Growing up Paranormal

Now that I think about it I was probably a weird kid. From a very young age I was fascinated with the paranormal, especially horror movies and books. I remember staying up to watch the late night scary movies hosted by various strange hosts like Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. My favorite movies were the classic horror movies, the black and white Dracula and Wolfman, and the 1970’s Dracula movies starring Frank Langella.

My décor in my bedroom included glow-in-the-dark models of Dracula and Wolfman. Not really normal for a girl, right? My collection of books included Stephen King, Robert McCammon, Dean Koontz, collections of short ghost/horror stories and Ann Rice’s vamps and witches. I was into vampires long before they became trendy and sparkly. I still have a fascination with skulls and keep my macabre collection out all year. It’s Halloween all the time for me.

Growing up a horror fan, it would seem natural for me to write horror. Not exactly. I did write some short horror stories way back when I became serious about writing, but they were never published, and for good reason. Somehow I ended up writing romance, which is strange because I didn’t read much romance growing up. I think what changed my mind was Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. It was a romance, but it wasn’t the usual formulaic romance. I decided to try writing romance and adding the elements I like—Celtic mythology, fantasy, paranormal, magic and otherworldly creatures like faeries (not the tiny, sparkly good kind), gods and goddesses, shifters and ancient vampires. All that time spent watching horror movies and reading horror stories was well worth it.

With my love of the paranormal, horror and Halloween, it was natural for me to be drawn to the ancient Celts, the founders of Samhain/Halloween and a people linked with the mystical realm. This is how I came to write Celtic historical romances with paranormal/fantasy elements.

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A Greek vampire, Celtic kings, vengeful goddesses, an ancient faery curse…

All three books of my Dark Goddess trilogy are available in Print and Ebook. Set in dark age Scotland, I mixed history with a Samhain/Beltaine myth that revolves around an Irish clan and the goddesses Brigit and Cailleach.

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/ Check out my long hair hotties!

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

My book page at Mundania Press:

http://www.mundania.com/author.php?author=Kelley+Heckart

My author page on amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Kelley-Heckart/e/B002BMOQ3C/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Are angels the new faeries?

I’m seeing a new trend in paranormal romance—angels. I love angels. They are supernatural beings with wings, some are good and some are evil. Fallen angels in particular have my interest because they are more complex than the ones that don’t give in to their dark side. I never thought of angels as kind and gentle. I always thought of them as capricious warriors of God and somewhat dangerous. Just like faeries.

Another popular trend in paranormal romance is faeries, but I am seeing more angels lately. Angels and faeries have a lot in common. Both are supernatural beings, some good and some evil, both have wings. Faeries come in all shapes and sizes though and angels seem to be one size. The faeries I am comparing angels to are the Irish faeries, the Tuatha de Danaan. These are the human size faeries that often appear in my stories. While some faeries have gossamer wings, the Irish faeries have feathered wings like angels.

There are some people that believe faeries are real and possibly related to the fallen angel myths. Before Christianity spread to places like Scotland and Ireland, it’s possible that people mixed up angels and faeries. Or it’s possible that Christian monks, trying to convert pagans, borrowed some of the pagan beliefs and shaped the angels to mirror faeries.

Even in recent artwork, the line between angels and faeries is blurred.

I just think that romance fans like supernatural beings with wings. And who could blame them? There is something mysterious and fascinating about angels and faeries.

Kelley Heckart

'Timeless tales of romance, conflict & magic'

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/ Check out my long hair hotties!

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Three different women, one ancient curse…

http://kelleyheckart.com/BookShelf.html

Faeries come in all sizes

I tend to forget that most normal people don’t know that faeries can be as large as humans. I just assume that everyone knows all about faeries because it’s something that I’ve got stored in my brain. But thankfully not everyone has a brain like mine filled with odd, and in some cases, useless information like faery lore. As my husband said to me, “Why don’t you learn something useful like how to read a map?” Why not, indeed.

Most of my books have faeries in them, usually the Irish fae, the Tuatha de Danaan (Tribes of the goddess Danu). These are the faeries that J.R.R. Tolkien based his elves on, and as you can see, they are human size fae. I think that’s why I like them so much. The Danaans look human and so I can relate to them. They are also shapeshifters and sometimes appear in my stories with wings.

My favorite quote about the Tuatha de Danaan: ‘Tribes of the goddess Danu are indeed tall and noble, and they can take shapes and sizes that are not their true shapes and sizes.’ W.B. Yeats.

I could write many pages on these faeries, but to summarize it, they are mentioned in the Book of Ivasions as one of the earliest conquerors of ancient Ireland, ruling for many years until the Milesians landed. The Book of Leinster records that they were ‘faery’ peoples, while The Book of the Dun Cow describes them as ‘gods, but not gods.’ After one final battle with the Milesians , the Tuatha de Danaan retreated underground beneath the mounds to the sidhe where they remain today. In the Irish language ‘sidhe’ means faery. I do have a page dedicated to them on my website here: http://kelleyheckart.com/Tuatha_de_Danaan.html

I think people think of all faeries as tiny because the only role model we have for faeries is Tinkerbell from Peter Pan. Another type of faery that appeared in my first books is an Ashray. They are found in Scotland and are water faeries. They can only be seen at night because the sunlight will melt them. They are often mistaken as sea ghosts because of their white skin. Ashrays cannot live on land and it is believed they were cursed to live under water. These fae are smaller than the Irish fae, about 4 1/2 feet tall, but are still human size.

So the next time you pick up a book with faeries in it, they might not be tiny, gossamer winged creatures, but more human than you realized.
For more information on all kinds of faeries, I have a page on faery lore on my website here: http://kelleyheckart.com/FaeryLore.html

Kelley Heckart

'Timeless tales of romance, conflict & magic'
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/ Check out my long hair hotties!
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

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