The Last of the Gifted Series by Marie Powell

Today my friend Marie Powell is my guest. Marie and I both belong to the Saskatchewan Romance Writers. I no longer live in Saskatchewan but I've maintained my friendships there. I am currently reading, SPIRIT SIGHT, book 1 in Marie's Last of the Gifted Series, and I have to tell you it's a fabulous read. It's a combination of historical novel, fantasy, paranormal and romance. A definite winning combination. Marie's going to tell us about how one of her favorite secondary characters in the Lasted of the Gifted series became the star of her own series. Thanks for being here, Marie!

 

The Fate of Five Daughters: 

Margred, the last free princess of Wales

Often it’s the footnotes in history that offer the most interesting tidbits for a writer. That proved true in my research for Last of the Gifted, my new award-winning fantasy series set in 13th Century Wales.

The fall of the House of Aberffraw was neither gentle nor expected. On December 11, 1282, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd was lured to a field near Cilmeri and killed. For more than six months after that, his brother Dafydd managed to stay one step ahead of some 10,000 troops of the ruthless Longshanks (Edward I of England) as these forces pursued him from castle to castle through a mountainous area about the size of Cypress Hills.[An area in southwestern Saskatchewan of about 1000 square miles]. 

During that flight, his wife Elizabeth (de Ferrers) and close to a dozen children accompanied him. Two of these were his children with Elizabeth: Owain and Gwladys. He also had care of his brother’s daughter, Gwenllian, who had been born the previous June. And the records show that either five or six of Dafydd’s illegitimate daughters were also in his care when would-be Prince of Wales was finally captured by the English in June 1283.

These women and children are only footnotes in Dafydd’s story. The fate of Owain, Gwladys, and Gwenllian was recorded, as King Edward made arrangements for them to live out their lives in English abbeys and castles far from their homeland.

But what happened to the five illegitimate girls? How did Elizabeth feel about her husband’s six girls? And when and how did they all come together in the first place? On these issues, as too often is the case with medieval girls and women, the records are silent.

But in the mind of a novelist -- or at least, this novelist -- a gap in time of six months can expand into a two-book series. And a gap in the records that includes so many lives could also become fodder for a novel (or a series of novels). Who were they, how old were they, and what might have been their fate?

As one possible answer, my character Margred sprang to life on the pages of Last of the Gifted. A raven-haired beauty, she is fiercely loyal to her friends (even those that don’t deserve it) and fearless to the point of recklessness. You guessed it: she’s also the oldest of those illegitimate daughters.

Although she began as a secondary character and ally for Catrin through Spirit Sight (Book 1) and Water Sight (Book 2), she’s now gaining a life of her own. I already have a 23-page document that outlines her personality and her backstory - complete with Internet images of a young Catherine Zeta-Jones to inspire me. Margred has become the focal point for her own spin-off series, and I’m working on it now. Watch for more about it this fall!

Two siblings pledge their magic to protect their people from the invading English, with the help of the last true Prince of Wales -- after his murder. 

“…Filled with adventure and romance and a touch of fantasy … Highly Recommended.” 5 Stars – CM Reviews

Spirit Sight (Book 1):

Warrior-in-training Hyw can control the minds of animals. His sister Catrin can see the future in a drop of water. Hyw’s gift—seeing through the eyes of birds and animals—could win him a place in the Prince of Wales’ bodyguard. But ambush and murder force Hyw to stretch his gift in unexpected ways. The slain prince’s spirit melds with Hyw’s psyche to help guide him in fighting back against the English. Catrin sees visions of disaster and death. She must convince the young nobleman she’s pledged to marry to help prevent the genocide she foresees. When Hyw and Catrin reunite, they are all that stand between their people and the invading English army.

This award-winning medieval fantasy combines magic, mythology, and historical legends with the realities of 13th Century Wales.

Water Sight (Book 2): 

The Prince of Wales needs three magical relics to rally the straggling Welsh forces. Catrin’s gift of Second Sight may be the only hope for success—if she can outwit the English lord who wants to use her gift to capture the prince. Her brother Hyw is on the run with the prince and the dwindling Welsh army. To escape the betrayal dogging their heels, Hyw takes refuge in his evolving gift—until shifting shapes puts his humanity in jeopardy. With Hyw trapped in his magic and her betrothed in an English jail, Catrin faces an impossible choice: save her brother, or save the man she loves.

