Well, I’ve been cracking on with the book writing this week, knocking Daughter of Blood, The Wall of Night Book Three into better shape—merging sections, adding new chapters, you know, all the book-write-y stuff that you do!—but I have also been meeting my guest post-y obligations.

Bringing in the may...

Which on the first of the month always means the Supernatural Underground. And 1 May being–y’know!–May Day and all that, I did a 1 May, first of summer post (Northern Hemisphere bias,  I know—but what the heck, the Supernatural Underground is a Northern Hemisphere site and who really wants to focus on #winteriscoming? (OK, I’ll admit it’s done some pretty good things for George RR Martin…)

(Actually, what the feck is it about epic fantasy authors and assonance/consonance/alliteration & the multiple initials, can anyone tell me? I mean JRR Tolkien, George RR Martin, Guy Gavriel Kay…  OK, on second thoughts, clearly it’s a guy thing—OK, an epic fantasy guy thing (which some might allege is dealing in synonyms anyway.) But seriously, can any of you think of gal authors with the whole multiple, repetitive initial, alliterative multiple names thing going on? NK Jemisin was the nearest I could get to, but there’s not nearly enough initials and/or repetition/alliteration: just sayin’! )

(I was going to say ‘chick’ authors, but I realized that might be sexist, and That Would Never Do… So no ‘chick’ authors today.)

Come to think of it, I’m a chick author m’self, tho’ not writin’ chicklit—oh well, never mind…

And Now—-Back to The Very Serious Business Of Blog Posting:

USA

So I posted on the dear old Supernatural Undergound about May Day, bonfire lighting (but not guy burning, despite the whole names thing—oops!) and Summer’s Eve in The Gathering Of The Lost (which is Book Two in The Wall of Night series—OK, right, keep forgetting, you already know the drill….)

(Actually, some folk think The Gathering Of The Lost is a pretty durned good book, just sayin’. Who knows, they might even be right. Either that or the amount of lucre I’ve been paying out in bribes hasn’t gone entirely a-miss… So many cases of whisky galore; sighz. ;-))

UK/AU/NZ Cover

OK, where were we? Oh yes, May Day, bonfire lighting, and Summer’s Eve. On the Supernatural Underground: check.

Anywayz, to get on with the serious post-y stuff (not  to be confused with a ‘postie’ who puts actual, tangible, real world stuff in your letter box (mostly advertising these days, mind you, but never mind):

Festivals in our world, such as Valborgsmassafton in Sweden, where I once lived, and May Day in the UK, have definitely influenced my ideas around seasonal festivals and their connection to cultural celebration in my writing. (There, see: got to it, finally!)

The seasonal cycle in the Southern Realms of the world of Haarth—which broadly comprise all those lands and kingdoms “from Ij to Ishnapur”—is tied not only to the formality of solstice and equinox, but also to that sense of a shift in the seasons that can come almost overnight, where you step outside and feel the “change” that speaks to you through air and light. For example, the early morning crispness that starts around 20 February (here in NZ), accompanied by a noticeable change in the quality of the light, that tells us that yes, even though autumn equinox is still a month away, the world has already begun its in exorable turn toward winter. (Did I mention #winteriscoming before? Oh yes, I believe I did! Very good, moving right along…) And I believe the Japanese celebrate a corresponding turn in mid-late February with the ume matsuri festival, celebrating the plum blossoms that are the first harbingers of spring.

So these are the seasonal celebrations in the Southern Realms of Haarth (as encountered in The Gathering Of The Lost—I know you know the rest of the drill 😉 ):

• The First of Spring—this takes place approximately eight weeks after the winter solstice, but ahead of the equinox, and celebrates the beginning of spring
• Spring Night—spring equinox
• Summer’s Eve—held approximately half way between the spring equinox and summer solstice, on the first new moon of summer
• Midsummer—the summer solstice, usually celebrated by a three day festival
• Summer’s End—celebrated approximately eight weeks after the summer solstice; also a harvest festival
• Autumn’s Night—the autumn equinox
• Winter’s Eve—the last old moon of autumn, marking the advent of winter
• Midwinter—the winter solstice

And in the book (The Gathering of the Lost), the arc of the story is marked by the passage of these seasonal celebrations, from spring through to summer’s end.

Enjoy your weekend: I aim too! 🙂