Slaying Some Dragons

[If you’d prefer to watch a video version of this blog, visit my YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/uJBkk6BjE6U or watch at the bottom of this blog.]

Heroes in real life as well as in fiction encounter a variety of dragons they must slay. Some are internal, some external, and some require them to leave their families behind in order to experience the journey toward their ultimate purpose or mission.

Homer Hickam is a West Virginia coal miner’s son. His father, his extended family and his community expected him to follow his father’s path and vocation into the coal mines. His memoir, Rocket Boys, tells of his father’s adamant opposition to Homer’s obsession with rocketry after the first Sputnik launch. While other teens were preparing for a life underground, he was experimenting with propulsion even though his father, a mine superintendent, was a constant reminder that his life seemed predestined for the harsh life of a coal miner.

In order for Homer to fulfill his true destiny, he had to break free of the invisible constraints of his environment. Instinctively, he put together a team of adults and fellow students that shared a belief in him and his ideas. Failing miserably at first with cherry bomb rockets, he refused to give up, eventually designing a rocket known as Auk XXXI that propelled 31,000 feet in altitude and going on to win a Gold Medal at the 1960 National Science Fair.

He left home, as so many heroes must do, first to attend Virginia Tech for a degree in Industrial Engineering, and then to join the military, eventually winding up in Huntsville, Alabama with the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command. His fascination and expertise in rocketry and space led him to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where he worked on the Hubble Space Telescope deployment mission, trained crews for a number of Space Shuttle and Spacelab missions, and even worked on the International Space Station Program.

Homer, like every hero, discovers people in his community that are supportive of his ideas, providing advice and guidance. In fiction, often these are sages that may never leave home themselves; from the rather mundane life of a school teacher in coal country to unadorned, sometimes drab homes of an oracle or philosopher. Sometimes these individuals open the hero’s eyes to a life he could not otherwise have imagined. Other times, they open the hero’s eyes to his own internal capabilities and talents.

Sometimes the hero is able to perform his mission without ever leaving his community, but most often they find themselves on a journey that takes them far from home. In Checkmate: Clans and Castles, my ancestor William Neely leaves his home in Scotland to seek his fortune and his fate in Ulster. That move would set off a chain of events not only for himself but also for his descendants, eventually leading his great-grandchildren to immigrate to America. One descendant, another William Neely, would be one of the first to settle Fort Nashborough, clearing the area of trees around the fort so unfriendly Indian tribes could be spotted earlier. William would die in a Shawnee attack, his daughter Mary captured and held as a slave for three years before managing to escape.

In each of their lives, they followed the hero’s journey: William Neely of 1608 venturing away from all he had ever known to follow his destiny in Ireland; William Neely of 1779 moving his cattle westward, his family following on their own fateful river journey that would change their lives forever (River Passage); and Mary Neely’s capture, captivity and escape in which she had to find the hero within herself not only to persevere and survive but eventually to triumph over her captors (Songbirds are Free).

Books show us what is possible in our lives even when we are surrounded by people insisting on us living mediocre lives. They open the door to different worlds, various cultures, bygone eras and always, always the hero. And in the end, they show us that in each of us lives a hero; in each of us lives a mission and a purpose that not only propels us forward but reaches back to offer a hand to those behind us, lighting the way. And with each one that follows, the trail becomes wider, the dragons sparser, the journey easier.

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Music Inspiring Scenes

A full-length novel often contains a variety of scenes and emotions and to make the transition, I often turn to music for inspiration. For example, Clans and Castles contain adventure, suspense, romance, heartbreak and battle scenes. Here are a few of the songs that have inspired the moods; you’ll notice they are often set against film, which I also turn to for inspiration because I am a very visual person. I will often analyze scenes right down to the colors used and the most detailed props.

Ghostly romance: Song: Wherever You Will Go by Alex Band; Film: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

Romance: Song: Wings by Birdy; Film: The Musketeers (BBC)

Suspense: Song: Extreme Ways by Moby; Films: The Jason Bourne Series

William Neely’s Irish Adventure: Song: Pilgrim by Enya

Sadness: Song: Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton (written after the accidental death of his four-year-old son, Conor)

Are there songs that mean a lot to you? Please share them and the emotions they evoke!

p.m.terrell is the internationally acclaimed author of more than 21 books, including the award-winning River Passage, award-winning series Black Swamp Mysteries and award-winning Ryan O’Clery Mystery Series. Her latest, Clans and Castles, has been nominated for four awards. She is the Founder of Book ‘Em North Carolina Writers Conference and Book Fair and the Founder of The Novel Business. She has been a full-time author since 2002. Prior to that, she founded and operated two computer companies in the Washington, DC area with specialties in defense and intelligence. Her clients included the CIA, Secret Service and Department of Defense. For more information, visit www.pmterrell.com.