Buy links: 

Spirit Sight: https://books2read.com/u/3n8A95 

Water Sight: https://books2read.com/u/4A701d

Excerpt from the opening of Spirit Sight:

December 1282, Gwynedd, Cymru (North Wales)

He raised his arms, feeling bone and feather flatten against the wind, and knew himself tethered to air currents that smelled of salt and fish, somewhere off the horizon.

He ran below the bird, yet his mind and the hawk’s mind moved as one. He could feel the dry December grasses beneath his bare feet, but he saw as the hawk saw: a flash of grey fur in the stubble, the swaying pattern of a tree branch.

He tried to turn the hawk’s mind—his mind—to his will, and for a moment he succeeded. In the distance he could see the stone watchtower of his home at Garth Celyn, seat of the royal court of Wales. But the hawk’s need was powerful, turning him back to scan the ground they circled. If he squinted—just so—at the yellow and russet clumps, he could make out the leaves of each tree. A shadow flitted from branch to branch.

Prey!

His talons ached for the soft flesh and his beak thrust forward—

No, not his. It was the hawk’s beak that longed to rip the flesh from bone and feather. Hyw grasped the bird’s thoughts again and turned its head toward Prince Llywelyn’s tower. There! A streak of movement across the grass. Was it some grotesque beast from the past? He urged the hawk to circle until he could see it more clearly. A single horse and rider galloped toward Garth Celyn.

A messenger! Fast horses in wartime never bring good news. Had the English broken the peace again? Hyw gasped, and his connection to the bird faltered.

The hawk gave a piercing shriek. Hyw felt himself falling, as if he’d dropped from its talons rather than its mind. His feet—the same feet that had seemed to barely skim the ground a moment ago—thudded against the earth. He stumbled and the momentum of his running threw him, over and down until he braced his hands against the mountainside…

Author bio:

Marie Powell in North Wales

Marie Powell’s castle-hopping adventures across North Wales to explore her family roots resulted in her award-winning historical fantasy series Last of the Gifted. The series includes two books to date, Spirit Sight and Water Sight (participation made possible through Creative Saskatchewan’s Book Publishing Production Grant Program). Marie is the author of more than 40 children’s books with such publishers as Scholastic Education and Amicus, along with award-winning short stories and poetry appearing in such literary magazines as Room, subTerrain, and Sunlight Press. Among other degrees, she holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing from UBC. Marie lives on Treaty 4 land in Regina, Saskatchewan. Find her at mariepowell.ca

Social media links:

Website: www.mariepowell.ca

Last of the Gifted - https://mariepowell.ca/young-adult/last-of-the-gifted/

Follow @mepowell   https://twitter.com/mepowell

Facebook: Marie Powell  https://www.facebook.com/mariepowellauthor

Instagram: MariePowellAuthor https://www.instagram.com/mariepowellauthor/

YouTube: Last of the Gifted https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiJ3JY8YIleqD6W-cJHgSwWKlz3JV_sL3

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiJ3JY8YIleqD6W-cJHgSwWKlz3JV_sL3

#NewRelease from Mary Patterson Thornburg

Mary Patterson Thornburg is my guest today. I really enjoy having Mary visit because she always has something interesting and insightful to say. And today's post is no different. Mary is probably the most well-read person I know. Tell us about your all-time favorite re-reads, Mary!

BOOKS LIKE OLD FRIENDS' HOUSES

I've been a reader for longer than I like to say (but what the heck, I'll say it anyway: at least 70 years), and I've been a re-reader for nearly as long. If a book is so good that I hate to reach the last page, then it's good enough to read again – not immediately, but after a year or two. Or five. Or twenty…  And since Jana has suggested I might list some favorite books here, it seems like a good idea to list a few of my favorite "rereads."

These aren't classics, although some are close. They're just good stories with what feels to me like touches of magic that make me remember them with fondness, as if I'd stepped into an old friend's home and become reacquainted with all the familiar rooms. They're all nearly as old as I am, some even older. To me, though, they're full of life.

1. Desiree, by Annemarie Selinko, is the fictional diary of a historical Frenchwoman, begun when she's fourteen – about the same age I was when I first read it – and ending nearly forty years later, when her amazing life takes another amazing turn.

2. Island in the Sun, by Alec Waugh. This is a very 1950s-ish book, a psychological thriller, love story, and social statement, set in a fictional British colony in the West Indies that's about to achieve its freedom. I like to read it in the dark days of a Montana winter.

