The Magic of Caerlaverock Castle

“It pulls at my heart with its beauty and purpose. It represents all I hold dear in a person, if that’s possible, heart, soul and strength.”    Laura Reynolds, The Highlander’s English Woman

I knew I found the right setting for my medieval ghost story, The Highlander's English Woman when I saw a picture of Caerlaverock Castle.

Reading Caerlaverock’s history I understood why the Maxwell family fought to hold it and why their enemies had to destroy it.

Caerlaverock Castle is a moated castle on the southern coast of Scotland in the Dumfries.  The unique equilateral triangular design and beauty of the castle, from the way it’s sited to its rich history, made Caerlaverock the perfect setting for my stories, The Maxwell Ghost and The Highlander’s English Woman.

There were several original fortifications that preceded the current castle, a Roman fort on Ward Law Hill and a British hill fort that was used until 950.

The earliest mention of Caerlaverock is the 1160s, when the lands were granted to the monks of Holm Cultram Abbey. Sixty years later, in 1220 the lands were granted to Sir John Maxwell by Alexander II of Scotland.

The Maxwell family has owned the Caerlaverock Castle ever since, but not without some intrigue and adventure. The clan leader changed allegiances from Scotland to England several times which resulted in sieges, destruction and rebuilding.

John Maxwell began construction of the first castle at Caerlaverock. A traditional square design with a moat and a north facing bridge, the building was one of the earliest stone castles built in Scotland. Archeologists believe that this castle was never completed when it was abandoned. This castle was built close to the Solway Firth. Built on clay the wood pilings were not able to bear the weight of the structure. In addition, the structure couldn’t be kept dry or comfortable.  Today, the foundations and part of a wooden enclosure around it is all that remains.

Work began on the new castle, six hundred feet south of the abandoned structure in 1260.  

Construction on the new (present) castle, on a solid rock outcropping and was completed in the 1270s. The castle’s first occupant was Herbert Maxwell, nephew of Sir John Maxwell.

Caerlaverock was the Maxwell family’s stronghold from the 13^th to the 17^th centuries. It underwent several sieges over the centuries and was finally abandoned in 1640. The castle has been destroyed and rebuilt several times, but retained its triangular plan.

In 1299, Maxwell forces from Caerlaverock Castle attached the English-held Lochmaben Castle. Edward I retaliated in July 1300 and attacked Caerlaverock with 87 knights and 3,000 men. Eustace Maxwell, the clan chief repelled the English several times. In the end, the garrison surrendered. King Edward was astounded that only sixty men held his army off.

Caerlaverock Castle remained in English hands until 1312 when the castle was returned to Sir Eustace Maxwell who pledged allegiance to the English king, Edward II. Later, Eustace switched his support to Robert the Bruce and the castle was unsuccessfully attacked by the English.

Because of Caerlaverock’s prime position on the England-Scottish border and the fear it could fall into the hands of the English who would have a strong command of the district, Sir Eustace dismantled the fortress, a sacrifice rewarded by Robert the Bruce.

In 1337 the castle was once again inhabited and once again the Eustace changed sides. About 1355 the castle was captured by the Scots.

The Maxwells regained Caerlaverock after the Wars of Independence in the mid-14^th century. Between 1373 and 1410, Robert Maxwell rebuilt much of the castle. His efforts were continued by Robert II in the mid-15^th century.

In 1567, the Maxwells supported Mary, Queen of Scots and Caerlaverock was once again under siege by the English in 1570. The Earl of Sussex led the English forces and demolished part of the castle.

In 1593, Lord John Maxwell repaired the castle for defense against the Johnstones of Annandale with whom he was feuding.

The Wars for Independence were replaced by wars of religion. In 1634, religious turmoil turned against the Catholic Maxwells. In 1640 the Protestant Covenanter army attacked Caerlaverock for thirteen weeks forcing the castle to surrender. The south wall and tower were demolished and the castle was never repaired or reoccupied.

The castle passed by inheritance to the Herries family and to the Duke of Norforlk. While currently owned by Lady Mary Mumford’s sister Baroness Herries, since 1946 the castle has been operated and managed by Historic Scotland. The castle remains the ancestral home of the Maxwell family.

The Highlander's English Woman 

Laura Reynolds and long-time friend of Jamie Maxwell Collins are in love. She adores his playful sense of humor, caring nature as well as his strong sense of honor. They have known each other from the time Jamie trained with her older brother at their home on the English side of Scottish border. Jamie has become an excellent soldier except he won’t fight and while she knows him well, she has no idea why.

Jamie Maxwell Collins lives on the Scottish side of the border. Carefree and open, he hides a dark secret so powerful it could destroy his family and those he cares for. He can’t involve Laura in this deception. He mustn’t give her hope for a future together. Instead, he ends their relationship.

While visiting Jamie’s uncle, Laura stumbles upon Jamie’s secret, but has nowhere to turn. The only person with the answer, her brother is gone, killed on a Welsh battlefield. In her heart of hearts she knows Jamie is innocent. Their relationship in tatters and with no hope of reconciliation, she plays a deadly game to find a way to exonerate Jamie even though it means agreeing to a political marriage. She has no idea the entire game has been orchestrated by her future husband, Jamie’s greatest enemy.

Buy Links

Amazon  https://amzn.com/B01LXYHNGS

iBook https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/highlanders-english-woman/id1158295266?mt=11    (http://apple.co/2eddatE)

B&N http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-highlanders-english-woman-ruth-a-casie/1125365584?ean=2940157490539

Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-highlander-s-english-woman

The Pirate's Jewel - Releases Today!

Deception and family honor are at stake, so is the heroine’s heart in this new medieval pirate romance from USA Today bestselling author, Ruth A. Casie.

The Pirate’s Jewel

Wesley Reynolds will do anything to avenge his family’s banishment from Dundhragon Castle even throw in with the notorious pirate, MacAlpin. His plan, ruin Lord Ewan’s trading network. He has a more devious plan for his father’s ‘best friend,’ the man who abandoned them at the eleventh hour. He’ll ruin the man’s most precious jewel, his daughter Darla. Wesley’s so close to ruining the trade network and succeeding he can almost taste it, but revenge is not nearly as sweet as Darla’s kisses.

Darla Maxwell, beloved by her parents has no prospects of marriage. Her father and Lord Ewan search to find her the right husband. Darla’s special gifts are frightening to many. She has visions that often come true. The murky image of a man haunts her, she’s sure it’s Lord Ewan’s soon-to-be son-in-law, but the vision morphs when she meets Wesley. The meaning couldn’t be any clearer to her, her destiny lies with Wesley.

When revelations surface indicating Wesley has been deceived and his revenge misplaced. Will he find the truth of what really happened to his family in time to stop the pirates? Will Darla ever forgive him? Will he ever forgive himself?

Buy Link: https://amzn.to/2Cyrbev

RUTH A. CASIE is a USA Today bestselling author of historical and contemporary romance. Her stories feature strong women and the men who deserve them, endearing flaws and all.

Ruth lives in New Jersey with her hero, three empty bedrooms and a growing number of incomplete counted cross-stitch projects. Before she found her writing voice, she was a speech therapist (pun intended), client liaison for a corrugated manufacturer, and vice president at an international bank where she was a product/marketing manager, but her favorite job is the one she’s doing now—writing romance.

Visit her website to see what she writes. Her historical swashbuckling action-adventures and contemporary suspense will keep you turning the pages until the end. She hopes her stories become your favorite adventures.

Facebook, @RuthACasie, Twitter, @RuthACasie, Pinterest RuthACasie. Instagram RuthACasie

One Man's Villain Is Another Man's Hero

Sir Francis Drake and William Kidd. Villain or hero? To the Spanish, Sir Francis Drake – as well as most Englishmen – were pirates and heretics because they attacked Spanish lands and were not Catholics. To the English Drake was a hero and a privateer, someone legally licensed to plunder enemy ships. The French called Captain Kidd a pirate for much the same reason. Kidd, at the Governor’s request was part of the fleet defending the Caribbean island of Nevis against the French. The governor did not pay the sailors for defending the island, telling them instead to take their pay from the French.

