Showing posts with label fantasy series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fantasy series. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Nightmares and Daydreams

When the Dark Master rises from the mists to breach the Veil, and a Daughter of Light, denied the throne by virtue of birth, stands alone, beware.

The blood of innocents will soak Illialei's meadows, and dreamlessness will snuff all hope from the mortal world.

The Old Texts, Appendix VII — Excerpt from Idonnic Prophecy, Half Faerie

There are three significant themes in the Idonnic Prophecy. The first one is: dreams. Night dreams and daydreams, these states when we're not quite present to the visible material world, and yet our hearts keep beating and our lungs continue their rhythmic inhaling and exhaling of breath ... while our awareness is somewhere else.

Where is it?

meaning of dreams, spiritual meaning of dreams

In THE INVISIBLE realm, attuned to the imaginal, lost in our inner world.

What do I mean?

There are layers, layers of consciousness, layers of energy in the WHOLE that we live in. Things must be envisioned, imagined, thought of in THE INVISIBLE realm before they are realized in the visible material realm.

I first began to contemplate THE INVISIBLE realm decades ago when I was exposed to the I Ching.

"The beginning of all things lies still in the beyond in the form of ideas that have yet to become real ..." — Hexagram 1. The Creative, The I Ching

"The wind blows over the lake and stirs the surface of the water. Thus the visible effects of the invisible manifest themselves." — Hexagram 61. Inner Truth, The I Ching

The cosmology of Daughter of Light, the Whole,  incorporates this concept of a layered reality through the Primal Essence, the invisible point of all beginnings; the Parallel of Shadows, invisible but accessible energetically and through visions; the Enchanted World, visible to it's inhabitants and to some mortals; the mortal world, visible; the Hidden City, also visible to its inhabitants but largely invisible to the rest of the creatures of the Whole; the Unknown Beyond, largely invisible but perhaps accessible or visible during altered states of consciousness or on the threshold of death or after, and the Void, invisible but accessible through energy and sensing.

Blogging Isolt's Enchantment, the focus was on quantum musings (quanta being largely invisible to the naked eye!). Now I'm going to move on to the themes of: fairy tales, The INVISIBLE (encompassing the IMAGINAL and INNER WORLDS), and the death of mechanistic science.

Why do fairy tales persist? Might they be efforts to verbalize the power inherent in crossing the threshold between the visible and THE INVISIBLE? Acknowledging that there is, in fact, a threshold to cross? Thus the promise of transformation through gifts of insight, "knowing" beyond the scope of intellect, psychic rejuvenation, etc.

fairy tale retellings ya, fairy tale novels, fairytale fantasy books

If dreamlessness — an end of travel to THE INVISIBLE REALM — was to occur, what would that mean? Perhaps endless wars and tyranny? Maybe the destruction of the natural world in the name of technological advance?

global destruction, pollution

In other words ...

"The nightmare I built my own world to escape" —Evanescence, Imaginary



Lyrics:

Ah-ah-ah-ah, paper flowers
Ah-ah-ah-ah, paper flowers

I linger in the doorway
Of alarm clock screaming monsters calling my name
Let me stay where the wind will whisper to me
Where the raindrops, as they're falling, tell a story

In my field of paper flowers
And candy clouds of lullaby (paper flowers)
I lie inside myself for hours
And watch my purple sky fly over me (paper flowers)

Don't say I'm out of touch
With this rampant chaos - your reality
I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge
The nightmare I built my own world to escape

In my field of paper flowers
And candy clouds of lullaby (paper flowers)
I lie inside myself for hours
And watch my purple sky fly over me (paper flowers)

Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming
Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights
Oh, how I long for the deep sleep dreaming
The goddess of imaginary light

In my field of paper flowers
And candy clouds of lullaby (paper flowers)
I lie inside myself for hours
And watch my purple sky fly over me (paper flowers)

Ah-ah-ah-ah, paper flowers
Ah-ah-ah-ah, paper flowers


As a half-faerie, Melia is an outcast in the enchanted world where she lives with her two sisters and full-blood faerie mother. The girls' father has been exiled to the mortal world for breaking his faerie troth. When a tragic accident destroys what's left of Melia's fractured family, her mother is unforgiving. The punishment she metes out will leave her daughter torn between guilt and ecstasy, challenge the bonds between three sisters, and complicate Melia's relationship with a young priest who’s come to the Realm of Faerie on a mission of his own.