3. Raintree County, by Ross Lockridge, Jr. A strange, ambitious, haunting novel of American history, tracing the life of an Indiana man, his friends, loves, and family from the 1840s through '90s. I read it from start to finish once, and have dipped into it many, many times since.

4. Dear Enemy, by Jean Webster. Published in 1915, this novel of letters about a young society woman who finds herself superintending an orphanage was one of my mother's favorites, and she turned me on to it when I was about eleven. It's funny, moving, and surprisingly modern.

5. The Peaceable Kingdom, by Ardyth Kennelly, is about a Mormon woman, the second wife of a Salt Lake City tailor in the 1870s or so. Funny, touching, horrifying, and warmhearted. I've always loved it.

6. Young Bess, by Margaret Irwin. "Bess" is England's Queen Elizabeth I, whose childhood and teens were fraught with adventure – and danger. Irwin was a great writer and careful historian, and Elizabeth shines in this book, which I've been reading off and on for probably sixty years.

7. The Crystal Cave; The Hollow Hills; The Last Enchantment, by Mary Stewart. Stewart's "Arthurian Trilogy," whose central character is not King Arthur but Merlin, might as well be one book instead of three, because once I've started the first part I can't stop until I've come to the end of the third. The story is told by Merlin, who may be a magician but who is also a very human and appealing character.

BLURB – "INTO A DISTANT LIGHT"

When Lizzie and Robert married, she thought he'd had enough of adventure to last a lifetime. After all, his voyage above the Arctic Circle had been a near-fatal disaster, and he never talked about it at all. He'd never even written about it, except in a long letter to his sister. But someone, somehow, had found out. And now, given another chance, he couldn't resist that call.

When he came back, of course, she would share in his fame, glory, and wealth. But what would happen to her if he didn't come back?

EXCERPT FROM "INTO A DISTANT LIGHT"

"You said it was all behind him!" Lizzie wailed. "He's never talked about it, and I've never mentioned it. You said he didn't want to do anything like that again, but now he's all excited about his report, and what the Society will say, and what a grand thing it will be for us all. Oh, Maggie, how I wish they'd never found out about that voyage. I don't know how they ever did. Now they'll give him money to go back, and he'll go back, and what'll happen to the babies and me, I don't know!"

"Why, he'll be rich and famous, and you'll bask in his glow," Margaret said, lightly. She knew how they'd found out about her brother's voyage.

"A rich, famous widow, that's what I'll be! Rich, famous orphans!"

"Now, now, Lizzie. In the first place, they'll not choose him. They'll read the part about that German, Swiss, whatever he was, and his horrible creature, and they'll suppose Robert is, well, eccentric. Too eccentric for them to support." That, she almost said, was what her husband, trying to be helpful, hadn't told his friend in the Society. But then she remembered that Lizzie didn't know Seville's part in it.

"They won't read it because he isn't putting that part in. He says something about finding a man under extraordinary circumstances and trying to rescue him, but the man has a fever and eventually dies. Robert makes very little of it." She looked down at her hands. "He doesn't know I read his story, his letters to you, Margaret. I thought he'd tell it to me, himself, someday, but he never has. And now, when I tried to draw him out about the man, he wouldn't say anything really. He knows what the Society would make of it, of course."

Margaret thought for a moment. "Well, then, they shall read it," she said. "I shall send it to them, the story he gave to me. That will be the end of that, then."

But she did not send them the story.

Buy Links:

Uncial Press: http://www.uncialpress.com/into-a-distant-light.html

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Into-Distant-Light-Patterson-Thornburg-ebook/dp/B07B4P9RVV

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/into-a-distant-light

B and N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/into-a-distant-light-mary-patterson-thornburg/1128085286?ean=2940159078056

Author Bio:

Mary Patterson Thornburg was born in California and has lived in Washington State, Indiana, and Montana, where she currently resides with her husband, poet and fellow novelist Thomas Thornburg. She has published fiction, literary criticism, and poetry. Thornburg's short fiction has appeared in THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, ZAHIR, and CICADA, among other magazines, and in several anthologies. Two of her stories received honorable mention in THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR, and her young adult story "Niam's Tale," set in the world of THE KURA, and published in CICADA, won the 2011 Magazine Merit Honor Certificate from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

Mary's Social Media Links: 

Website: http://www.marypattersonthornburg.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mary-Patterson-Thornburg-Author-751054628247208/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryPThornburg