Cate:
Please welcome Hywela Lyn to my special Halloween celebration. Lyn, please tell
us a little bit about yourself.
LYN:
Hi Cate, thanks so much for inviting me to be part of your Halloween
celebration. Hmm let’s see. I’m a UK author of futuristic and fantasy romance. I’m
Welsh, although I’ve lived in a small village in England since I married my
husband, Dave. I write as ‘Hywela Lyn’ but I’ve always been known by my second
Christian name, Lyn. I love the outdoors and the countryside, all animals,
especially horses and dogs and despite being a Brit, I love Western riding. The
beautiful and wild landscapes of my native Wales, as well as its wealth of
myths and legends, inspired much of my writing. I love writing about strong
heroines who are not afraid to retain their femininity and heroes with an air
of mystery about them. I usually manage to squeeze a horse or some cute alien
critter into all my stories.
I
have two novels published with The Wild Rose Press, ‘Starquest’ and ‘Children
Of The Mist’. I’m currently finishing my revisions of the long overdue third
story in the series.
Cate: What
do you love most about Halloween?
LYN:
The fun of seeing the little ones all dressed up and excited, and scary stories
being told on the internet!
Cate:
The kids are adorable. :) Do you have a favorite memory of a Halloween past?
LYN:
We didn’t do much for Halloween when I was a kid, it’s only in recent years
that Halloween has really taken off in the UK, but we did dress up and go Trick
or Treating, although it wasn’t really much of a big deal then. In recently years
though, I became friendly with the late Sharon Donovan. She loved Halloween so
much and having lost her sight through Diabetes, she asked me to decorate her
blog for Halloween. I loved doing this
and Halloween always reminds me of the on-line fun we had together. My only
regret is that we never managed to meet up, since she passed away before I
could visit, although I did travel to the US and met her parents, along with
Mary Ricksen, who was also a close friend of Sharon. Sharon sent me a lovely
gold ‘Cleopatra’ masquerade mask and I wear it every Halloween in her honour.
Cate: Sharon was such a sweetie. *sniff* We all miss her.
Have you ever had an unusual experience you couldn’t explain?
LYN:
Funny you should say that. There is an
old mansion in Wales called Gregynnog.
It’s a beautiful old Elizabethan
house with extensive grounds. The
University of Wales in Aberystwyth frequently held writing weekends there and
during one of these a friend and I were walking in the grounds; I took some
photographs of him and he took some of me, standing by a large sculpture of a
hand (the sculpture seemed a little weird and out of place in the formal
gardens but the students had thought it a good idea.) When the pictures were
printed, those of my friend were just a normal picture of someone standing by
the statue, with a blue sky and shrubbery behind – but one of me looked as if a
mist had come swirling down behind me – and in the shrubbery was the shadowy
form of a lady in a long, flowing dress.
Not everyone could see it but to those that could see it, it was quite
clear. I found out that the mansion was
supposedly haunted by the ghost of a lady who had owned it but whose family had
fallen on hard times several hundred
years previously and had to leave. Apparently she was so sad at losing her
home, she came back to haunt it after her death. I think that’s rather sad, and I have to say
I did feel a ‘presence’ in the house but it was a warm, welcoming one. Not all ghosts are scary!
Cate:
Love that! I so would love to visit Wales. :) What frightens you the most?
LYN:
Complete darkness. I have too vivid an imagination!
Cate:
Ever gone on a ghost tour? Or ghost hunting on your own?
LYN: No, unfortunately, although I’d like to. The
nearest I’ve got was visiting the underground passages in Exeter – although the
stables of another reputedly haunted house, Nanteos, where I used to keep my
horses, used to resound with the sound of an unearthly screeching late at
night. One of the other horse owners, who lived in a flat above the stables,
said it was the sound of ‘souls of the damned in torment’. It turned out the
unearthly banshee wailing was screech owls, but it was quite unnerving if you
didn’t know that!
Cate:
I can imagine, lol. Tell us about your latest release, and where readers can find it online.
