Brenna Yovanoff on Celtic Myth

Hi everyone!  In honor of the Deranged Booklovers mythology event, I’m here to talk a little bit about the folklore in my book The Replacement. 

I always tell people that when I first started working on The Replacement, I never meant to write a faerie story. 

Which, when I step back and think about it, is totally ridiculous, since from the very beginning I knew I was writing a book about changelings.  And most of the mythology surrounding changelings comes straight out of faerie lore.

But when I first started The Replacement, I was entirely focused on the idea of the changelings themselves, and not at all on where they came from. Because I wanted to tell a modern-day story about a creature that people had pretty much stopped believing in by the time Queen Victoria was in power, I was entirely focused on how that creature’s life would look in contemporary society, where so many things are made of iron or stainless steel, which is toxic to the fae. 

It wasn’t until I’d gotten a few chapters in and started thinking about the larger implications of babies being switched in the middle of the night for other babies that I knew I’d need to talk about the faeries themselves.

I’ve always been fascinated by the strange and unsettling, and I knew the world I wanted to write about was one filled with people who were not only fantastical, but frightening in their own right.

The inhabitants of the House of Mayhem aren’t what one might immediately picture when thinking of faeries, but they take their roots in the same folklore.  The dead girls who wander Mayhem are direct adaptations of the Sluagh—what Celtic mythology refers to as the spirits of the restless dead.

The Sluagh were a perfect jumping-off place for the town of Gentry and the kind of world I wanted to create.

Brenna Yovanoff's debut novel is The Replacement, a story about a boy who was placed when he was a baby to substitute a human baby. Visit her HERE and HERE!

Brenna Yovanoff on Celtic Myth

Leah Cypess on Celtic Myth

I'm a big fan of all the tropes of fantasy, many of which come from various types of mythology. My first book, Mistwood, is about a shapeshifter - a concept that has always fascinated me. How cool would it be to be able to change into any animal you wanted? On the other hand, how awful would it be, for such a creature, to be trapped in only one type of body? Would it make it better or worse if that body was a human body?

On my website, I've collected a list of books about shapeshifters - http://www.leahcypess.com/shapeshifter/. But the book that probably most influenced Mistwood is not on that list, because it's not technically a shapeshifter book. It's The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, about a unicorn who sets out on a quest to find out what happened to the rest of her kind. I'm not going to say more, because explaining how this book influenced Mistwood would be a bit of a spoiler for The Last Unicorn, and I think everyone should read it - it's a thoroughly original story that reads like the best type of fairy-tale. (Full disclosure: I was introduced to this book through the movie version, which is also awesome.)

My second book, Nightspell, is about ghosts -- this time, a trope I find more frightening than fascinating. Back when I read the classic ghost book Wait Till Helen Comes, I couldn't even fall asleep until I had gotten the book physically out of my bedroom. But I'm also a fan of mysteries, and the idea of ghosts trying to solve their own murders - not a new idea, certainly! - has an intrinsic appeal to me. My attempt to write in that genre turned into a high fantasy about a
kingdom where ghosts coexist uneasily with the living, but it has its roots in a combination of all the murder mysteries and ghost stories I read when I was younger.

What's next? Well, my secret goal is to play with every fantasy trope in existence, so hopefully there are a lot more mythological creatures in my writing future!

Leah Cypess is the author of Mistwood and the upcoming novel, Nightspell. Visit her HERE!

Leah Cypess on Celtic Myth

Jenna Black on Celtic Myth

Ever since I read Edith Hamilton’s Mythology in high school, I have been in love with mythology. My first love (because of Ms. Hamilton’s book) was Greek mythology, but that love rapidly grew to include mythology from all over the world. I also love novels that incorporate mythology, and it was mostly through novels that I learned about Celtic mythology, at least at first. I absolutely devoured the Fairy Tale series that Terri Windling edited, especially Tam Lin, by Pamela Dean. Another of my all-time favorite books is War for the Oaks, by Emma Bull. Then there are the books of Charles de Lint…

One of the reasons I particularly love writing stories with mythological underpinnings is that mythology is so changeable. Reading summaries of some of the most prominent mythological tales can be like reading a choose-your-own-adventure book—first either A, B, or C happened, then our hero did either D, E, or F, and then G, H, or I happened, all depending on whose version you choose. (Look up Tam Lin on Wikipedia to get a hint of what I mean.) Because there are so many different versions of the stories, it’s easy to pick and choose the aspects that you like best, and it also feels very natural to tinker with it so that it fits the story you want to tell.

