Of Blood And Ink - New Short Story Available!

To all of you who have read the Morgana Trilogy, a short story set in that world is now available for free for all my newsletter subscribers (including its very own book cover, which was designed by yours truly)!

The semi-epistolary tale is set prior to the start of Blood of the Fey, and shows how Arthur discovered about Morgan--including her most dangerous secret--long before Morgan ever landed in Lake High!

Warning: Though I've tried my best to keep them as toned down as possible, there are some spoilers in there, in case you haven't read the trilogy yet would still like to read this short story.

Hope you enjoy it :)

The Ogham Alphabet

Those of you who have read the Morgana Trilogy know that I've been inspired by the Ogham Alphabet a lot (as well as Norse Runes), combining it with a key Fey feature to make it a central plot point in my stories.

So here's a little more on what the Ogham Alphabet is, historically-speaking:

• The word "Ogham" derives from the Irish god Ogman, the god of poetry and learning (who, like the god Thot in Ancient Egypt, was said to have created the alphabet)
• The alphabet is sometimes referred to as Beth Luis Nuin, after the original (Gaelic) first three letters of the Ogham Alphabet.
• They were carved singly, or in groups of up to five --> 20 different characters could be created.
• The basis of each letter is a vertical line and characters are lines branching to the left and right from it --> like a tree (the Ogham Tree)
• Because of this, letters were named after trees: Beth is birch, Luis is roan; and Nuin is ash.
• The whole alphabet is therefore considered like a forest.
• "Individual trees held high symbolic significance, so the forest alphabet was deemed to be a repository of wisdom. The word for 'knowledge' also means 'wood'."
• Inscriptions are read from the bottom up, the way a tree grows.

Of course, I used what I wanted from this (mostly using the term "ogham" along with Norse runes--the horror!), and then grouped each into different elemental categories. These, in turn, became the basis for calling out the basic Fey powers for the knights to use. My intention was to keep historical oghams for more complexe Fey beings, but that just didn't happen in this series...


Source:
The Element Encyclopedia of the Celts, by Rodney Castleden

Update On Curse Of The Fey - Morgana Trilogy

Hello everyone,

2018 is nearing its end. Already. At last.

This year has been fraught with trials, and I'm really hoping 2019 will be the start of a new, happier chapter! And it will start on a really great note, for the third and final installment in the Morgana Trilogy, Curse of the Fey, will finally become available (happy dance)!

And before it does because available, I'll be sharing a few chapters of the new book with you via my newsletter (starting in January), so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I would like to thank you for sticking with me these long years, and hope you have wonderful end-of-year holidays :)

 See you in Q1 2019!

Important Update:

April 2019

Hi everyone, just wanted to give you a quick update... I'd so hoped the next one would be THE ONE, but unfortunately life (and my terrible health) decided otherwise, even though I'm so very close! I just want you to know that the book is still moving along, just at a much statelier pace (either that or I completely break down again--a tough bargain for one as impatient as I am!).

Until then, I wish you all a beautiful springtime and great health!

~Alessa

Merlyn And Time

Now that I only have one book left in my Morgana Trilogy, I find myself reading more and more about Arthurian legends and mythology. That is how, while getting Blood of the Fey and Rise of the Fey to be "hosted" at Brussels' Waterstones (for those of you interested, I also did a quick interview with them), I fell quite providentially upon T. H. White's The Once And Future King.

Of course, I'm only just starting it, but its whimsy style (reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland) is definitely to my liking! So I figured I'd transcribe here a quote by Merlyn in which he explains his ability to see (and interact with) the future...

16th Century Timbuktu

Timbuctoo
Nicholas Belton /iStockphoto.com via npr

Am currently reading a little bit more about the history of Africa--a continent I know very little of, though my mother was born there.

Here's an interesting excerpt I just read from a letter written by Askia Muhammad al-Turi about the customs in his Songhai Empire (which don't quite jibe with him), in which he asks for help in fixing the "problems" he observed:

Among the people, there are some who claim knowledge of the supernatural through sand divining and the like, or through the disposition of the stars ... [while] some assert that they can write (talismans) to bring good fortune ... or to ward off bad fortune .... Some defraud in weights and measures...

One of their evil practices is the free mixing of men and women in the markets and streets and the failure of women to veil themselves ... [while] among the people of Jenne it is an established custom for a girl not to cover any part of her body as long as she remains a virgin ... and all the most beautiful girls walk about naked among people ...

So give us legal ruling concerning these people and their ilk, and may God Most High reward you.

(From The African Past, transl. by J.O. Hunwick)

Sand divining - a Dogon shaman "calling" a fox.
National Geographic

I don't know about you, but the historian and the fantasist in me are now itching to write a story that takes place in this setting... I love it that the cousins Gareth and Gauvain come from here--it's no wonder they're so great at EM!

Source:

The Heritage of World Civilizations

Season's Greetings Giveaway!

In anticipation of the Holiday Season

I've organized a new giveaway

For everyone must have a reason

To be merry. Enjoy Blood of the Fey!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Blood of the Fey

by Alessa Ellefson

Giveaway ends December 01, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Blood Of The Fey - Morgana Trilogy Book I

In early celebration of Labor Day weekend (since I will be spending the weekend working on my book instead), Blood of the Fey is now $3.99 on Amazon Kindle until the end of the year!

The Kirkus Review for my book's out:

The first of an intended trilogy inspired by Arthurian legend, this ambitious, imaginative debut novel intertwines fallen angels, dark magic, modern-day threats and teenage angst.

After the suspicious death of a classmate, teenage loner Morgan Pendragon is sent away in disgrace from the Swiss Catholic boarding school where she has spent most of her life. She’s sent to the home in Wisconsin she has never seen, to parents—a mother and stepfather—who never visited. The only friendly face belongs to the family’s elegant, mute lawyer, who’s drawn with enigmatic finesse. The unhappy teen learns that she’s to attend school with Arthur, the half brother she recently met for the first time. The school, it turns out, is located in a secret land directly beneath Lake Winnebago. It houses a training ground for modern-day Knights of the Round Table, aka KORT, young warriors-to-be who battle against Earth-dwelling fallen angels—the Fey—who have long been at war with humankind. The KORT students learn weaponry, combat and the ability to call upon elemental magic, while a Catholic priest oversees their spiritual needs. (Religious faith is an intriguing if sketchy element here; how it develops over the next two novels in the trilogy remains to be seen.) Bullied by students suspicious of her ignorance of the world they’ve known since birth, Morgan begins to question their zealous desire for all-out destruction of the Fey, even as she puzzles out the possibility that the world might be weakening against the worst of the magical evils. While Morgan struggles to find a place in her new world and wonders about the mystery of the father she never knew, she begins to realize that not everyone is what they seem—herself included. Ellefson keeps readers guessing and juggles imaginative twists, placing her heroine under an increasing threat that escalates to a suspenseful ending guaranteed to leave readers hungry for the next installment.

A creative, well-crafted narrative filled with colorful characters, a conflicted heroine and a multifaceted plot.

La Belle Dame Sans Merci

Here is a nice poem by John Keats regarding knights and faeries, a perfect accompaniment (and one much better expressed) to Blood of the Fey.

O WHAT can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms!
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel's granary is full,
And the harvest's done.

I see a lily on they brow
With anguish moist and fever dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.



I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful--a faery's child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.

I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look'd at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.

I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery's song.

She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew,
And sure in language strange she said--
"I love thee true."

She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept, and sigh'd fill sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.

And there she lulled me asleep,
And there I dream'd--Ah! woe betide!
The latest dream I ever dream'd
On the cold hill's side.

I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried--"La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!"

I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill's side.






And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.

Behind The Scenes: Evolution Of A Book Cover

OK, I admit it, I’m a shallow girl. If I haven’t been recommended a book, I won’t buy a new one unless its cover intrigues me and sparks my imagination before I even pick it up!

So when I set out on this book publishing venture, I knew that I’d want to have the most beautiful book cover possible.  So I turned to my favorite book cover artist, Sammy Yuen, for help. I’d loved his work for the cover of Incarceron, and even more so for Leviathan. 

Once upon a December day, I plucked up the courage to send him a letter with my request and I was most excited when he agreed to work with me (really, I was jumping up and down which, in an office environment, is somewhat frowned upon).

I was sent a very detailed questionnaire, in which I explained (amongst other things) how I’d envisioned my own book cover.  Something a little like this:

Oh how glad was I that I’d found Sammy and that he’d agreed to work with me when he sent me his first drafts!  The original image he had, based on my descriptions, was the following:

As you can see, it already looked tons better than my version.  But Sammy didn’t stop just there, he let his imagination flow and came up with another version:

Genius! I hadn’t even thought of the wings at all, but they were very representative of my trilogy, and elevated the cover to a whole other level!

The third cover Sammy Sent me was a softer version of the second one, so it wouldn’t have a “horror” feel to it… and I totally fell in love:

After that, all I needed were a few alterations:  change the Celtic knot into a Celtic cross (to match the Knights of the Round Table’s school insignia), give the wings a somewhat “fallen angel” look, use the fonts used on the first cover, and

TADAAAAAA!!!  The most beautiful of covers ever was born!

And that’s how the cover for Blood of the Fey was created.  Thank you, Sammy, for your amazing work!

PS:

More of Sammy’s portfolio may be found on his website!

Goodreads Giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Blood of the Fey

by Alessa Ellefson

Giveaway ends June 01, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

For any interested, I'm giving away 5 signed copies of Blood of the Fey, the first in the Morgana Trilogy, along with 5 bookmarks. The giveaway ends June 1, 2013 (at midnight, at which point the giveaway turns back into a pumpkin!).

PS: the giveaway is available to people in the US, CA, GB and AU.

Arthur, Merlin & The Faerie Queene

Faire virgin (said the Prince) ye me require

A thing without the compass of my wit:

For both the lignage and the certain Sire,

From which I sprong, from me are hidden yit.

Thither the great Magicien Merlin came

As was his use, ofttimes to vist me:

For he had charge my discipline to frame,

And Tutours mouriture to ouersee.

Him oft and oft I askt in priuitie,

Of what loines and what lignage I did spring:

Whose aunswere bad me still assued bee,

That I was sonne and heire unto a king,

As time in her iust terme the truth to light should bring.

Well worthy impe, said the Lady gent,

And Pupill fit for such a Tutours hand.

But what aduenture, or what high intent

Hath brought you hither into Faery land,

Area Prince Arthur, crowne of Martiall band?

~Edmund Spencer, The Faerie Queen

The Ogham Alphabet

Ogham runes

Pronounced “Owe ‘em,” they are “groups of horizontal and diagonal lines carved on the vertical edge of a stone or piece of wood.”  They appear at first around the 4^th century, when the Roman alphabet was introduced to the Irish.  Later, settlers from the land of Eyre took it over to Britain.

However, according to certain myths, the ogham were created right after the fall of the Tower of Babel by the legendary Scythian king Fenius Farsa who gave the 25 letters the names of his best scholars.

Either way, they are to the Irish what runes are to the Norse (the most popular of which is known as the furthark).

PS:  technically, the letters themselves should be called Beith-Luis-Nin (kinda like how our alphabet’s name comes its two first letters, alpha and beta), but it’s such a mouthful, don’t you think?

A Futhark runic riddle

Sources:

The World of King Arthur

Wikipedia  - Ogham
Wikipedia - Runes

The Birth of King Arthur

Merlin and the Child Arthur, Illustration by Gustave Doré

And then the two

Dropt to the cove, and watch'd the great sea fall,

Wave after wave, each mightier than the last,

Till last, a ninth one, gathering half of the deep

And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged

Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame;

And down the wave and in the flame was brone

A naked babe, and rode to Merlin's feet,

Who stoopt and caught the baby, and cried, 'The King!

Here is an heir for Uther!'

Alfred Tennyson, 'The Coming of Arthur[ (Idylls of the King)

That's certainly an interesting telling of the mythical king's birth!  But going by his description, doesn't it make one wonder who his real parents were then?  Cause this certainly doesn't sound like a traditional human birthing scene... Any suggestions?