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Friday, May 20, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Half Faerie

The short & sweet conclusion:

"a mythical tale as appealing as it is impressive"Kirkus Reviews

The full Kirkus Review:

HALF FAERIE

Heidi Garrett
(446 pp.)

$13.95 paperback, $4.99 e-book

August 13, 2014

BOOK REVIEW

A half-faerie teenager struggles to stop a malicious entity from destroying both the mortal and enchanted worlds in this YA fantasy.

Life as a half-faerie has never been easy for 18-year-old Melia. She and her sisters, Melusine and Plantine, were born to mortal druid Elynus and full-blooded faerie Pressina. But when Elynus broke the faerie troth by seeing his wife at childbirth, his family had to return to the Realm of Faerie in the enchanted world. The sisters can communicate telepathically, but Melia’s disturbed by her telepathic link to Elynus, which triggers visions of violence and death. The druid’s trying to incarnate Umbra, a sinister consciousness that needs a living vessel and whose emergence can destroy the Whole, encompassing all known realms. Elynus wants to reunite with Pressina but hints to Melia, who visits him in the mortal world, that Umbra will right the “horrible crimes” in Faerie. Melia’s determined to stop her father, but a sudden tragedy rattles her faerie household. At the same time, others hoping for an Umbra incarnation kidnap Plantine (a family secret explains why) and seek a sword and basin that together can lead Umbra to a vessel. Melia and friends, from spring faerie Flora to priest Ryder, set out to save Plantine and thwart Umbra. The tale is practically bursting with characters, all of whom Garrett (Half Mortal, 2015, etc.) skillfully molds into individual personalities. Flora, for one, is reputedly the last of the spring faeries, while 19-year-old Ryder is the same soothing green-eyed stranger from Melia’s visions. There’s an unmistakable villain—Plantine’s abductor, who plans on marrying Melia’s seemingly spellbound baby sister. Quite a few characters, however, are deliciously ambiguous, including Pressina, who dabbles in black magic, and Sevondi, a dragonwitch who may be bad but is also a scorned lover. Other mythical characters crop up, like dwarves and elves, and though the story’s primarily a rescue mission, simply reaching Plantine involves an arduous journey. The indelible ending resolves much of the plot while a lingering uneasiness aptly sets the groundwork for a subsequent volume.

Melia isn’t the only character who can carry her own series in a mythical tale as appealing as it is impressive.—Kirkus Reviews

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

IFB Tour: The Lost Kingdom by Stephanie Beerden + Giveaway

Series: The Elements #1
Release date: April 28th 2014


Synopsis via Goodreads:
A Prophecy made long ago, announced the arrival of the new Ladies of Elements.

And now almost a millennia later, it finally came true …

All her life Arima thought she knew who and what she was. That is until the day of her sixteenth birthday came and her world is turned upside down, when she’s told she’s not a White Witch but Lady Spirit. And that she is the one that has been foretold, will unite the Five Ladies of Elements once again and save Ilendia and the Other Lands from Ahriman, the Demon King.

At first Arima refuses to accept her new fate, but when Shanums come and destroy her village and kill her loved ones, she has no choice but to flee and fall right into the destiny she never wanted.

As she grudgingly starts her journey into the unknown, she is accompanied by her unicorn familiar Sirrim, Blythe, a Vampire with a dark past and Myrddin, a mysterious Ljosalfar.

And the longer her journey lasts, the more Arima begins to realise that she can’t escape her own destiny and she must learn to control her powers and learn to be a Lady for the sake of the Sisters she doesn’t know and the people of Ilendia and the Other Lands.

However, things get more complicated when Arima comes into the possession of a key. Her instincts compel her to go towards danger when she discovers that the key she holds, can unlock the legendary kingdom of Eléssima, the home of the Ladies of Elements.

