Fantasy vs. Reality of the Druids || Juli D. Revezzo || PASSION'S SACRED DANCE

Fantasy vs. Reality of the Druids and a paranormal romance

by

Juli D. Revezzo

When researching my debut paranormal romance novel, PASSION’S SACRED DANCE, I focused on the Celts for my societal basis and in particular, their druids.

There’s an awful lot written about the druids for all that we don’t know much about them. Some of it, one could argue, is a bunch of romantic whooey.  Many people that write about them tend to take Caesar as a leading authority on them. After all, he lived with them, he walked among them.

Yeah, well, you know what they say about history: the victors usually write it. In Caesar’s case, here was a man that had one thing on his mind: Subjugation. He wanted to conquer everything north of Rome (and some would argue south of it too). Any good propaganda writer will tell you that the best way to do that is to demonize your enemy. In that day and age that meant turning your enemy into a drooling barbarian. Yes, that picture of the wicker man and human sacrifice kinda takes on a different meaning for me in light of that.

Whether or not the Celts really did these horrid things is going to be hard to prove. No matter how many scholars comb through the evidence, we’ll probably always argue it.

That aside, the Celts were no mere barbarian raiders (though they are famous for their cattle raids). These were the artisans who created beautiful shields and brooches in bronze, the men and women walked across Europe to finally settle in the British Isles. These are the peoples of the heroic age. Descriptions of the courageous qualities of their gods and heroes—Arthur, Owain, Lugus, the Morrigan, Scathatch, among many others—remain in the tales that even the scribes of the Common Era couldn’t muffle. And while a few of their stories might feature headless figures, the bulk of their tales talk about heroics the likes of which Perseus might be hard pressed to meet.

This heroic, artistic and noble side of this ancient people is what inspired me to set them into the story of PASSION’S SACRED DANCE. I just gave their druids (and warriors) a little more magic than the real life druids had. ;)

Would you like their story for yourself? Okay.

Blurb:

Battling mounting debt, Stacy Macken is determined not to lose her historic art gallery. When Aaron Fielding appears and offers to help, she fights to keep the attraction sizzling between them from clouding her judgment. He may be her savior in disguise--but can she trust him?

Aaron intrigues her with tales of the Tuatha dé Danann, sworn warriors who protect humanity from the monsters seeking their destruction. If Aaron can prove what he claims, she would give up anything to help--even the gallery he claims is sacred ground. But with her property set to stage the next epic battle, she needs answers. An old family diary will confirm the ancient legend is true, if only they can find it in time.

If the battle is lost, the enemy will take control of Earth for the next five hundred years. Stacy and Aaron's budding love might only complicate things.

Excerpt:

Stacy spied a few tattooed men and women gathered around a small table, discussing a class while slurping cups of coffee. One woman sitting with them had silvery gray eyes that shined like beacons. Hard to miss.

Stacy stared at her a moment longer, trying to figure out the nature of the color—real or fake?  Putting the woman’s eye color down to a set of extremely cool contacts, she smiled and gave the woman a jaunty salute then reached out for the empty glasses lining the next abandoned table.

When the hairs on the back of Stacy’s neck prickled, a quick glance over her shoulder confirmed the woman still watched her. Uncomfortable, Stacy strode to the far side of the café to escape the woman’s scrutiny. Something told her to look back.

The woman with the startling eyes stood right behind her, glaring. Her eyes glowed like quicksilver.

Creepy!

Miss Silver Eyes smelled of patchouli, musk, and some other strange scent Stacy couldn’t identify.

The woman leaned close to Stacy’s ear, and her voice sounded raspy when she spoke, “We will have this ground. This harshad time, Stacy Macken, the ground is ours, and they will never dance again.”

Harshad? How did she know about the harshad wars? Had the time truly come, then, already?

Stacy stared as impossibly long incisors slid down from the woman’s gums like snake fangs. Miss Silver Eyes clamped a hand around her upper arm. Shock pulsed through Stacy’s body, rooting her to the spot, despite her mind’s order to flee. The woman’s steely gaze, the ruby and shark’s tooth earring glittering in her right earlobe, and the dark threat mesmerized Stacy.

“No, you won’t have this ground.” A cool male voice brought the silver-eyed woman up short and the fog lifted from Stacy’s mind.

Aaron Fielding stood before her dressed in casual jeans and a gray, cable knit sweater. He seemed right at home here among the students, and yet somehow he also stood apart.

The air shifted. Stacy could have sworn his leather coat, for just an instant, took on the shape of a golden eagle’s wings.

A high-pitched whine scraped from the silver-eyed woman’s throat. She cocked her head as she took Aaron in, a bemused smile on her face as if she were privy to some private joke.

He retrieved an item from his coat. At first, Stacy thought the object might be a baton, then it changed shape and substance, wood to steel. The innocuous baton became a sword.

A hysterical laugh bubbled up inside her and Miss Silver Eyes tossed her aside. Stacy landed hard against a table and gasped at the pain. She rolled over, sitting upright, and pulled her knees to her chest.

Miss Silver Eyes threw a punch at Aaron. He sidestepped her fist and flicked the baton-sword-thing at her head.

“Now, wait!” Stacy jumped to her feet and caught the baton before it bashed the woman’s face in.

Aaron grasped her upraised hand, removed it from the baton, and thrust her behind him. “For your own good, don’t interfere.”

Miss Silver Eyes screamed. Steel glinted from her fists as she rushed headlong at Aaron.

He raised the weapon while muttering something in a foreign language.

Stacy squeezed her eyes shut, too frightened to move. Surely, the woman would knock them both to the floor. The impact she anticipated never came. Instead, an explosion of light split the air. Cringing and blinking in the brightness, she saw that the woman, hands outstretched, had gone utterly still.

Stacy frowned as she studied the woman, wondering what happened.

Aaron repositioned the weapon he carried and shoved it into a hidden pocket in his coat. “Stay back.”

He clasped a hand around Stacy’s wrist and pushed her a little further behind him. Or tried. She dug her heels in and didn’t move. Aaron frowned hard.

“For your own good, stay out of the way,” he said.

“Why should I?” Her heart beat a wicked tempo and panic skittered through her.

“If the spell breaks before I’m done you’ll regret it, trust me.”

If you’d like to read more, Passion’s Sacred Dance is available on Kindle from Amazon, and coming soon to other venues. I hope you’ll check it out and enjoy the magic! Thanks, Melissa for having me here today!

 Juli, Thanks so much for agreeing to be my guest! It's been great having you!

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. 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. Passion’s Sacred Dance is her first romance novel.

You can find out more about Juli D. Revezzo:
Website

Blog 

Like her on Facebook

Follow her on Author’s Den 

Google+

On Goodreads

Shelfari

On twitter: @julidrevezzo

Works cited: 
The Celts by Nora Chadwick

The Philosopher and the Druids: A Journey Among the Ancient Celts by Philip Freeman

Be sure to check back tomorrow for my review of PASSION'S SACRED DANCE.