QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
“People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost.” H. Jackson Brown Jr.
MY WORDS OF THE WEEK:
I thought that I would get a little more personal and write something other than an article. So yall could get to know me a little bit better. I take it that most people on this list like historical fiction or Celtic fiction as I do. So I thought I would share a pet peeve of mine, major historical inaccuracies in fiction
I recently read two books by different authors of paranormal/romance where the heroes were ancient Celtic men who were illegitimate sons of a druid and had been outcast because of it. That (bastard) premise is used a lot in medieval romances and it works well with the Normans as it is accurate for them. But it’s not historically accurate with Celts at all and especially Celts in the dark ages as that’s the period of time dealt with in these two books.
The Celts didn’t have any notion of illegitimacy . It was foreign to them. That is why they had all those different forms of marriage, to protect the children. Whether a child was born of a trail marriage, a one night stand, or even a rape, the child had the same rights as any other of the man's children. The one night stand type of marriage was called a “soldiers marriage” They actually had a name for it. All children stood to inherit with the same rights regardless of the relationship between the mother and father. If their birth father was a prince they had the same rights of inheritance to the kingdom as the man’s other sons. In Wales they split the kingdom between all the sons.
Also in one of the books this young illegimtate boy and his baby sister were left to starve because his mother’s village didn’t want them. Hospitably was a great virtue among the Celts and they would never have withdrawn hospitality even to an enemy much less a child. They didn’t turn any starving people away. To withhold hospitality would have been a horrible affront and would have ruined a king or chief's reputation.
I did actually like both of these books, but I wish the authors had done a little research It wouldn’t have taken too much time to discover the Celtic view on illegitimacy and hospitality.
I love history as much as I love writing that’s why my books are all historicals. I try to write as accurately a possible. I like to imagine that my books are historically accurate enough and bring the reader into the way of life and belief system of the times that if anyone reading it had lived in that place and in that time, my books might actually trigger memories of their previous life. I think that could happen. I really do.
FAVORTIE LINKS:
ART – Explore the creative ventures of artist, writer and musician, Jolie E. Bonnette:
In stores:
Houston TX - Borders at Westhimer and Gesner
Conroe, Galveston, Victoria, Round Rock, and Lake Jackson TX –Hastings bookstores
Baker & Taylor, and most on line bookstores
