Guest fantasy author Juli D. Revezzo

I have an amazing fantasy author as my guest today: Juli D. Revezzo who will tell us about faery godmothers!!!! 🙂

The mythos of a faery godmother

by

Juli D. Revezzo

Faeries have been around for millennia and have given authors a wellspring of inspiration. Shakespeare used faeries in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in the form of Puck, Queen Titania, and King Oberon; even Chaucer mentioned them in the 13^th century. Before any of those, the Arthurian legends spoke of faeries, giving his sister Morgan the nickname le fey which translates to “the fairy.”

 

Originally, these fae beings were, at least in Ireland, the gods, demoted when the population widely adopted Christianity. It was Yeats, in his book Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry and Irish Fairy Tales (1888 and 1892 respectively) and (a little later, J.M. Barrie) who changed our perception of them from gods to the singing, tramping about little imp-like beings we are used to today.

 

These beings also mixed with other mythologies. Specifically the type of fairy we find in fairy tales like Charles Perrault’s Cinderella, who became a benevolent mentor—the fairy godmother. She flits here and there when called to change the unhappy maid’s fate. (Or in the case of, say, Sleeping Beauty, help after the damage has been done)

 

I thought about all the pressure this power and responsibility must lay on the individual faery godmother. What if she focused so hard on trying to succeed, that she inadvertently messed up, more often than not? Would she get another chance? Would she succeed a second time? If so, what then? In this day and age, can the faery godmothers even be sure we still need them? These ideas mixed in my head and out popped the heroine of my new novel, CHANGELING’S CROWN, Ianthe, with her story of exactly what happens to such a godmother when she makes a mistake (or three). According to her, being a faery godmother is not as easy as it looks.

 

What does happen to her? Well, how about a peek at CHANGELING’S CROWN?

Synopsis:

When Ianthe began her career as a faery godmother, she stumbled so badly that Snow White will probably never speak to her again. After a long suspension, she’s finally been given a chance to redeem herself…but everything on this latest assignment is going wrong.

 

But why?

 

Worse, she definitely doesn’t need an attractive mortal man distracting her from her duties. Of course, needs and wants are two different things.

 

Briak has had his eye on Ianthe for a very, very long time, but he’s been waiting for just the right moment to make his move. Despite the fact all hell’s about to break loose on his watch, he can’t resist the opportunity to insert himself into her earthly assignment. Can he convince Ianthe of her true calling and thereby win her heart? Or will his subterfuge ultimately cost him her love?

 

 

CHANGELING’S CROWN can be found at:

Amazon

Amazon UK

 Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

Createspace

 

And if you’d like to add it to your Good Reads To-Be-Read list, you can do so here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22431583-changeling-s-crown

 

I hope you enjoy this fun little read. Thanks, Chrystalla, for hosting me today!

 

 

 

About Juli D. Revezzo

 

Juli D. Revezzo has long been in love with writing, a love built by devouring everything from the Arthurian legends, to the works of Michael Moorcock, and the classics and has a soft spot for classic the “Goths” of the 19th century. Her short fiction has been published in Dark Things II: Cat Crimes, The Scribing Ibis, Eternal Haunted Summer, Twisted Dreams Magazine and Luna Station Quarterly. Her paranormal series Antique Magic and Harshad Wars are available now. CHANGELING’S CROWN is her first published new adult novel. She also has an article and book review or two out there. But her heart lies in the storytelling. She is a member of Independent Authors Network and Magic Appreciation Tour.

 

 

You can find out more about her at her homepage: http://julidrevezzo.com/

Blog: http://julidrevezzo.com/blog

 

Like her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/JD-Revezzo/233193150037011

Follow her on Author’s Den http://www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?AuthorID=167318

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/111476709039805267272/posts

On Good Reads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5782712.Juli_D_Revezzo

Shelfari: http://www.shelfari.com/authors/a1002694572/Juli-D-Revezzo/

On Twitter: @julidrevezzo

*cover art by Boulevard Photografica: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Boulevard-Photografica/328570713949354

 

Magik & Mayhem Blog Hop and giveaway 15-19 July

Welcome to the Magik & Mayhem Blog Hop and giveaway 15-19 July!!!

