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