At the heart of every mythological story—no matter how many variations of it exist—is a kernel of certainty, a constant on which all the variations are built. The story of Tam Lin, for example, is always the story of a man who is rescued from the Queen of Faerie by a mortal woman who loves him. Any story based on Tam Lin is bound to have that basic story as its core, even if the details are wildly different. (If you look at the Wikipedia entry again, you’ll see that even Tam Lin’s name and the name of the woman who rescued him are not constant.)

That is the way I like to use mythology in my books: to take the core of the story/legend, and then build the details I need for my own story. I have used many elements of Celtic mythology in my Faeriewalker series—the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, and the Wild Hunt, for example—but I have mixed and matched and made up the elements in ways you won’t find in any of the original ballads or stories. If there is any source material in which the Erlking is associated with the Wild Hunt, I’m not aware of it. (The Erlking isn’t even associated with Celtic mythology; his origins are Scandinavian. But when I needed someone to lead my Wild Hunt, the legend of the Erlking popped into my mind and I thought his story blended well with that of the Wild Hunt.)

I think my love of using mythology in this fashion, of not sticking strictly to the original stories, stems from the same drive that inspired me to become a writer in the first place. I think it’s a rare writer who didn’t in her childhood find herself reading a book (or even watching a movie), without thinking something to the effect of, “The story would be much better if X happened instead of Y. If I were the author, I’d make X happen instead.” That’s pretty much what I like to do with the mythology in my books. I don’t actually think I’m making the mythology “better,” of course; I merely think I’m making it better for my book. I’m sure there are mythology aficionados out there who cringe at seeing the original tales manhandled by modern-day authors like me. But while my books are based on old stories and legends, they aren’t a retelling of those stories, and for me, playing fast and loose with the mythology is part of the fun of writing them.

Visit Jenna Black HERE.

Jenna Black on Celtic Myth

Christopher & Heather Dunbar on Celtic Myth

Celtic Mythology for the Dunbars

Heather: I find all mythology to be fascinating.  However, Celtic mythology is my favorite.  I grew up reading a lot of classical mythology stories, and it kind of got a little boring after awhile.  My interest in anything Celtic intensified in the mid-nineties, when I spent a wonderful summer in Europe as an intern.  I worked in Epping Forest around London and then backpacked through Western Europe.  The history and mythology of the ancient peoples in Europe just inspired me unlike anything else.  I wanted to learn more.  I still love learning about it.  It’s so multifaceted, and one could become lost in examining all the stories.
The Celts seemed to love tales involving characters who could be both villainous and heroic.  Today, many authors strive for the same thing in our books.  I feel proud to have a Celtic heritage (my family is primarily Germanic and Irish).  After my travels, I went back home to Texas and began to study everything I could about the Celtic tribes of Europe.  A lot of them suffered during the Roman era due to constant invasions, and their culture faded and merged with the Romans, except in Scotland and Ireland.  Today, more people are discovering the wonderful tales within Celtic mythology and realizing that the stories still resonate with us.

Chris: Until I met Heather, my only understanding of mythology had come from classical Greek and Roman mythology, and to a much lesser extent, Viking mythology.  Celtic, Asian, African, Polynesian, and many other mythologies were not covered in school.

I feel somewhat connected with Celtic mythology, as half of my heritage is from Celtic lineage.  The Celts were a great people, and their culture, beliefs, and language spanned all of Europe, western Asia, and even eastern North America, as recent archeological evidence has demonstrated.

Much of Celtic mythology has been lost, as the Celtic races have been usurped by other races and by other faiths, yet some elements of the Celts have survived, most notably in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, the Isle of Man, and Cornwall.  Celtic languages (Irish, Scots, and Manx, for example), customs, and beliefs have seen recent revivals, and I am happy to learn of so many people who, like me, are rediscovering the Celts.

Our favorite Gods/Goddesses/Myth creatures

Heather: Hmmmm… there are so many to chose from.  Yet, I will have to admit that my favorite is The Morrigan.  I do love to read about other deities and heroes, such as Lugh, Brigid, Cernunnos, and Cu Chulainn, but The Morrigan just really spoke to me when I learned about Her.

