Brea Essex is a guest at The Mustard Seed today. So glad you all could stop on by. A fun week is lined up with some great guest authors, so hope you come back to hang out. Let's meet Brea...
Brea Essex was born Gilroy, California, called the “Garlic Capital of the World”. She graduated college with a degree in Medical Assisting. She lives near San Jose, California with her husband, their dog, three cats, and enough books to start a library.
You can connect with Brea online here:
Brea's Website
Brea's Blog
Find Brea on Facebook
Find Brea on Twitter
You can connect with Brea online here:
Brea's Website
Brea's Blog
Find Brea on Facebook
Find Brea on Twitter
I love mythology. I always have. In Junior High and High School, my reports were always on mythology: Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Sumerian... What I never knew much about was my own Irish mythology. I have Irish blood on both sides of my family, so I was eager to learn more about my heritage. When I was in college, I jumped at a chance to take a World Mythology class—especially once I found out it would be concentrating in part on Irish mythology/history. We read Táin Bó Cúailnge, (otherwise called The Tain), which centers on the Irish hero Cúchulainn. If you haven't read it, be forewarned—it seems incredibly boring, but it's pretty interesting once you get into it. In The Tain, it refers to Cúchulainn's father as a side--which is an alternate spelling of sidhe, or faery. I had the hardest time trying to convince my classmates that this warlord was part faery. I'm sure you can imagine their skepticism. Even my professor seemed surprised, although he agreed with me.
Reading The Tain gave me an idea for my own Irish-mythology based book. After much research, I decided to write on the myth of the leanan sidhe, which is a female faery who acts as an inspiration to an artist or musician. Unfortunately for the artist, it often results in madness and/or premature death. In honor of The Tain, I named my leanan sidhe Morrigan Byrne. The Morrígan is an Irish supernatural creature—some believe her to be a goddess. She is rumored to be able to shapeshift into the form of a raven, which she does in The Tain. Thus, my character's last name of Byrne, which means raven. I gave my hero the name of Declan Sinclair. While Declan is an Irish name, Sinclair is actually Scottish. I've just begun writing it, but so far my favorite scene is when Morrigan and Declan are having a debate over when exactly Queen Elizabeth purchased Sinclair Castle in Caithness, Scotland from his family. (That is the true part of the story. The British crown did indeed purchase Sinclair Castle from the Sinclair family.) Morrigan has been around a long time, and believe that Declan's information is wrong. Of course, Declan knows his own family history better than she realizes. It's a fun project to write so far, especially since Declan grew up in Ireland/Scotland and still has a heavy accent. The book is tentatively titled Ravenside, and I hope to have it ready for release at this time next year.
Thanks for visiting with Joanne and me! Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Reading The Tain gave me an idea for my own Irish-mythology based book. After much research, I decided to write on the myth of the leanan sidhe, which is a female faery who acts as an inspiration to an artist or musician. Unfortunately for the artist, it often results in madness and/or premature death. In honor of The Tain, I named my leanan sidhe Morrigan Byrne. The Morrígan is an Irish supernatural creature—some believe her to be a goddess. She is rumored to be able to shapeshift into the form of a raven, which she does in The Tain. Thus, my character's last name of Byrne, which means raven. I gave my hero the name of Declan Sinclair. While Declan is an Irish name, Sinclair is actually Scottish. I've just begun writing it, but so far my favorite scene is when Morrigan and Declan are having a debate over when exactly Queen Elizabeth purchased Sinclair Castle in Caithness, Scotland from his family. (That is the true part of the story. The British crown did indeed purchase Sinclair Castle from the Sinclair family.) Morrigan has been around a long time, and believe that Declan's information is wrong. Of course, Declan knows his own family history better than she realizes. It's a fun project to write so far, especially since Declan grew up in Ireland/Scotland and still has a heavy accent. The book is tentatively titled Ravenside, and I hope to have it ready for release at this time next year.
Thanks for visiting with Joanne and me! Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Brea, can you tell us about your book, Foreshadow?
Imagine discovering that your boyfriend was out to kill you—and that the annoying boy from school was your guardian angel.
Rae Davenport has already lost her mother. The only thing keeping her sane is her new boyfriend, Andrei—that is, until she finds out that he wants to kill her. Andrei is a devil, and he wants to use Rae as a sacrifice to get back into Heaven. The only one who can save her is Logan, her guardian angel. He’s only annoyed her in the past, but now he will be her savior.
Sounds very intriguing! Where can readers find your book online?
Purchase Foreshadow in eBook on Amazon
Purchase Foreshadow in paperback on Amazon
Purchase Foreshadow on B & N
Purchase Foreshadow on Astraea Press
Brea, thanks so much for guesting today and sharing with us about your current release and new writing project!
If you'd like to enter for a chance to win an ecopy of Brea's book, please join the chat and comment on this blog post. Do you share Brea's love of mythology? What do you think about her new book idea?
You can watch the book trailer for Foreshadow below...
Imagine discovering that your boyfriend was out to kill you—and that the annoying boy from school was your guardian angel.
Rae Davenport has already lost her mother. The only thing keeping her sane is her new boyfriend, Andrei—that is, until she finds out that he wants to kill her. Andrei is a devil, and he wants to use Rae as a sacrifice to get back into Heaven. The only one who can save her is Logan, her guardian angel. He’s only annoyed her in the past, but now he will be her savior.
Sounds very intriguing! Where can readers find your book online?
Purchase Foreshadow in eBook on Amazon
Purchase Foreshadow in paperback on Amazon
Purchase Foreshadow on B & N
Purchase Foreshadow on Astraea Press
Brea, thanks so much for guesting today and sharing with us about your current release and new writing project!
If you'd like to enter for a chance to win an ecopy of Brea's book, please join the chat and comment on this blog post. Do you share Brea's love of mythology? What do you think about her new book idea?
You can watch the book trailer for Foreshadow below...
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