Villain or hero? Pirate or privateer? What is the difference? What’s in a name?

Technically, pirates and privateers are the same. They both attack and rob ships at sea. The difference is a privateer is backed by a government. Corsair and buccaneer also defined as pirate, a thief who preys on ships at sea similar to highwaymen who prey on coaches on land. Yet the words aren’t quite the same and what constitutes a pirate at one point in history isn’t quite the same at another time.

How many synonyms can you think of for “pirate”? We’ve already mentioned buccaneer and corsair, but words like marauder and swashbuckler have also been interchangeable with “pirate,” but are they really the same?

Below are several synonyms for pirate provided by Cindy Vallar.

Sea dogs were English pirates (some were privateers) that attacked Spanish ships and towns, particularly in the Spanish Main during the time of Queen Elizabeth I. Perhaps the best known of these gentlemen adventurers was Sir Francis Drake. Today, this word refers to a seasoned sailor toughened by his experiences at sea.

Buccaneers acquired their name from the French word boucanier. Based on the island of Hispaniola, these rugged men hunted oxen and boar, then smoked the strips of meat over a barbecue or boucan. When the Spanish government tried to get rid of them, they took to the sea and raided Spanish ships and towns. The English anglicized the French term to buccaneers. By the seventeenth century pirates who preyed on ships in the Caribbean were called buccaneers and operated out of Tortuga and Port Royal during the 1600s. The best known of the buccaneers was Sir Henry Morgan. The cruelist was Jean David Nau, also known as François L’Olonnais. In the seventeenth century, buccaneers who sailed from Tortuga, Port Royal, and Petit Goave were also known as the Brotherhood and the Brethren of the Coast.

Corsairs roamed the Mediterranean Sea in oared galleys for nearly three centuries. They were based in North Africa, in the Barbary States of Algiers, Tunis, Morroco, and Tripoli. Initially privateers under the Ottoman Empire, they devolved into piracy and menaced shipping into the early eighteenth century. Instead of gold or spices, they sought people whom they either held for ransom or sold into slavery. The word corsair is also used to denote French privateers, particularly during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The term derives from the French corsaire, which means privateer, and from the French word for a nautical cruise, la course. Their principal port was Saint Malo, La Cité Corsaire.

Spaniards referred to runaway slaves as cimarrónes, which the English and French shortened to maroons. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, marooners became synonymous with pirates of the Caribbean, perhaps because they would maroon one of their own on a desert island with little or no food if they committed an egregious act against the company. This was deemed a fitting punishment since the marooned pirate either died a slow death or shot himself.

Dutch pirates were called zeerovers. In the last sixteenth century, another term sometimes used for pirate was vrijbuiter (freebooter), but it had a variety of meanings: adventurer, buccaneer, free spirit, libertine, pirate, and pillager.

Around the same time that freebooter entered the English language, the French referred to their Caribbean pirates as flibustiers. Translated into English as filibuster, this word referred to seventeenth-century buccaneers, especially those who were French, Dutch, and English – Spain’s typical enemies. Perhaps the best-known flibustier was Michel de Grammont, who became their leader during the 1670s. Instead of choosing captain for his title, he picked chevalier, the French word for knight. In the nineteenth century, filibusters came to mean armed American adventurers and later politicians.

Swashbuckler first appeared in the sixteenth century to refer to someone who made a loud noise by striking his sword against his buckle or shield. In the twentieth century, Rafael Sabatini used the term as a dashing and daring soldier, adventurer, or pirate, such as Captain Peter Blood, giving birth to the swashbuckler genre of adventure fiction. Today the word often refers to pirates or movies about them.

To pirateer meant the men aboard a privateer attacked any ship, not just those of the enemy. The Calendars of State Papers during Charles II’s reign (1660-1685) mention the word.

Wherever there are seas there are pirates. The difference between being a pirate and a privateer was oftentimes a thin line that some men crossed. Are these terms interchangeable? It would seem so. Researching to identify the top two or three in each category was hopeless. Many times the same person could be found on multiple lists.

