Category: Fantasy Publisher: Outskirts Press, Inc.
Type: Fiction
Pages: 424
Copyright: Nov. 30, 2007
ISBN-13: 9781432717377
A 3,000-year-old Irish Fairy King conspires to kidnap the noted author Charles Dickens when he comes to Dublin for a series of readings.
A veteran of the American Civil War is recruited by Irish nationalists to train soldiers for another rebellion against English rule. Dylan O'Clery, with his marriage in ruins, accepts the assignment and goes the Ireland, the land of his birth.
In Ireland's rural west, O'Clery discovers that almost everyone still believes in the Fairy World. His best friend becomes involved with a beautiful girl who claims she is a princess. O'Clery meets the girl's father, the Fairy King Bodhb Derg, who lives in a palace below one of Ireland's majestic lakes. He is seven-feet tall and 3,000 years old.
O'Clery learns that his favorite author, Charles Dickens, is coming to Dublin to for a series of readings, and that the Fairy King is plotting with Irish rebels to kidnap the noted writer and hold him hostage until the country is free.
Charles Dickens is taken hostage and becomes a prisoner in King Bodhb Derg's palace. When negotiations to free Dickens fail, Queen Victoria herself comes to Ireland to meet personally with the Fairy monarch.
Excerpt
King Finnbheara lunged at Charles Dickens and seized him at the throat, at the same time summoning his Fairy nobles.
"Men of Galway, to arms! 'Flaherty! McConealy! O'Devaney! O'Lee! 'Canavan! O'Donnell! O'Kelly! O'Dally! McHugh! O'Feeney! O'Kirwin! O'Mulrooney! McDermot! O'Mullally! O'Mannion! McEgan! McKilduff! McWard! O'Coffey! O'Kenny! O'Shaughnessy! O'Roddy! O'Cahill! O'Dugan! O'Coogan! O'Tracy! O'Madden! We are seizing the palace."
Finnbheara's warriors rushed to the rear of the ballroom and surrounded the thrones and podium.
King Bodhb Derg cried out to his Household Guards, "Defend your monarch! My allies, do you stand with me?"
"Aye! The Men of Limerick are with you," King Donn shouted. "Fitzgerald! O'Flannery! O'Grady! O'Sheehan! O'Collins! O'Langan! O'Casey! O'Kinneally! O'Mackessy! McKeogh! O'Culhane! O'Heffernan! O'Dinahan! O'Kielly! O'Mulholland!
"And King Midir!" Bodhb Derg bellowed, "Where stand you?"
"I and the Men of Longford will fight at your side. O'Farrell! O'Quin! O'Mulroy! McGaynor! O'Sheridan! McAtilla! McMaster!"
"And where do the Men of Donegal stand?" Bodhb Derg bellowed.
"The men of Donegal stand with Finnbheara!" King Aedh Minbhrec defiantly answered. "O'Boyle! O'Duffy! O'Farren! McSweeney! O'Mooney! O'Gallagher! McRoarty! McDonlevy! McNulty! O'Malvanny! Mulholland! McWard! O'Hayes! McGrath! O'Lynch! McGlinchy! O'Gallagher! O'Cannon! O'Breslin! O'Toner! McSweeney! O'Harkan! O'Deven! O'Doherty! McDevitt! McGonigle! O'Dermond!"
Pandemonium swept the ballroom as the nobles of the Fairy kingdoms clashed. Bodhb Derg himself, his huge frame towering over everyone in the hall, charged headlong into his enemies. Lashing out with both fists, he knocked four of Finnbheara's warriors to the floor. A fifth jumped on his back, but the king swung around and hurled the man face first into the air. In lieu of their swords, the warriors were using any implement they could lay their hands on, particularly chairs. Even the Fairy queens joined in the violent melee. I saw Queen Aine smash a flower pot into the head of a young Donegal nobleman.
Queen Victoria's two security guards had drawn their handguns and used their bodies to shield her from the free-for-all.
"Good Heavens, Dylan!" Professor Delahyde cried, "We have to get the queen and Charles Dickens to safety."
Born of their seeds, kingdom will rise against kingdom, one will hold great mysteries, one will turn the tide and one will not be bound. War is fought, not only on the field but also within the mind. Nothing is what it seems take nothing for granted.
