Walking a Fine Line: Mythology and Folklore in Paranormal Romance by Catherine Peace @lexcade #romance #PNR #mythology #folklore

 

WALKING A FINE LINE:

Mythology and Folklore in Paranormal Romance

Guest Post by Catherine Peace

 

The year is…sometime between 2005 and 2008. I’m a plucky English major with a concentration in creative writing, and I’m loving my classes after a year and a half of thinking I wanted to be a psychologist while calling myself a “recovering English major.” The follies of youth, am I right?

Transferring to Northern Kentucky University changed a lot for me. I was absorbed in these amazing literature classes, having a ball with assignments (though sometimes the ball had me instead), and taking religion classes to fulfil my religious studies minor. So, imagine my excitement when a Native American spirituality class opened up. Taught by an actual Cherokee man.

Almost twenty years later (barf), there’s not much I can tell you about my courses, but something we talked about in that class was the myth of swan maidens. Because of the nature of the class, we stuck to Native stories, so when I started researching for the Solstice Quartet, I thought about that lens.

Well, when you Google “swan maiden myths,” the world OPENS UP.

Swan Maidens by Walter Crane

Like, the entire world.

There are a lot of stories that cross cultures. For example, world-destroying flood stories pop up in Jewish, ancient Greek, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Mayan, Tai, and way more mythologies. Likewise, giant serpents show up all over the place. Well, so do swan maidens. There are stories in Romanian, Native Canadian, Chinese, Celtic/Irish, Greek, and many more cultures that follow the same motifs and general plotline: swan maiden is found bathing in a body of water, dudebro takes her cloak of feathers, and she’s forced to marry him. This is also common in selkie stories.

Apart from Ember’s Secret, because it sets up the groundwork of the mythology, the Solstice Quartet is based on different swan maiden myths. Amy’s Hunt and Trina’s Sacrifice share the Wabanaki story of two wolf brothers who fall in love with a swan maiden. One marries her in secret, and the other kills her in anger. Dia’s Lure is based on a Romanian story of swan maiden in the court of a king and the witch who betrays the swan maiden. Does that happen in Dia’s story? You’ll have to read to find out!

The trick to using mythology/folklore, regardless of whose it is, is to approach the culture with the utmost respect. Research is your best friend, but you also have to be careful of your sources. It can be tough to find primary sources for some cultures, especially those that have more of an aural history. Over the four books of the Solstice Quartet, we have 3 different cultures: Maori, Wabanaki, and Romanian. Extensive research into history, cultural norms, and way more than you ever think will be important for your book (like Maori midwifery pre-European contact) is all necessary to create the world you’ll be working in. Both Maori and Wabanaki cultures relied on aural history before Europeans came, so any written history is post-European contact, and that wasn’t what I needed for groups that kept themselves hidden away from everyone. (Primary sources were SUPER HARD to find, so some artistic liberties were taken that still stayed in line with the culture as I read about it.)

The extra work was difficult to say the very least. I spent a lot of time staring slack-jawed at the computer screen like PLEASE JUST GIVE ME ANSWERS. My writing partners helped me maintain my sanity as I wrote the last book, where all of the cultural stuff comes into heavy play. However, it was ABSOLUTELY worth it. Trina’s Sacrifice is one of the hardest books I’ve ever written, but it’s also one of my favorites and a perfect ending to the Solstice Quartet.

This is why the next series is based on Greek myth, just FYI.

TRINA'S SACRIFICE

by Catherine Peace

A chieftain’s forsaken daughter….

Trina Huxford knows the old stories: wolf takes swan, wolf kills swan. When her beloved older sister is taken by a wolf, she fears the pattern will play out again, but her father’s inaction stuns her. After all, the tribe needs Margot to seal the alliance between the Kaqtukaq and Whakamanu warriors. If he won’t save her sister, then Trina will. Her only ally? A young warrior whose quiet strength and gentle spirit both soothe and entice her.

An outcast craving acceptance….

Pou Ngata has spent years battling against his family’s tarnished lineage, so the Tane’s invitation to join him and his chosen warriors in Windsor comes as an honor and a shock. The problem? The bride intended for his cousin is missing, and the Tane has forbidden them to interfere. Refusing means losing any goodwill he’s gained, but Pou can’t stand by. Especially when Trina might be her sister’s replacement.

Two hearts bound by lies….

As Trina and Pou piece together the truth behind Margot’s disappearance, they can only trust each other. Lies and betrayal culminate in a battle that threatens their fledgling relationship. But there are greater dangers than the Windsor wolves, and Pou and Trina will need more than love to survive.

How can the truth set them free if it destroys everything they know?

TRINA’S SACRIFICE is the final installment of the Solstice Quartet, but in order to find the answers Ember, Amy and Dia seek, they must go back to the past and find the mystery surrounding their parents’ romance. The story their father shares could shatter the beautiful memories they have of their dead mother and change the way they look at their father. TRINA’S SACRIFICE and the Solstice Quartet is the perfect read for fans of Carrie Ann Ryan’s Wolf shifter series or Elizabeth Briggs’ Zodiac Wolf series. While each story can be read on its own, you will want to grab them all and dive into the unique Maori culture and the mystery that sent the three daughters running for their lives.

Buy link: https://books2read.com/TrinasSacrifice

Enjoy an excerpt:

Taking a deep breath, Pou covered her slender hand with his and savored the silkiness of her cool skin. She stared at him from beneath dark, wet lashes but didn’t pull away. Perhaps she needed the comfort more than she let on. "I'm sorry. I have four sisters. If anything happened to one of them, I would burn down the world to get her back."

She turned her attention from him back to the pond. Her hand stayed in his, and she rested her chin on the other. His pulse thundered in his ears. Did she hear his heart? What just touching her hand did to him?

“Can I ask you something?” she asked after a while.

“Anything,” he replied on a breath.

Facing him, she met his gaze. So far, none of the Kaqtukaq had made eye contact with him. Of course, she’d be the one. “At the river during the Solstice, why were you staring at me?”

The memory flashed across his vision again. Her stunning plumage like raw stone, the way she shimmered like molten gold beneath the glow of Matariki, as if the Seven Sisters themselves demanded he see Trina in all her glory. Then the following morning, she glowed in the hazy light like a beacon, flaxen hair damp against light brown skin, yellow eyes searching. Always searching. Something in her had called to him and continued to.

“Why wouldn’t I?” he said. “Because you’re beautiful.”

 

Catherine Peace has been telling stories for as long as she could remember. She often blames two things for her forays into speculative fiction—Syfy (when it was SciFi) channel Sundays with her dad and The Island of Dr. Moreau by HG Wells. She graduated in 2008 from Northern Kentucky University with a degree in English and is still chasing the dream of being super rich and famous, mostly so she can sit around in her PJs all day and write stories.

Catherine currently lives on a farm in South Carolina. E-I-E-I-O.

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