EOLYN in Audiobook

At last!  The audio edition of Eolyn is now available through Audible and iTunes.

If you've already read Eolyn, this is a wonderful way to rediscover the power of the Magas.

If you haven't yet read Eolyn, now is your chance to join the adventure.

The audio edition of Eolyn is read by the incomparable Darla Middlebrook. Darla's tag line, bringing out the soul of the book, is realized in every moment of the story.  As I've said elsewhere, I couldn't be more thrilled with her interpretation of the characters and events of Eolyn. And I'm especially thrilled now that I get to share this with all of you!

As today's special treat, here's a preview of the audio book: Darla's reading from Chapter 3, 'The House of Sweetbread'.  In this scene young Eolyn, starved and exhausted after days of wandering lost in the forest, meets her mentor Ghemena for the first time.

Shadows in the Forest

We are just back from two nights at Las Alturas, a remote station on the edge of La Amistad National Park and Biosphere Reserve.  This was a short break from the rigors of the Native American and Pacific Islander Research Experience (NAPIRE) Program.  Yesterday we hiked into the park, climbing700 meters in about 3 kilometers to Cerro Chai, which at 2200 meters above sea level provides a spectacular view of the vast expanse of forest that comprises this small section of La Amistad. 

Any time you go up hill in the tropics, you are bound to encounter more than one distinct ecosystem.  The lower slope of our climb was covered in the riot of growth that constitutes premontane forest; higher up we passed through a thin band of oak-dominated forest, with its understory layer of spindly bamboo.  (This is the type of forest, by the way, that originally inspired Eolyn’s childhood home, the South Woods.)  Near the peak of Cerro Chai, strong winds and cold weather have stunted and warped the trees into what is popularly known as “elfin forest”.

NAPIRE students, in addition to being budding biologists, are deeply appreciative of fantasy and legend, and so they were watchful for elves as we entered the “elfin forest”.  But of course, there are no elves in ‘elfin forest’, or anywhere in Costa Rica for that matter.  The magical creatures that inhabit Costa Rican forests are called duendes.

I first learned about the duendes from my friends at Cuerici Biological Station, located a little further north of where we are now, at about 2500m elevation.  Duendes are elusive creatures, and if you ask a Costa Rican to describe what they look like, individuals who claim to have seen them will answer with a puzzled frown.  It seems the appearance of duendes can’t be captured in words.  After listening to stories about them, I came to think of duendes as something of a cross between fairies and gnomes. 

When I began writing Eolyn, I wanted a creature like the duendes to inhabit the South Woods.  I almost used the same word, until I thought to look it up in a Spanish-English dictionary, at which point I discovered duende translates literally as “troll”. 

Hmm, I thought.  That’s not right at all.  In Costa Rica, duendes are clearly not the same thing as trolls.  So to avoid confusion in my novel, I changed the word ‘duendes’ into ‘Guendes’, hoping that the addition of ‘g’ would inspire images of gnome-like creatures.

The Guendes of Eolyn’s world are very shy and rarely intervene in human affairs.  Their magic, however, is considered powerful, and the people of Moisehén hold them in great respect. 

It is thought that the Guendes use their magic at Summer Solstice to turn the sun on its path, causing the shortening of days and pushing the cycle of the seasons toward fall and then winter. Traditionally, the Mages and Magas thank the Guendes for this service by leaving gifts of food in the forest.  Guendes hibernate during the winter, and for this reason it is the task of the Mages and Magas on Winter Solstice to call the sun back from the Underworld and invoke the lengthening of days that will lead to spring and summer.

Early in the novel, Eolyn has an encounter with Guendes.  They find her in the forest, protect her from starvation and death, and eventually lead her to the home of Ghemena, the last Doyenne of the Old Orders.  No explanation is ever given as to why the Guendes chose to intervene in young Eolyn’s fate.  Were they simply taking pity on a lost and frightened child?  Or did they recognize Eolyn’s potential to flourish as Ghemena’s student and preserve the endangered traditions of the Magas?  And if they wanted Eolyn to become a maga, then why?  Of what interest was it to them that this ancient craft be preserved through her?

I’ll leave it to your imagination to consider the possibilities; because though I might think I have the answer, in the end only the Guendes truly know…

Legends in the Making (or Why Every Fantasy Writer Needs a Good Forest)

Today I visited the fourth and final reflection plot, and area that was clear cut some years ago.  I'm going to let my thoughts on that experience simmer for a little while, and will come back to write about this final reflection plot tomorrow. 

Instead, I want to take a brief break from my essays and share with you some more of the great images my husband has caught with his ever-reliable digital camera -- just a few examples of the infinite opportunities a mature forest offers for the playful imagination.  Most of these photos come from hikes along the old growth trails of Andrews Forest.

Fans of Tolkien will be familiar with the Ents of Middle Earth.  As you might be glad to know, Ents are still alive and well in the oak forests of Talamanca in Costa Rica -- I have a few photos of them from my time there (although to the untrained eye they are almost indistinguishable from mature oaks).  I've been very pleased these past few days to find signs of remnant populations in the mountains of Oregon as well.  We did not come across any breeding adults (they may be hard to distinguish from the older firs), but we did spot this fledgling wrapped in warm moss just to my husband's left:

And this adolescent a little further down the same trail.  Perhaps they are siblings?

Old growth forests are, of course, full of wonderful ingredients for magic spells and potions, like this rust-colored morel, which is almost certainly essential for some dark and powerful spell as yet unknown to me:

Note the abundant lichens littering the forest floor around the mushroom, which are likely collected and used for similar purposes.  And of course, what witch's brew is complete without a plump little newt:

Though of course, I could NEVER toss this little guy into a boiling pot of water.  He's way too cute to suffer such a terrible fate. 

Here's a rather strange formation from an exposed root of a tree.  I'll let you decide what it could be, what it might mean, and how you'd like to use it in your next story.  (And if you'd like to share your ideas, please post in the comments below!)

Finally, when we weren't comuning with young and spritely Ents, we were talking to gnomes, which like the Douglas-firs grow to be quite large and old in this forest.  Here's one we managed to catch on film, standing just to the right of the trail:

That's it for today.  My stay at Andrews Forest is almost finished now.  One more full day tomorrow, and then we'll head to the coast for a night before returning to Portland and then to Kansas City.  I'd say tomorrow will be my last installment related to my residency here, but I'm not quite sure about that -- I have a feeling I'll be reflecting on my stay at Andrews for some time to come. 

I moved forward a bit more on my short story for Briana today.  I think it's going to be a nice one, and may post some excerpts here in the coming week or so. 

Next weekend is ConQuest in Kansas City!  I'll be participating in several panels as well as a Hadley Rille Authors Panel and a Book Signing Party on Saturday.  For details about my schedule at ConQuest, as well as other upcoming events, please visit my author's page on Amazon.