She will have to make the choice to follow her instincts …

…or stay on the path that has been laid out for her.
~ Stephanie Beerden's Awesome Playlist ~
Songs that Inspired The Lost Kingdom and The Element series

1. Amethystium – Strangely Beautiful

2. Amethystium – Gates of Morpheus

3. Amethystium – Elvensong

4. Amethystium – Ethereal

5. Immediate Music – Final Omen 2.0

6. Immediate Music – Blasphemy 2.0

7. Immediate Music – Clash of the Titans

8. Immediate Music – Serenata Immortale

9. Immediate Music – With an Iron Fist

10. X-Ray Dog – Dethroned

11. Carmina Burana – Oh Fortuna

12. Clint Mansell – Requiem For a Dream

13. Loreena McKennitt – Ever After Theme

14. Nightwish – End of All Hope

15. Nightwish – Tristania

16. Nox Arcana – Sanctuary of Shadows

17. Nox Arcana – Nightmare Parade

18. Nox Arcana – Night Wraiths

19. Nox Arcana – Night of the Wolf

20. Nox Arcana – Legions of Darkness

21. Two Steps From Hell – Archangel

22. Two Steps From Hell – White Witch

23. Two Steps From Hell – Immortal

24. Two Steps From Hell – False King

25. Two Steps From Hell – Moving Mountains

26. Snow White and the Huntsman Soundtrack – Breath of Life

27. The Hunchback of Notre Dame Soundtrack – Sanctuary

28. Within Temptation – Blue Eyes

29. Within Temptation – Our Solemn Hour

30. Within Temptation – Frozen
~ ABOUT THE AUTHOR ~
Stephanie Beerden was born on Friday the 13th (no joke, she really was) in a small city called Genk in Belgium. She has always been fascinated with the occult, magic and books. Her childhood and teen years were filled with reading lots and lots of books and imagining what life would be like as a vampire. Until one day she decided that she wanted to try her hand at writing her own books and that was the beginning of her writing adventure.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Giveaway: The Short and Long of It

The Winners!
How do you like your books?

Would you rather read three shorter books?
Or one longer book?
We're going to give away 4 ebook sets of the first three books in the Queen of the Realm of Faerie fantasy fairytale series (Nandana's Mark, The Flower of Isbelline, and The Dragon Carnviale), AND 4 ebook copies of True Love's First Kiss (a compilation of the first three books in the series)!

How can you win?

Tell us whether you prefer your books shorter or longer in a comment below.
If you prefer shorter books, you'll be eligible to win one of the 4 ebook sets. If you prefer longer books, you'll be eligible to win one of the 4 ebook compilations. The winners will be picked in a random drawing. Please leave your email address in your comment so we can contact the winners.

Want to increase your odds of winning?
Tweet about this giveaway.
Include a link to this giveaway page, mention @heidigwrites, and use the hashtag #longer or #shorter in every tweet for more entries! Each tweet will count as one additional entry.

This contest will run until midnight PST on Sunday, June 16, 2013. The winners will be announced on this blog on Monday, June 17, 2013.

In the Enchanted World, true love’s first kiss is magic.

Nandana’s Mark, Book 1: When two half-faeries—Melia and her younger sister—are cursed under dreadful circumstances, true love’s first kiss is the remedy.

The Flower of Isbelline, Book 2: Nothing but true love’s first kiss can save Melia’s younger sister from blind ambition and ruin.

The Dragon Carnivale, Book 3: Melia must choose the freedom she cherishes or true love’s first kiss—and a relationship that promises to secure her place in the Whole.

Queen of the Realm of Faerie is a fairy tale fantasy series that bridges the Mortal and Enchanted worlds. It is also an epic fantasy. The main character, Melia, is an eighteen-year-old half-faerie, half-mortal.

When the story opens in the first book, Melia is troubled by her dark moon visions, gossip she overhears about her parents at the local market, and the trauma of living among full-blooded faeries with wings—she doesn’t have any.

As the series unfolds, the historic and mystical forces that shape Melia’s life are revealed. Each step of her journey—to find the place where she belongs—alters her perceptions about herself, deepens her relationships with others, and enlarges her world view.

True Love’s First Kiss is a compilation of the first three books in this ongoing series.


Note: We've been notified that some people are still unable to make comments. GRRR!!!!! and Sorry!!!!! Not sure why that is, if anyone knows… Otherwise, if you try to make a comment and can't, please email me at heidi _ g @ comcast . net! I'll post your entry for you, Thank you.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

A Black Angel


I feed my free kindle addiction, making quite a haul in the past few days. I settle on reading Become (Desolation, #1) by Ali Cross. Because I like the idea of the devil's daughters and used to clump around in a pair of Doc Martens myself. That was the crazy year I shaved my head.

Desolation--what a name--is fighting a war inside herself. And something bad just happened to Lucy, one of her few friends. There's a lot of wealth, big houses, fancy cars, and shopping. But you expect the devil's daughter to have such perks.

The cover is really cool. Like a black angel surrendering to a lightening storm.

I think it's going to be a dark one.