LYN:
I don’t have a recent release at the moment, unfortunately (I’m still working
on that) but I have self-published the story I wrote for ‘The Song Of The Muses’
series, having had my rights back, and one of my favourite excerpts is based on
an ancient Welsh legend of demons known as the ‘Ellidan’ who lured unwary
wanderers into the bog, to their doom.
Cate:
Very cool! Care to share a blurb or excerpt?
LYN:
Here’s the excerpt from ‘Dancing With Fate, which I mentioned above:
EXCERPT
The
sparks of light appeared a few hours before dawn. Terpsichore looked across to
where she could just make out Myrddin, lying close to the fire, apparently
asleep. She stood and wrapped her brat around her shoulders. What unearthly
lights were these? In the name of Hades, she had never seen anything like this
before. She watched them, swooping and dancing. They seemed to beckon to her.
She walked forward a few steps. This was not natural. She sensed evil, but of a
kind she had never come across before.
She
tried to turn her head, to look away and move back to the fire. Some force
compelled her to keep staring at them, to move forward. Further and further
from the campfire she wandered. The air grew chill and she pulled her brat more closely around her. The
flickering lights gyrated in a wild dance, inviting her to follow them. Dawn
was approaching. In the dim early morning light, she could make out demon
faces, red glowing eyes, hands outstretched, with flames at their fingertips.
She
recoiled in horror. Somewhere in her subconscious, she knew she was in deadly
danger, but still she moved forward. They summoned her to follow and she could
not help but obey. She tried to call to Apollo, and her father, but her mind
was numb. She could reach no one on Olympus.
"Myrddin!"
No sound came from her lips. Still, a strange unearthly power obliged her to
walk forward toward those eerie, mesmerizing points of light.
The
ground grew soft beneath her feet. Cold mud oozed between her bare toes. The
further she walked, the deeper the mud became; eventually, she realized she was
up to her waist in chill, muddy water, and she was powerless to turn back, or
even to move any more.
Zeus, oh, Father,
please help me...don't desert me now.
For
the first time in her eternal life, she knew fear. These creatures of nameless
evil had her trapped. They would drag her down to the underworld and she would
never see Olympus or her family again.
Then
strong arms encircled her, swung her round.
"Cora,
look at me." She gazed into two pools of azure blue, filled with concern,
and a pale face set in resolve. Still she had an irresistible urge to look at
those weird, flickering lights. She turned her head, and at the same moment,
there was a flash like lightning. The ground behind her burst into a wall of
blue flame. It blotted out everything, engulfing the demonic lights and the
hideous forms that a moment before had lured her onward.
"Look
at me. Look at me...don't look back again."
Before
she could reply, he swept her up and carried her back toward the campfire.
Eos
in her chariot had started her journey across the sky and the pearly light
showed their camp and the two horses grazing nearby. Never had anything looked
so welcome. Never had Terpsichore felt so safe in a man's arms.
He set her down, near the
fire, and wrapped his own brat around her. He wore only his truis, and was
bare-chested. "You're trembling, you'll catch your death of cold...but
that would be better than the fate which almost befell you."
Cate:
Gorgeous cover. :) What inspired you to write about the theme?
LYN:
I love writing fantasy, although my previously published books and the one I am
currently working on, are Romantic Science Fiction, albeit, with a touch of
Fantasy. When I first thought about collaborating in the ‘Song Of The Muses’
series, I was intrigued by the idea of sending a Greek muse to 5th
century Wales, and gradually I began to weave in elements of Welsh mythology
and the Arthurian legends. The research was such fun and I got quite attached
to the characters, despite the otherworldly ordeals I put them through!
Thank
you for having me on your beautiful blog, Cate, and I hope you and your readers
have a very happy spooky Halloween!
I’ll
get the Random Generator to pick the writer of one comment and the winner can
choose a download of any of my books.
Cate:
Very cool! Readers, don't forget to leave your email address. :)
Thanks so much for partying with us, Lyn! Hope you have a spooktacular
Halloween!