My definition of pirate is different. The romantic in me sees a pirate, privateer, marauder, or swashbuckler as someone who displays behaviors and makes decisions that are morally and emotional awe inspiring. Sounds like a hero to me!

Releasing February 12, 2019 by Ruth A. Casie…

The Pirate's Jewel

a Pirate's of Britannia story

Wesley Reynolds will do anything to avenge his family’s banishment from Dundhragon Castle even throw in with the notorious pirate, MacAlpin. His plan: ruin Lord Ewan’s trading network. He has a more devious plan for his father’s best friend, the man who abandoned them at the eleventh hour. He’ll ruin the man’s most precious jewel, his daughter Darla. Wesley gets so close to succeeding he can almost taste it, but revenge is not nearly as sweet as Darla’s kisses.

Darla Maxwell, beloved by her parents has no prospects of marriage. Her father and Lord Ewan search to find the right husband. Darla’s special gifts are frightening to many. She has visions that often come true. The murky image of a man haunts her, she’s sure it’s Lord Ewan’s soon-to-be son-in-law, but the vision morphs when she meets Wesley. The meaning couldn’t be any clearer.

Revelations surface indicating Wesley has been deceived and his revenge misplaced. Will he find the truth of what really happened to his family in time to stop the pirates? Will Darla forgive him? Will he ever forgive himself?

My Hero

Some of my friends think that Regency men are the Uber Romance Hero and gave me their top three reasons. I agree Regency men look good, live in a world filled with titles, and appear to live a life of leisure.  I enjoy Mr. Darcy but Regency men are all too tame. Let me give you my top three reasons why I think Medieval-Renaissance knights are the best.

1. Appearance

Some enjoy the breeches, shiny boots, tight coats and acres of snowy white linen. I love the shirtless look of a well-defined chest and ripped abs. It speaks protection, comfort and well, truly, their great to look at. I enlarged my book cover to 8.5x11 and keep it posted next to my desk. Every so often, after his shower, my husband comes over in his towel and poses next it. He thanks me for not including his full face. We can both dream.

2. Ascendance
Knights were members of the noble class. Likely candidates were chosen at boyhood and trained. A lesser or unlikely man could aspire to knighthood and reach his dreams, if he is found worthy. Knights, their code of conduct and chivalry, "Protect the weak, defenseless, helpless, and fight for the general welfare of all," inspired literature and the foundation of courtship through the middle ages up until the turn of this century.  What would a romance be without a (k)night?

3. Adventure

Knighthood comes with its requirements: save the damsel in distress, right the wrongs, and do away with the villain. Of course there were trials he had to go through to prove himself worthy. Usually he would somehow loose his shirt giving the damsel a glimpse of those perfect pecks and adorable abs.

Knights, not only had to prove themselves worthy on the field of battle (for his king, the damsel or even for himself) but also had to learn to balance the command and control needed to succeed with their own wants and desires. It's a lesson Lord Arik learns in Knight of Rapture.

What do you think?  Regency heroes or Medieval-Renaissance Knights?  Or something entirely different?

Q&A with Ruth A. Casie

From time to time readers ask me about my writing. I love sharing information about myself and my writing with them. Below are some of the questions they've asked. Please leave a comment if there is something else you'd like to know.

1 -What is your author name?

I write as Ruth A. Casie. It's sort of an acronym of my children's names. Ruth is my given name. I was afraid I wouldn't answer to anything else. A. is for Ari. C is for Cori (the bride) and 'asie' is for Staci (her maid of honor).

2 - What is the first book you ever published?

The first book I wrote was Knight of Runes

3- What is your publishversary?

The book was published on November 14, 2011

4- What is your favorite book you've written thus far?

Each book has something that makes it my favorite, but if I had to choose one book it would be Knight of Rapture. Arik will move heaven and earth to be with his Rebeka.

5- What book took you the longest to write?

I knew the story for the second story, Knight of Rapture, in my Druid Knight series, but it took me a long time to put it down on paper. When it was done it was wonderful and worth the time.

6- How long did it take you?

