Raggle Taggle Gypsy--a song for St. Patrick's Day

Photo by FreeImages.com

"Raggle Taggle Gypsy" is the Celtic equivalent of "Heard It Through the Grapevine." Everyone with even remotely Irish roots has covered it. Celtic Thunder used it as their curtain call song in one of their tours and while you can hear that version on Jango, the video with the great choreography their tours are known for is no longer available on YouTube.

This version, from Mick O'Connor and "Bobbin Along" is actually one of my favorites. It appears and disappears on YouTube, and has reappeared just in time for a little March 17th celebration. It's no wonder that it's the one Irish song everybody knows. the tune is infectious, bouncy and so lively you just want to dance. It was G.K. Chesterton who said,“The great Gaels of Ireland are the men that God made mad,for all their wars are merry, and all their songs are sad.” 

I don't agree with the "merry wars part," but Irish songs can be so very sad. And the saddest ones are those that are calls to arms from various sides of the sectarian violence known as "the Troubles." "Raggle Taggle Gypsy" comes from a strain of folk songs that inspired the Appalachian folk songs I learned as a child, songs that really haven't changed  much in the hundreds of years they've been sung, songs that were accompanied by fiddles and hammered dulcimers and autoharps and flutes.

I love the ballad language of the song--"the milk-white steed" has been a trope of ballads since forever. And of course, the story is a tale of love and betrayal--a juicy story in other words. And I love a good story.

Sarra Cannon Cover Reveal

Yet another fabulous cover by Ravven. I feel so lucky to have snagged two of her pre-designed covers and look forward to a time when I can afford to have her redo pretty much all my covers. Not that I don't love my current covers but ... Ravven.

Sarra is combining two of her series--The Peachtree Demonds and Beautiful Demons--and this, Forgotten Darkness, is number eight in what she now calls the "Shadow Demons Saga."

Enter and Win!! Five Authors, Fifteen Days, Lots of Prizes

March Mayhem: Five Writers, Fifteen Days, A Whole Lot of Prizes!!!

Enter to win our swag basket including some incredible and unique prizes from five amazing authors, including Donna Thorland, Lynne Connolly, Kat Parrish (aka Katherine Tomlinson), Joanne Renaud and Kat Laurange!

From AAR-nominated author Donna Thorland, we bring you two (2) autographed trade paperbacks of The Dutch Girl and Mistress Firebrand, the latest books in her acclaimed Renegades of the Revolution series!

From bestselling author Lynne Connolly, we bring you one (1) ebook copy of her latest Georgian historical romance, Dilemma in Yellow Silk, and the one-of-a-kind chance to be a character in her next contemporary romance.

Interview with author/artist Joanne Renaud

From now until the end of the month, enter the March Mayhem contest sponsored by Joanne Renaud, Kat Laurange, Donna Thorland, Lynne Connelly and Kat Parrish. Details and entry form here.

And now, on to the interview with Joanne Renaud!

Let’s talk about Doors, your latest novel, a time-travel romance.

Do you listen to music as you write and if so, what was in your playlist for this book?

Why yes, I listened to a great deal of music—Doors is partially about people bonding through music, even if they don’t always listen to the same thing. Orne, the hero of Doors, is an ex-raver who loves electronica, both classic and current (including seminal acts like Phuture and Orbital), and Jackie is an ex-punk who loves Rage Against the Machine.  You can listen to the playlist here—there are many songs that I referred to throughout the book, including Wall of Voodoo’s “Mexican Radio,” and Phuture’s “Acid Trax.”

Did you watch any television shows or movies to transport you to the period? Any other resources you used?

Well, Doors isn’t really a time travel book where people travel to another period of history—it’s more about how parallel timelines form as a result of time travel.  It’s more along the lines of Sliding Doors or Lathe of Heaven. (Lathe and Ursula LeGuin was a HUGE influence on this book.) It’s very much in the multiverse theory of time travel. It’s set in the present day. (Well, 2010.)

Your first book, A Question of Time, was also a time-travel romance, but Doors is not a direct sequel. Will there be a third time-travel book to “round out” the series?

Yup! There’s going to be a third book, set in 1966—it’s called Out of Time.  It gets into the origin event of what causes the ‘time bubble’ phenomenon in the first place, plus Cold War spying shenanigans and mod culture and music and lots of awesome swinging ‘60s stuff. It’s set in New York, again, but it’s such a fascinating city to me.

It's Going to be a Long Wait Until May!

Joe Hill has a new book out. The Fireman. It publishes in May and if the reading gods are with me, I'll be lucky enough to read it in manuscript for one of my clients, a film company developing the film version of Hill's novel Heart-Shaped Box. They know I love the man's work--yes, even Horns, which was an interesting idea even though iI didn't think it worked as a movie. (Through no fault of Daniel Radcliffe, who was great in it. And there's one scene he has where the character's mother tells him what she really thinks of him that will break your heart.)

Neon Noir and returning to my roots

My name is Katherine Tomlinson and I'm a short story writer.
There, I've said it.
Yes, I write longer stuff.
Yes, I still write non-fiction.
Yes, I write scripts and teleplays and web series episodes.
But in my heart, I am a short story writer. I say this knowing that even masters of the short story form don't really make much money from their work. Paying markets for short stories are few and far between, although the mystery, science fiction, and fantasy genres are putting up a valiant fight to keep the short story form alive.
I've been concentrating on longer work of late, trying to ignore the siren call of the short story. I'm writing something for Gerri Leen's "Dark Goddess" anthology, and every time the new "Dark Markets" comes out, I see one or two "calls for submission" that pique my interest. Most of the time I ignore that little tingle of electricity and go back to working on my novel. But every so often, I see an opportunity that I cannot ignore. Like the one for a crime fiction story that's "Neon Noir."  Inspired by the 80s with all the fashion and music and awesomeness that decade possessed.
I lived through the 80s.
I got this.

Beauty and the Beast retold in Christine Pope's Wolf of Harrow Hall

"Beauty and the Beast" is one of the most beloved fairy tales ever told. Right now there are two different film versions being developed. Christophe Gans' gorgeous French language version is available on YouTube. And if you go on GoodReads looking for a retelling of the tale, you're directed to a list with 1006 results, one of them my own novelette The Summer Garden. (There are 2611 retellings of "Cinderella" so that's even more popular as source material.)

Christine Pope likes "Beauty and the Beast." She retold it in her novella Breath of Life, which kickstarted her Gaia Consortium Series. And now she's used the story as a basis for a lush, snow-bound love story called The Wolf of Harrow Hall. Part of her Tales of the Latter Kingdoms series--all stand-alone fairy tales--Wolf has a gorgeous cover by Ravven, and an original new mythos that explains the nature of the beast. Buy it now at Amazon and on other publishing platforms.