Debut Author Sheryl Brennan

Hi, Sheryl. Welcome to the thap gump!


Hi Joan! Thanks for having me. I love what you've done to the lair.


Thanks. It took quite a while to clean up after Aunty's party
:-) Tell us about your debut title "Celtic Sacrifice."


Celtic Sacrifice is a historical romance set in 16th century Ireland during the last years of the English/Irish Nine Years War. The story follows the life of the heroine, Ceana O'Hagan, from her mystically foretold birth to adulthood.



After spending the past eighteen years of her life without tuteledge in the ancient Celtic druidic arts, elders from her dead mother’s clan of O’Connor come to claim Ceana on her eighteenth birthday. After meeting the long lost materiarchal side of her family, she believes her destiny is clear: to marry Cian O’Connor, become a druid priestess, and restore the mystic powers of a long-lost ancestor.



However, during her training the path becomes muddy. A mysterious stranger captures Ceana’s heart as well as her body, setting an alternate course of events into motion. Dangling within the chasms of religion, duty, and newly discovered emotions, Ceana must decide if she will forsake her tribal obligations to be with Cian or will give up her country, religion, and culture becoming the Celtic Sacrifice the English crown craves.

Celtic Sacrifice sounds fantastic, Sheryl. A really fresh approach. What drew you to write in this time period/setting?

Thanks Joan! I have always been interested in the Renaissance time period and was a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism for a short while. They taught me how to fight with rapier and dagger :)

I knew I wanted to write something in the Renaissance era, but the Elizabethan period is so overused as a setting I knew I needed to find some obscure piece of history within it to keep the reader’s attention. Somehow, call it a higher power, my muse, or whatever else you subscribe to, I hit upon the Nine Years War. I checked around and discovered that only a slight few authors have used that political setting as their backdrop, so I ran with it. The more research I did, the more interested I became. The most interesting facet of my research was the discovery of the Chair of Tullaghoge and the part it played in ending the war. I’d love to expound upon my findings, but don’t want to give away any spoilers to the story.



I say hooray for diversity in time periods. Any challenges submitting and marketing a different period?

One of the main challenges to submitting and marketing has more to do with the ethnicity than time period. Right now, Highlanders and Limees are the trend. One of the worst rejection letters I got read like this:

Dear Ms. Brennan,

We thought your story was intriguing and well written with colorful characters. The world you built transported us to a different time and place. However, it is our opinion that English settings sell better than Irish ones. Should you have another story set in Scotland or England, please do think of us again.

Sincerely,

Blah Blah
Editor in Chief

Come on now. If you thought it was that good, then why let the fact that it takes place in Ireland keep you from offering a contract for it. Tisk Tisk. Oh well, one editor's loss is another publisher's gain.

Tell us more about the Society.

The Society for Creative Anachronism is an International organization dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe. One of its more prominant characteristics is encouraging its members to choose a persona to research and re-enact that entities life during SCA sponsored events.

My "alter-ego" was a welsh girl by the name of Ceridwen verch Moridic, who was the daughter of a Welsh general in service to the last Prince of Powyss. There is a whole story there in and of itself, but Ceridwen is taking a back seat to Ceana O'Hagan at the moment. Ceridwen doesn't mind though. She knows her time will come.

What's next for Sheryl Brennan?

QUEEN OF THE WORLD! Mwah ha ha ha ha.

Just kidding. A sequel is under contract with Underdog with a tentative release date of May 2009. Oh- and I almost forgot--- Just by signing the guestbook on my website, one lucky person will be chosen at random to have their name or the name of a loved one written in to the sequel entitled Celtic Hope! The winner will be announced on my homepage on December 13th.


Until then I have a question for your readers: If you could be a supporting character in a romance novel, what kind of character would you be and what would be your subplot?


Visit Sheryl at her website for more information on CELTIC SACRIFICE.

http://www.sherylbrennan.com/
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