The Ghost of Burt Castle

Burt Castle was built during the 16^th century in Ulster at the southern edge of the Inishowen Peninsula. Inishowen had been in the hands of the O’Doherty Clan for more than a thousand years and Burt Castle was only one of several castles that dotted the peninsula. It has seen its share of conflicts, intrigue… and murder. And throughout the centuries there have been numerous ghostly sightings, even today among the ruins.

Here is how I describe the castle in Clans and Castles, the first book in the historical Checkmate series—then keep reading for the stories behind the ghostly sightings:

Burt Castle rested at the southern edge of the Inishowen Peninsula like a silent sentinel keeping watch over the O’Doherty landholdings. It was constructed during the reign of Henry VIII and was considered a more contemporary style than earlier Irish castles. Built of the same limestone and rock that was found in abundance throughout Ulster, it rose three stories above the ground and at two of its four corners stood towers that reached another two stories before giving way to parapets that afforded a spectacular view of the Irish countryside—and even Derry, which was a only a few miles away.

Each wall was between four and five feet thick, the towers dotted with perforations for dozens of harkbus, along with larger openings for cannons.

There were two more stories below ground, comprised of dungeons, an armory and soldiers’ barracks and offices, eventually giving way to a stone wall that surrounded the castle and grounds, which was in turn encircled by a mote. With Ireland’s violent history of invasion ranging from the Vikings and Normans to the Spaniards and English—not to mention battles between clans—it was a formidable fortress built to withstand assault.

During the 16^th century when Burt Castle one of the O’Doherty men seduced a young girl from the neighboring area—quite possibly Derry, which was only a short distance away. The lovers met as lovers do, and the girl gave up her heart and her body to the nobleman. Soon after, she discovered she was pregnant but when she informed her lover, he absolved himself from all responsibility.

She wanted marriage and all it meant for her unborn child: legitimacy, protection and a place in the O’Doherty clan. When he refused to marry her and turned his back on her, she became increasingly distraught. Over the preceding century, Ireland had turned from its original pagan religions to Catholicism and a bastard child would create a lifetime of hell for both the mother and the child.

So on one night as the moon shone full and bright, she walked along the shore of the Lough Swilly, eventually wading in and drowning herself and her unborn child in its frigid waters.

Her father made a vow to avenge his daughter’s death and her undoing by the O’Doherty kinsman and he discovered through workers at Burt Castle exactly where her lover slept: in the vaulted, mural chamber on the first floor near the southwest tower. On one dark, lonely night when the clouds roiled and tumbled overhead, he tricked his way into the castle at the southwest tower and climbed from the ground floor to the first elevated story by way of the spiraled turnpike staircase and into the lover’s chamber where he slept.

There, the father withdrew his long knife, sharpened for the occasion of avenging his daughter’s death, and stabbed the O’Doherty kinsman repeatedly. To ensure that he was beyond resuscitation, he then dragged his body to the narrow window. Pushing it through, he tried to aim it for the craggy rocks at the base of the castle but it fell instead on a patch of grass close to the cold stone wall.

From that time forward, each time the moon is full, the ghost of a young girl is seen walking the shoreline of the Lough Swilly, her distraught wails caught on the winds and carried for miles, only fading when the figure wades into the water and disappears under the waves.

And on those nights, the swans rise up from their positions along the banks and fly to Burt Castle, where they begin wailing at the base of the old southwest tower where her lover was plunged to his death, a patch that even today grass will not grow…

Burt Castle figures prominently in Clans and Castles, the first book in the Checkmate series, and is haunted by more than one ghost… The book is a three-time award nominee: 2018 International Book Awards, 2017 USA Best Book Awards and 2017 Readers Choice Awards. Click here to read more and purchase the book with a free autograph or buy from amazon. It is also available in all fine bookstores around the world.

 

p.m.terrell is the internationally acclaimed author of more than 21 books, including the award-winning River Passage, award-winning series Black Swamp Mysteries and award-winning Ryan O’Clery Mystery Series. She is the Founder of Book ‘Em North Carolina Writers Conference and Book Fair and the Founder of The Novel Business. She has been a full-time author since 2002. Prior to that, she founded and operated two computer companies in the Washington, DC area with specialties in defense and intelligence. Her clients included the CIA, Secret Service and Department of Defense. For more information, visit www.pmterrell.com.

