A Lovely New Review from Steamboat Magazine

.

Widely recognized for her multi-award winning “Macsen’s Treasure” series, Kathleen Cunningham Guler reintroduces readers to its beginnings.

Combining legend and actual history of fifth century Britain, Guler brings to life the pre-Arthurian time of 459 AD. With every chapter, an awakening sense of place, time and culture engages the reader, and the emotional wholeness of the story’s characters achieves a convincing reality.

Marcus ap Iorwerth spies for a clandestine alliance that will depose Vortigern, the man whose hired mercenaries have killed and displaced the old landholders. With the Romans long gone and lands divided among 29 warlords, Britain lies open to invasion, from Picts in the north, Irish from the west, and Germanic tribes from the continent. Marcus, while on a mission to identity those who would prevent the rightful King Ambrosius from ascending to the throne, meets the young woman Claerwen. Her clan has been victimized by Vortigern’s men.

Claerwen’s gift of visions, known as “fire in the head,” adds a mystical quality to the ongoing battle for power. When word comes of Marcus’s death, she refuses to accept what the world around her would have her believe and embarks alone to find the “other half of my soul.” As they journey into the path of gods, Marcus and Claerwen come to understand where destiny is leading them, and the name she has been hearing in visions.

Guler’s historical fiction gives the reader more than a well-told, captivating story of adventure and love. In a time when lawlessness and suspicion pervaded among the ruling power, an unquenchable desire for something better remained strong. This book leaves the reader with that hopefulness, a welcome feeling in today’s world of apparent disarray.

Harriet Freiberger, for Steamboat Magazine, Spring 2012

.

Nominated!

It's official! A letter arrived from Colorado Humanities (Colorado's affiliate of the NEH) confirming that my novel, Into the Path of Gods, has been nominated for the Colorado Book Award in the genre fiction category! Have to wait until April to see if it will be short-listed. Fingers crossed that spending the time and effort on reworking the book was worthwhile.

Re-release of Into the Path of Gods

The recrafted edition of Into the Path of Gods, complete with its new cover, is now in paperback. As always, available on Amazon.com and wherever books are sold!

A New Journey

I’m heading out on a new journey! No, not a vacation—I wish! Having finished my fifth century Arthurian series, I am in search of a new adventure to write about.

Where to start?



Photo of torque
courtesy of
Canadian Museum
of Civilization



Many historical novelists take up a new story related to others they have already written. For example, say an author has written a novel about Eleanor of Aquitaine. Since the research done for the Eleanor book would also touch on many of the queen’s relations, alliances and enemies, an author is very likely to choose one of those folks as the subject of the next book. Makes sense—it shortens the time needed for additional research and the author already has more than a good sense of the time and place.

In writing the Macsen’s Treasure Series I discovered a lifelong love of Celtic history, especially as my ancestry hearkens from Wales and Scotland, so most of what I write has some connection to Celtic heritage. Research for the series also put me in contact with many of the theories that swirl around the idea that the legendary King Arthur may have been based on some other historical figure’s exploits and the stories raised his status to something out of proportion from reality. One of those theories claims that Arthur was actually a Roman military commander in the second century AD assigned to a post in northern Britain, and that he and the men he led may have originally come from the Eurasian steppes. Allegedly, the folklore of these Eurasian men created the essence of Arthur’s legend—including the grail story, the round table and so on.

Personally, I do not buy into this theory—doesn’t fit the historical evidence—but the authors mention the nomadic Scythians of the Eurasian steppes as having been predecessors of the men stationed in Britain. (actually Sarmatians, who conquered the Scythians around 300 BCE.)

The Scythians, indeed, are an intriguing bunch. In the last few centuries BCE, around the fourth and third centuries BCE, they moved westward into eastern Europe, particularly in to the Hungarian plain, Transylvania and the Balkans. A few of their artifacts have been found even farther west in Germany. During this time, the Celts expanded eastward into the Balkans, the Danube basin and even beyond with some settlements established in the Scythians’ main homeland of the steppes north of the Black Sea.

Here comes the most exciting part. Both the Celts and the Scythians are known for their artwork, the Scythians primarily for their fabulous gold decorative pieces that adorned both themselves and their horses’ trappings. In particular, animal figures were most prominent. The art that the Celts began to produce during this period, called La Tène, indeed not only incorporated similar figures, but animal figures that very closely resembled those of the Scythians. Having studied art, this thoroughly captured my attention.

Certainly there is a story to be discovered here. While the contact between Scythians and Celts is well established, as I go forward with research, I plan to take this a few steps further and dig into how this influence was transmitted. I have already discovered that itinerant goldsmiths moved about in this region. There was also a tremendous slave trade, as well as the ever present and inevitable war and quite a number of other possibilities. The more I research, the more ideas come to me for characters and plot. What a fascinating time and place on which to hang a new story!

Hmm—a vacation back in time—right now it’s the only kind I can afford…

Canadian Museum of Civilization

.

Castell y Gwynt

Shhh! Don't tell anyone. This is one of the places where Marcus ap Iorwerth in Into the Path of Gods exchanges messages from the secret alliance that will attempt to depose the old high king Vortigern and replace him with Ambrosius, the man they believe to the not only the rightful high king, but who will also be a much better leader.

The link below leads to a photo of Castell y Gwynt, which is a volcanic formation that pushed up between the two peaks, Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach in Snowdonia, North Wales.

http://bit.ly/bMjytL