Do you like fantasy, urban or epic? Are you fond of elves, fairies, pixies and kobolds? Do you enjoy stories with magic?

Welcome to our blog hop! Here is a chance to read about such creatures, find out about fantasy stories, and win books and gift cards! Summer is more magical already. 🙂

Click here to reach the central page of the blog hop where you can use the rafflecopter and win the main prize: a selection of all ebooks and print books entered in the event plus a gift certificate!

The list of ebooks you can win:

Yseult by Ruth Nestvold
Bundle Season 1 Boreal and John Grey by Chrystalla Thoma
Bundle Dark Elf by Willo Nonea Rea
Caitlin’s Book of Shadows by Juli D. Revezzo
Print book Raingun by John Blackport
Aundes Aura by Ryan Sullivan
Seeking a Scribe by Marsha A. Moore
Her Master’s Madness by J.E. & M. Keep
Wings of Shadow by Anna Kyss
Rune Breaker by Landon Porter
Judgement Rising by Tracy Falbe
The Chosen by Annette Gisby
New Zealand with a Hobbit Botherer by John & Annette Gisby

Some of these authors participated in a group interview to talk about their creatures, their stories and their worlds – it’s loads of fun, so just click here to read it!!!!!!!! 🙂

Now, let me tell you about my brand of elves, my take and my story. Let me tell you about the Nordic epics…

Because if you leave a comment, you will enter my own personal raffle and can win a copy of my boxset (ebook) containing the whole first season of Boreal and John Grey – plus a copy of my short fantasy story Dreamdancer (ebook)!!!

I have always been in love with elves – well, since I was fourteen and read Tolkien. Elves always seemed inextricably linked to epic fantasy – the Lord of the Rings variety. The wise, vegan, tree-hugging type, usually disgusted by humankind’s barbaric ways and wars.

I wanted to see a different kind of elves.

Besides, I had a feeling elves were an underrepresented minority in fantasy.

Urban fantasy tends to focus on vampires and witches and werewolves. Oh, there is UF with elves and fairies, though what I’ve seen is mainly Young Adult, but I wanted elves not only with magic but also technology, elves not wise and bonded to nature but wicked and bent on world domination.

And I also wanted them to be sexy. Legolas is okay, I guess, but let me tell you, my elves are much hotter.

I wanted there to be a reason for their differences from us humans, too, an explanation, a history.

During the 13th century In Iceland, epic poems and tales called Edda were written down. These spoke of many gods and magical creatures, among them the aelfar – the elves. Tall and pale – their name means ‘white’ – these trickster beings brought misfortune and illness, and exchanged healthy children with sickly changelings. They lived in Aelfheim – literally “elf home” – one of the nine worlds hanging on the world tree Ygdrasil.

We also know from the Edda that there were Light Elves living on the surface of their world, and Dark Elves living underground. There is a lot more about these beings, information Tolkien drew upon for his creation of the elves of Middle Earth.

Thus I went back to the source. I read what the Edda said about elves and dwarves and their world, and started again. Decided there would be a Veil, a Grey space, between the worlds, and that sometimes beings could cross. Decided the elves had crossed before, bent on conquering. The Dark Elves managed to stop them, locked the Gates. But the Light elves found a way to cross once more and take over our world.

Enter Ella Benson, Paranormal Bureau agent, who fights all that comes through the Veil – dangerous Shades crossing into our world.

But something has changed: increasingly dangerous creatures are slipping into her city, her work partner has just gone missing, and a mysterious – and, frankly, quite hot — guy saves her life. His name is Finn and, as it turns out, he’s a natural when it comes to fighting the Shades.

With the Gates opening and her partner gone, Ella needs a new ally. Enlisting the mysterious Finn is her first thought and seems to work quite well, until she realizes Finn has some dangerous secrets of his own.

Together with Finn, and the fate of the world on her shoulders, what’s Ella to do but grab her weapons and figure it all out, one way or another.

Amazon

Amazon