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

Plants And The Fey Folk

As is taught in Miss Linette Pelletier's Botanics class (1), there is a very tight-knit relationship between the flora and the Fey. Transcribing the teacher's notes would take too long here, but I can give you a brief look at a couple of Morgan's notes (in no specific order besides alphabetical):

• Four-Leafed Clover: To use to see the Fey folk when they are trying to make themselves invisible to you (by manipulating the electromagnetic field and light around them--it's not like they do become invisible).
• Lily of the Valley: To be avoided at all costs for the Fey use this flower to entice the unwary. But its sweet scent is but a disguise for the poison that lies beneath it and is sure to kill you within three days.
• Saint John's Wort: Excellent Fey-repellent, though doesn't work against the higher-order Sidhe (but it may give the a rash or make them prone to intense sneezing bouts).
• Water Lily: may help reduce or even heal a particular sickness given to you by the Fey folk that turns one to stone (aka paralyzes them completely). To be used with moderation, or you may find your body melting off your bones instead.

As you, I'm sure, in no way doubt, there are many other plants which can be just as dangerous, while others prove to be very useful or even beneficial. It is why Miss Pelletier works so closely with Dr. Cockleburr, the later being always in search of the latest anti-poisons and other remedies against the Fey and their enchantments.

The best would be, of course, to avoid the Fey altogether (they are fickle by nature and quite resentful of our having taken the Earth back from their control, so are prone to helping us find our demise...as long as there is no knight around, of course). So should you see any flowers that presage their presence (1), simply turn around and walk back the way you came from. Better be safe than sorry, right?

Notes:
(1) See Rise of the Fey

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...

Rise Of The Fey Errata

For those of you who have the first edition of Rise of the Fey (aka purchased prior to May 15, 2015), then chances are you've noticed a few *ahem* missing words or some such silly typos. A thousand apologies.

Therefore, I've created the following errata for you, along with a picture of Puck. Those of you who write me prior to June 15, 2015 with a proof of purchase (including the date thereof), will get a free card with both of these on it! And that counts for both the Kindle and the hard copy versions :)

Rise Of The Fey Finally Available!

Ladies and gents,

After a very long and arduous journey, I am pleased to present to you my latest book, Rise of the Fey.
I apologize for the long wait, but I hope that you'll find this book just as fun as the first!

Enjoy :)

Rise of the Fey (Morgana Trilogy) (Volume 2)

Last Giveaway Of The Season - Rise Of The Fey

Hello everyone! Hope you've all had a great first of April, without becoming the butt of too many jokes :)

Here's one that isn't a joke: I'm having a giveaway on Goodreads to celebrate the publication of the second book in the Morgana Trilogy - Rise of the Fey. Available until the end of the month.

Have a great day!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Rise of the Fey

by Alessa Ellefson

Giveaway ends May 01, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

A Few Notes On Progress

One of the (many) things that has (unfortunately) slowed down my progress with Rise of the Fey is my desire to write better than I did in my first book, and my fear of failing to do so.

But then I try to remember that one thing I've always enjoyed when watching shows or reading comics/manga is seeing the progress in the art over time. Hopefully, people will be able to see that same progress with my work as well...

Here are a few examples:

Mickey Mouse at his very beginning (and I believe I spot a Minnie as well!)

The Simpson family may not have aged over the years, but their style has.

Here is Snoopy over the years--he never lost his smile!

The original Smurf drawing (their hats have gotten a little rounder over time).

I hope this inspires you to keep working towards your goals and not give up, for you see, no one starts "perfect." :)

The Faery Folk

While in the midst of my research, I've stumbled upon this evocative poem which I reminded me, in some respects of a passage I wrote in Rise of the Fey. The question I asked myself while reading this tale, however, is what can such enchanting music hide? What if the children are to the faeries what the rats were to the Pied Piper of Hamelin? And what happens once the music stops--do the children get to go back to their homes, or do they wake up instead to a living nightmare?

The stuff that dreams are made of
by John Anster Fitzgerald

The Dream of the Children

The children awoke in their dreaming
While earth lay dewy and still:
They followed the rill in its gleaming
To the heart-light of the hill.

Its sounds and sights were forsaking
The world as they faded in sleep,
When they heard a music breaking
Out from the heart-light deep.

It ran where the rill in its flowing 
Under the star-light gay
With wonderful colour was glowing
Like the bubbles they blew in their play.

From the misty mountain under
Shot gleams of an opal star:
Its pathways of rainbow wonder
Rayed to their feet from afar.

From their feet as they strayed in the meadow
It led through caverned aisles,
Filled with purple and green light and shadow
For mystic miles on miles.

The children were glad; it was lonely
To play on the hill-side by day.
"But now," they said, "we have only
To go where the good people stray."

For all the hill-side was haunted
By the faery folk come again;
And down in the heart-light enchanted
Were opal-coloured men.

They moved like kings unattended
Without a squire or dame,
But they wore tiaras splendid 
With feathers of starlight flame.

They laughed at the children over
And called them into the heart:
"Come down here, each sleepless rover:
We will show you some of our art."

And down through the cool of the mountain
The children sank at the call,
And stood in a blazing fountain
And never a mountain at all.

The lights were coming and going
In many a shining strand,
For the opal fire-kings were blowing
The darkness out of the land.

This golden breath was a madness
To set a poet on fire,
And this was a cure for sadness,
And that the ease of desire.

And all night long over Eri
They fought with the wand of light
And love that never grew weary
The evil things of night.

They said, as dawn glimmered hoary,
"We will show yourselves for an hour;"
And the children were changed to a glory
By the beautiful magic of power.

The fire-kings smiled on their faces
And called them by olden names,
Till they towered like the starry races
All plumed with the twilight flames.

They talked for a while together,
How the toil of ages oppressed;
And of how they best could weather
The ship of the world to its rest.

The dawn in the room was straying:
The children began to blink,
When they heard a far voice saying,
"You can grow like that if you think!"

The sun came in yellow and gay light:
They tumbled out of the cot,
And half of the dream went with daylight
And half was never forgot.

~George William Russell, July 15, 1896

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

Life Without Lights

What would happen should the world revert to its untainted origins?  Those demons the Fey would like nothing better than to bring us back to them.  In the meantime, artist Thierry Cohen shows us what it would be like...  and could it really be that bad?

New York

Rio de Janeiro

Tokyo

Paris