About 10 months, but it will be eclipsed by a contemporary time travel story I’m working on intermittently that’s been in the works for a year!

7- What kind of music (if any) do you listen to while you write?

I like soft jazz and classical when I’m writing. Nothing with lyrics. I get distracted or worse, I find snippets of lyrics in my writing. Really, no kidding.

8- Who is your favorite character from any of your books?

Rebeka from Knight of Runes and Knight of Rapture

Jamie Collins from The Highlander’s English Woman and The Guardian’s Witch.

Beth from Happily Ever After. She’s a romance author.

9- What are you currently working on?

I’ve just finished The Einstein Theorem. This is a time travel romance about a time traveling art detective who must decide if she will sacrifice a once in a lifetime career for her last chance for a timeless love.

10- Do you have anything you snack on while you write?

I snack on lots of sparkling water, Crystal Light pink Lemonade and Hershey Kisses

11- What is your favorite quote or line from one of your books?

This is not a fair question. It’s like asking me to choose a favorite child. However, in Happily Ever After. I’ve put my favorite lines into memes. See for yourself.

12- Are you a self-published or traditional published author?

I’m a hybrid author published with Harlequin, Carina Press and self-pubbed under Timeless Scribes and Knight Media

13- What is your writing inspiration?

I enjoy telling stories. There are times I can see a picture or read an article and a story plays out in my head. I get some of my best ideas for stories or work out plot issues while I’m driving. If you want to hear about how the hero in The Maxwell Ghost got me out of a speeding ticket, leave me a comment below.

14- What genre do you write?

I write what I love to read, Medieval Historical Romance and Contemporary Romance.

15- Do you have any writing rituals?

Butt in chair, music on, write.

16- Do you have a specific place you write or time?

A year after my daughter got her own apartment. I commandeered her room and turned it into an executive office. I spend a lot of time in my office and I wanted it to be comfortable and mine. It’s filled with books, a large library table, did I say books, and a corner computer with two screens. Oh, and more books. I have found that my best time for working on deep POV is the morning and drafting and outlining in the afternoon.

17- Do you have any advice for inspiring writers?

Yes. My advice to new writers is finish the book. You can’t edit and make it beautiful until you have it on the page. Also, after you get the first book out, write the next one and the next. That was a hard lesson for me to learn.

Shh! This is a sneak preview!

18- What are your writing goals?

Create stories that people can’t put down.

19- What authors inspire you and your writing?

Barbara Michaels, Sarah MacLean, Julie Garwood, Johanna Lindsey, Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy

20- What will be your next release?

Never Say Never, April, 2018

Eion – Havenport’s Highlander, October, 2018

Einstein’s Theorem *sigh* soon, I promise, soon!

So, What Is Ruth A. Casie Really Like?

I got this idea from award winning author, Kathryn LeVeque who got it from Liliana Hart - this is a fun way to get to know me!

1 -What is your Author name?

I write as Ruth A. Casie. I asked my children to give me a pen name. My older daughter offered, Olivia Alexander. It's a great name, the names of her children. I would have LOVED another name when I was about 8. I thought Ruth was... meh. Now, I wouldn't answer to anything else. My pen name turned out to be an mashup of pieces of their first names.

2 - What is the first book you ever published?

The first book I wrote was Knight of Runes

3- What is your publishversary?

Knight of Runes was published on November 14, 2011

4- What is the favorite book you've written thus far?

Each book has something that makes it my favorite, but if I had to choose one book it would be Knight of Rapture. Arik will move heaven and earth to be with his Rebeka.

5- What book took you the longest to write?

Knight of Rapture, in my Druid Knight series. I knew what I wanted this story to be, but it took me a long time to put it down on paper.

6- How long did it take you?

About 10 months for the first draft, but it will be eclipsed by a contemporary time travel story I’m working on intermittently that’s been in the works for over a year!

7- What kind of music (If any) do you listen to while you write?

I like soft jazz and classical when I’m writing. Nothing with lyrics. I get distracted or worse, I find snippets of lyrics in my writing. Really, no kidding.

8- Who is your favorite character from any of your books?

Rebeka from Knight of Runes and Knight of Rapture

Jamie Collins from The Highlander’s English Woman and The Guardian’s Witch.

Beth from The Games A’Foot featured in the contemporary collection Welcome to Havenport. She’s a romance author.

9- What are you currently working on?

The Highlander’s Sin, the fourth book in the medieval Stelton Legacy series. Also the first book in a new contemporary series, the one I’ve been working on for a year, Einstein's Theorem.

10- Do you have anything you snack on while you write?

I snack on lots of sparkling water, Crystal Light pink Lemonade and Hershey Kisses

11- What is your favorite quote or line from one of your books?

This is not a fair question. It’s like asking me to choose a favorite child. However, in The Maxwell Ghost I’ve put my favorite lines into memes. See for yourself.

12- Are you a self-published or traditional published author?

I’m a hybrid author published with Harlequin, Carina Press and self-pubbed under Timeless Scribes and Knight Media

13- What is your writing inspiration?

I enjoy telling stories. There are times I can see a picture or read an article and a story plays out in my head. I get some of my best ideas for stories or work out plot issues while I’m driving. If you want to hear about how the hero in The Highlander's English Woman got me out of a speeding ticket, leave me a comment below.

14- What genre do you write?

I write what I love to read, Medieval Historical Romance and Contemporary Romance.

15- Do you have any writing rituals?

Butt in chair, music on, write.

16- Do you have a specific place you write or time?

A year after my daughter got her own apartment. I commandeered her room and turned it into an executive office. I spend a lot of time in my office and I wanted it to be comfortable and mine. It’s filled with books, a large library table, did I say books, and a corner computer with two screens. Oh, and more books. I have found that my best time for working on deep POV is the morning and drafting and outlining in the afternoon.

17- Do you have any advice for inspiring writers?

Yes. My advice to new writers is finish the book. You can’t edit and make it beautiful until you have it on the page. Also, after you get the first book out, write the next one and the next. That was a hard lesson for me to learn.

18- What are your writing goals?

Create stories that people can’t put down.

19- What authors inspire you and your writing?

Barbara Michaels, Sarah MacLean, Julie Garwood, Johanna Lindsey, Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy

20- What will be your next release?

Love Between the Sheets, special edition of my Havenport stories about Beth and Jarred, March, 2017

The Highlander’s Sin, the next book in the Stelton Legacy, August, 2017

Snowbound in Havenport, October, 2017

Einstein’s Theorem is still *sigh* in development, but soon, I promise, soon!

Jamie Gets a Story of His Own

Writing a story is a very personal experience. The writer probes into the psyche of the characters to understand what makes him/her tick. Delving deep makes it easier to anticipate their reaction to words, situations, the environment around them. We fill our pages with heroes, heroines, villains and support characters.

You know who the support characters are, the shadowy people who appear and disappear without much notice and the characters with the heftier roll, side kick, best friend, older parent figure. Their sole purpose is to interact or engage the hero/ine and give the reader a clearer view of the story and add depth to your hero/ine through comment and story development

The supporting character can be minor players who simply make the story more interesting or they’re supporting players who are essential to the plot. These players are key to the story, unmasking facets of the hero/ine’s personality, motivation and backstory that are concealed.

I created a supporting character, Jamie Maxwell Collins in The Guardian’s Witch, the first book in The Stelton Legacy. Jamie is married to the heroine’s sister. I loved writing this character. He was cheeky, irreverent, smart and trustworthy. The friendship between him and the hero came to life and grew on the pages. By the end of the story each man was dedicated to the other and life-long friends. Jamie became such a personality that my editor, as well as my readers asked for his story.

The Highlander’s English Woman is Jamie and Laura’s love story. It is the second novel in The Stelton Legacy.

Laura Reynolds and long-time friend of Jamie Maxwell Collins are in love. She adores his playful sense of humor, caring nature as well as his strong sense of honor. They have known each other from the time Jamie trained with her older brother at their home on the English side of Scottish border. Jamie has become an excellent soldier except he insists on remaining a farmer. He won’t fight and while she knows him well, she has no idea why.

Jamie Maxwell Collins lives on the Scottish side of the border. Carefree and open, he loves Laura but hides a dark secret so powerful it could destroy his family and those he cares for. He can’t involve Laura in this deception. He mustn’t give her hope for a future together. Instead, he ends their relationship.

While visiting Jamie’s uncle, Laura stumbles upon Jamie’s secret, but has nowhere to turn. The only person who can help, her brother is gone, killed on a Welsh battlefield. In her heart of hearts she knows Jamie is innocent. Their relationship in tatters and with no hope of reconciliation, she plays a deadly game to find a way to exonerate Jamie even though it means agreeing to a political marriage. She has no idea the entire game has been orchestrated by her future husband, Jamie’s greatest enemy.

The Highlander's English Woman is now available

Amazon/Kindle: https://amzn.com/B01LXYHNGS

iBook: https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/highlanders-english-woman/id1158295266?mt=11  

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-highlander-s-english-woman  

Other books in The Stelton Legacy

How a Contest Critique Set My Story on the Right Course

Before I published my first book, Knight of Runes, I entered a contest not with hopes of winning, which would have been awesome, but rather for feedback. More than anything, I wanted feedback.

I did very well in the contest actually. Well, according to two of the three judges anyway. The swing in the third set of scores was, well that is a blog for another day. Suffice it to say, I placed well but didn’t win. But I did get the feedback. Awesome!

My story is a time travel. Our heroine says the right words, carries the correct talisman, and is standing in the right spot, a constellation of events that transports her back in time 400 years. I set the magic place at Stonehenge.  I know I took some ‘poetic’ license. The great stones now stand protected behind a fence. No longer can visitors walk up and around them.  One judge noted that she lived near some great stones that were older than Stonehenge and there weren’t any barriers. The stones stand proudly amidst the village of Avebury, Wiltshire County in southern England.

Avebury is impressive. While erosion and vandalism, to say nothing of religious persecution, has reduced the henge, it is breathtaking. Like other henges, construction at Avebury started with deforesting the area somewhere about 3700 B.C. Archeologists estimate the actually setting of the stones began about 3000 B.C. when the central Cove, the early part of the Sanctuary, was built. Construction moved outward and lasted for several centuries. The circle covers almost 29 acres with a circumference of almost 1 mile. Concentric circles of stones defined the borders of the circle. These circles are much larger than the more famous Stonehenge. As a matter of fact, Stonehenge would fit into the outer stone circle at Avebury around 130 times.

A large portion of village resides inside the Avebury circle.

The Cove is the area of the henge where Rebeka, my heroine, is drawn into the time portal.  Like the rest of the henge, it’s been a long held belief that the stones represent male and female characteristics. A male scientist must have done this designation as male stones are long and think while the female is short and square. The two surviving primary stones at the Cove are perfect examples.  I thought the Cove the perfect place for Rebeka’s adventure to begin.

To my surprise, my publisher repriced Knight of Runes. It’s now available for $0.99. The sequel to the story, Knight of Rapture is currently $0.99 but only until Tuesday, March 15 when it returns to $3.99.

Knight of Runes

It’s the 21st century, time travel is still an Wellsian fantasy but not for Rebeka Tyler. The renowned renaissance scholar finds herself tossed into the 17th century. While trying to find her way back she discovers the only person who knows the answer but it will cost her dearly, her heart, and if she’s lucky, her future, for she has not been tossed into the past, but returned to where she belongs.

Amazon, BN, iBook, Kobo

Knight of Rapture

The 17^th century warrior knight, Lord Arik, manages his estate well and his people honorably. When his sorceress wife, Rebeka, is tricked into returning to the 21^st century, he spends months trying to find the precise spell to rescue her. But he never expected he would have to fight to keep all he holds dear from being obliterated from history. Must he sacrifice his love for Rebeka in order to keep her safe and secure his family forever?  Or will the great sorceress once again stand by his side enabling them to work together to defeat their greatest enemy, Bran, the dark druid?

Amazon, BN, iBook, Kobo