Chris: I would have to say The Morrigan, though since the question below asks about Her, I will say that, given that they are the chief beings in our series, I would say vampires… though not the Hollywood vampires with which most people are familiar.  I like the old-world vampires, before even the name “vampire” was known.  These beings, who consumed the life essences of mortals, had many names, respective of their cultures of origin.  Deargh Du, Algul, Ekimmu Cruitne, Ekimmu, and Lamia are just a few names attributed to these blood-drinkers.

The Morrigan

Christopher & Heather Dunbar on Celtic Myth

Jules Watson on Celtic Myth

During the writing of my five Celtic novels, I received emails from places as scattered as Panama, India, Malaysia, Germany, Spain and Romania. These readers say they always had a "thing" about Celtic legends. So I began calling us all "The Lost Tribe". Since the Celts believed in rebirth, I say maybe we lived in Celtic lands once, and now are dispersed across the globe! True or not, Celtic myths are popular worldwide. But why?

Well, perhaps it is because they celebrate nature, with divine “spirit” held in every animal, tree, and stream. They include a mysterious Otherworld that lies just beyond our fingertips. In this fast-paced, technological world, we yearn to connect to nature, to know there might be “more” out there…realms where magic exists.

Celtic legends are peopled by noble heroes and fiery maidens, and in their stories, the Celts risk everything for honor, courage, and passion. We also long to be swept away by love, to see ourselves as honorable and brave, to “live free or die”. Unlike the intellectual Romans, the Celts were all about emotion. It may have doomed them, but we react to the glory and tragedy in their stories. It’s a more stirring world than the one we often find ourselves in.

My favorite Celtic myth is about the Irish hero Cuchulainn. He is the poster boy for Celtic honor and nobility – pure of heart, despite being deadly with a sword. Although not the central character, I tell his story in my most recent novels, The Swan Maiden and The Raven Queen. As often happens in Celtic myths, Cuchulainn’s fate is sealed by the greed and selfishness of others. He ends up having to fight his best friend and soulmate, Ferdia, to the death. It is Celtic tragedy of epic proportions. I loved writing it!

My books The Swan Maiden and The Raven Queen are based on Irish myths. The Swan Maiden is about the tragic heroine Deirdre, imprisoned by the ageing King Conor. She runs away with the warrior Naisi, and is chased by Conor’s knights, including Cuchulainn. Cuchulainn loves the fugitives, and his efforts to keep them safe while not betraying his honor, and Naisi’s efforts to stay free without betraying his honor, are very moving.

For The Raven Queen, I tackled the legendary warrior-queen Maeve, who was the force behind the great Irish heroic epic, the Cattle Raid of Cooley. Described in early stories as promiscuous and a brutal war-mongerer, she was too fascinating for an author to ignore!

Both these books involve the sidhe, the magical beings of the Celtic Otherworld. The sidhe appear in most Celtic myths as semi-divine warriors and maidens, kings and queens, and mischief-makers. I made them more elemental beings of spirit.

Birds and other animals are important in Irish myth. Maeve is associated with ravens. Ravens invoke prophecy and the Otherworld, a perfect totem for a warrior-queen who must call on the spirit world to defeat her enemies.

Deirdre, alone in Scotland, begins sensing the sidhe and also learns to “see” through water and fire – becoming almost a nature spirit herself. So I made her totem the swan, because in Celtic legends swans were also messengers of the Otherworld. Deirdre transforms into a spirit swan many times during her life.

My earlier historical fiction series, The Dalriada trilogy, is set in Scotland. The Romans are trying to conquer Britain, with my plucky band of Scottish Celts trying to stop them. Like in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon, I made my heroine a Celtic priestess. Although the books are adventure romances, this meant that I could weave in hints of real Celtic legends - an Otherworld of unseen powers who transform from animal to spirit; the rebirth of souls; our sixth sense; and the ability to foresee the future.

Though this trilogy is based on history, I found I could not resist the song of the Celtic Otherworld, either!

Ms. Watson had agreed to giveaway a copy of The Raven Queen to one of the lucky reader. The detail will be given tomorrow along with my preview of The Raven Queen! Visit her HERE!

Jules Watson on Celtic Myth