

 

The myth is that St. Patrick used the three leaves / trefoil nature of some particular clover to illustrate the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It’s a story that seems to have started in the 17th Century. The problem is that Irish Celts didn’t need such an idea explained. The Iron Age Celts adopted many ideas from the Bronze Age peoples, who had adopted the Neolithic triple spiral. Triple aspect Gods and Goddesses are common in ancient pre-Christian Irish Celtic traditions.  St. Patrick didn’t need the ‘seamair óg’, the young clover, later called Shamrock in English. Surveys took place in 1890s and 1980s to identify which clover Irish people regarded as the shamrock. Over 80% chose two species, it’s small, has rounded or pointed tips to the trefoil rather than heart shaped and NEVER has four leaves as that would totally spoil the point of the story.

Neolithic design still used in St. Patrick’s era

See also

Wikipedia: Lucky four leaf  Clover

Wikipedia: Shamrock: Which Clover?

Green

Even ‘green’ is a recent idea! To the old Celts it was a colour of ill-omen. Blue was an auspicious colour. It’s from the 18th Century. St. Patrick and early Irish Christians had no affinity for green.

Summary

The 17th March is a long standing Christian festival, perhaps one day of avoiding lent (Easter can never be as early as the 17th). It’s not about green beer (an American idea), and four leafed Clovers. Not just Trump’s hat, but Amazon.com web site banner and clueless sellers of Shamrock on line are now having the four leaf lucky clover. Nothing to do with Ireland or St. Patrick’s Day!

Other News

Tomorrow sees the release of ‘The Master’s Talent’. Though I have written two more books in the series, I will be concentrating on the Celtic Otherworld. No shamrock  or Leprechauns!

 

Facebook. Destroying humanity one person at a time.

Facebook provides NOTHING. You need email anyway to use it. They want your phone number.

They make billions selling your personal information.

The right sidebar is full of clickbait fake news (Fake claim of a death of a celebrity is common).

They have frequently misrepresented earnings.

I was considering a boycott after Mark Zuckerberg’s Manifesto (link to review).

Read the comments.

Now this:

BBC exposes Fake Cancer fund pages on Facebook.

Instead use email, SMS, voice, Skype text etc to keep in touch.

Use  Bcc: not To: or Cc: if emailing more than one person.

At the very least:

Do not click on any advert.
Do not “like” anything.
Do not use your real name.
Do not post photos of your  family.
It’s probably criminal and certainly abusive to post information or photos of anyone else on your facebook page without their permission.

 

World Book Day!

I think 4th March is World Book Day. Buy a book in your local bookshop.

I occasionally buy a book in the Bookshop near the center of the Crescent Shopping Centre, Dooradoyle, Limerick.

Other news! New covers for The Apprentice’s Talent and The Journeyman’s Talent. I recommend Calibre to manage your eBooks, so you can update existing covers with it.

Click to see larger.

The Apprentice’s Talent

Cover shows USAF interceptor and Juili’s flitter over Ireland.

 

The Journeyman’s Talent

Cover shows a flitter landing during the night in winter, at the Circle College campus on Caemoria. You can just make out the Milky Way. Caemoria is on the other side and closer to the edge of a spiral arm and closer to the edge of the galaxy. The moonlight is a lot brighter, so the stars look not so dense and bright.

 

The Master’s Talent: Release Date

“The Master’s Talent” will be released on Monday 13th March (just after 12th March Midnight local time) on all the major eBook stores.

It will include the full revised text of “Starship Chief”. It’s about 114K words, excluding “Starship Chief”.

Blurb

Maisie is reaping the results of her foolishness. How can she teach class and be the Emperor’s Emissary on a “First Contact” Mission? How can she put off any public announcement about her relationship with Olef?

Last part of the Maisie Trilogy (The Apprentice’s Talent, The Journeyman’s Talent) and book 5 of the “Talent’s Universe”, so best read after “The Solar Alliance”. Includes Novella “Starship Chief”

New Year, New Story, New book

I’ve been busy writing new stuff, editing old stuff and proofing. Less than two weeks now till “The Solar Alliance” is released (23rd Jan 2017). It’s not an original name for an organization in SF (one reference is 1956). Since I chose the title, it’s also been chosen by a group of solar power companies. There is of course no connection to them or the 1956 story about a revolt on Venus.

The new story? It’s The Cunning Artificer. I was thinking of really old stories when I picked the title, “The Snow Queen”, King James Bible (maybe Isaiah?)  and the myth of the Frost Giant building the fortress at Asgard (resulting in Loki’s child the eight legged horse). All have the phrase “cunning artificer”. Today it’s mostly used of someone maintaining weapons, but it used to be a craftsman with expertise with mechanisms. Cunning as in clever, not sly.

Did you know at the end of every autumn (fall), people remark that “Winter is Coming”?

I have also being editing the “The Master’s Talent” the third part of Maisie’s career. I hope I can get it out in February, though I’d like to get the second Magh Meall book polished and published.

Probably I’ll do a set of five+ books, “The Girl from Earth with Talent”, Comprising “The Apprentice’s Talent”, “The Journeyman’s Talent”, “The Solar Alliance” (includes novella, “Laying Ghosts”), “Starship Chief” and “The Master’s Talent”.

Don’t worry, Maisie is featuring in at least two more books in “The Talent Universe”. I’m also working on ideas for the Yaram “Mirror War” 150 years ago.

The Cunning Artificer
Celtic Otherworld VII

Action is parallel to “Hero Genesis”, “No Silver Lining” and “Fairy Godmothers” in the partially Steam Punk world where the Tuatha Dé live. Alice’s half sister’s two children (met briefly in “Seeking the Flaming Spear”) are exiled from Ireland because they too have magic.

Notes:

Initial draft complete, requires further, writing., editing and Proofing.

“On the Threshold” by Edmund Blair Leighton. Representing Tony inviting Enchantress Sorcha to go riding.