When History Inspires

A television series has inspired me to write another book based on my ancestors. I've become addicted to AMC's series TURN, based on the book Washington's Spies by Alexander Rose. When I fall in love with a book, a movie, a play or a television series, I always analyze it to discover what drew me in and kept me captivated. As I analyzed this show with its true story of America's first spy ring, the Culper Ring, Benedict Arnold's betrayal and all the characters that fought on both sides of the Revolutionary War, I began to consider writing another book about my own ancestors and their roles in the founding of America.

My most popular book continues to be Songbirds are Free, based on the true story of Mary Neely, who was captured by Shawnee warriors in 1780 near Fort Nashborough, now Nashville, Tennessee. And River Passage, based on the true story of the Neely family's journey westward with Donelson in 1779-1780, is an award-winning book.

Neely Family Cemetery in Ballygawley, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland

I have been interested for a long time about writing another book based on the Neely family, and when I journeyed to Ballygawley, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, I began research on three brothers who left their home to make their fortunes in America. The year was 1720, and I found it fascinating that these brothers would leave everything they had ever known, travel for two months across the Atlantic Ocean, to a country they knew little about. Language, culture, and unrest under England's heavy colonial hand would be only a few of the obstacles they would need to overcome.

The Neely brothers were Ulster Irish, or Scot-Irish, their grandfather having come to Ballygawley from Scotland when he was granted lands in County Tyrone as reward for fighting on behalf of the King of England at Londonderry. Though technically, they were originally from Ireland, as they had lived in County Tyrone in the 16th century but lost their lands there when they fell out of favor with another monarchy.

Taken from the Bridge into Ballygawley, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland

In 1720, the brothers could have remained in a large home with servants and land holdings, but they gave it all up to travel to America.

I learned that one brother became a very successful owner of a fleet of ships that carried goods back and forth from Londonderry to York City (now New York). He also carried native Irish who were fleeing the poverty of their homeland. Though my ancestors were Protestant, they were known for their empathy toward the native Catholic population, and they had even donated land for the Catholic Church and Catholic School, so it seemed completely in character that he would take them to a new land where they could escape the restrictions imposed upon them in Ireland.

Another brother became a merchant and pub owner in York City, but he doesn't seem to have been cut from the same cloth. Racist and cruel, he drank himself to death at the age of 35.

The third brother was my great-grandfather several generations back; he would become a successful merchant and gentleman farmer, living first in Philadelphia and later in Virginia. It would be his granddaughter Mary who traveled to Fort Nashborough at the height of the Chickamauga Indian Wars, only to be captured and kept as a slave for three years by the Shawnee.

My goal is to complete this book by the end of the year. It will be considered creative nonfiction, because it is inspired by the three brothers but to make it interesting and vibrant, there are liberties taken regarding romance, suspense, intrigue - and the quest for the American Dream. Stay tuned - I'll be announcing it here when the book is scheduled for publication! [At right: Songbirds are Free, my most popular book, about Mary Neely's capture, captivity, escape and journey home in a war-torn country.]

p.m.terrell is the internationally critically acclaimed, award-winning author of more than 20 books in several genres. Visit her website at www.pmterrell.com to download free chapters of each of her books, watch the book trailers, and find out more about her writing.

The White Devil of Dublin now in Audio Book!

The White Devil of Dublin is now in audio book, narrated by the same brilliant actor who narrated the first book in the series, The Tempest Murders. Jack Nolan makes Ryan O'Clery and The White Devil come alive. If you'd like to listen to the first chapter, follow this link to amazon, where a sample is available. The audio book is available for purchase on amazon, Audible, iTunes, and at other retailers.

If you enjoy the hit television series Vikings as much as I have, you'll enjoy The White Devil of Dublin. The action moves between present-day North Carolina and 800 years in the past, on the eve of the Norman invasion of Dublin. Detective Ryan O'Clery agrees to meet a noted historian claiming to have discovered information about his ancestors, but when he arrives he

finds her murdered and her computer stolen. His investigation will lead him back to 12th century Ireland, to a time of Viking invaders and conquests, to an albino known as The White Devil, and to a secret his family kept hidden for more than eight hundred years. It will also bring him face to face with a serial killer intent on finishing the job he started.

I unexpectedly fell in love with The White Devil while writing this book. And from the fan mail I've received, many of my readers did as well. They laughed, they cried, they fell in love and they suffered alongside The White Devil and the woman he loves... And they were brought forward into the present day to an albino Ryan thought was dead but who is not only alive but is plotting his revenge.