A TRIO OF IRISH TALES II Has Released!

A TRIO OF IRISH TALES II is on sale!

Available on Amazon:

For Kindle  & in Paperback http://tinyurl.com/joao798

Continuing the popular A TRIO OF IRISH TALES, this collection presents two continued adventures of characters from the first volume in Patrick's Path and The Fairy Tree, plus an entirely new cast in Two Houses. 

Three modern tales steeped in the lore of an ancient land that will call to your Celtic soul, even if you never thought you had one.

A SPECIAL HOLIDAY OFFER!

A TRIO OF IRISH TALES II will be releasing in the next 48 hours.  And here is a deal you can take advantage of even after Cyber Monday. This Holiday Special is good through December 15th! Yeah, it costs more than a couple of lattes, but it can be enjoyed much longer!

Here's what you get for just $20

• Paperback copies of both the original A Trio of Irish Tales and the new A Trio of Irish Tales II signed by the author (me!)
• Specially gift wrapped, and shipped to where ever you specify in time for the holidays (Sorry, only in the U.S. by the December Holidays).
• The satisfaction of supporting an independent author, a creator/artist, not a cumbersome corporate entity.

How do I take advantage of this offer?

Send an email to simplycreativettown AT gmail DOT com with the following:

• Your name
• The name and address that you would like the books shipped to 
• Special Instructions: who should the book be inscribed to?  What would you like the gift tag to say?

By reply email, you will receive payment information. When your order payment has been confirmed it will be shipped.  

It is as easy as that!

Happy Holidays!

Look for the release of A TRIO OF IRISH TALES II this week!

ALMOST THERE ... "Two Houses" ~ A Preview

We are days from publication of A TRIO OF IRISH TALES II . . . and here is one more preview, this time of the final story.

Two Houses (Preview)

By Judith Cullen

© 2015

“Mark, the top has to be here somewhere!”

Mark Murphy glanced at the tourist map one more time, but it might as well have been written in Greek for all the sense it made to him.  “I know, we both saw it.”  He paused, lowering his voice, “I should have asked for directions, I’ll admit it.”

Cate turned to him indulgently, “I’ll take that admission, and I won’t abuse you with it.  Not much, anyhow.”  Then she laughed and threw her head back in that way he loved. 

This was part of why he had married her – life was just that much brighter, that much “more” when Cate was around.   Like now, when they were lost in Ireland on their honeymoon, looking for a hilltop they had both seen clearly from the front lawn Rathmore House.  It had seemed like such a natural thing to spend their honeymoon exploring their mutual Irish heritage. They were inexperienced as world travelers, at best, and they really should have done more homework than they had.  Still and all adversity can lead to adventure, and so far they had shared that in abundance.

“Look here!  This lane seems to go up.  This could be promising. Let’s try it and see where it goes.”  She was pointing towards a disheveled gate and a scraggly lane of trees leading uphill. What waited at the end of the lane was not clearly in view.

“You call this ‘promising’?”  He eyed the gate and the road that left the main track and disappeared to God only knew where.  It was a single metal gate between two square stone pillars.  They might have been nicely finished once, with an outer coating of sandstone or something to dress them.  The metal had a few vestiges of ornamentation left – tiny metal swirls and flourishes.  But one of the pillars was almost entirely crumbled away, and the gate hung from the remaining pillar by a single hinge.  Squinting his eyes, Mark wasn’t even sure of that.  He had the feeling that the gate was held there by habit alone, not by any actual constructive attachment.

PREVIEW: More from "Patrick's Path"

Patrick’s Path (Part 4)

By Judith Cullen

© 2015

Declan sat on a boulder while Pat trotted up and down the strand reciting names of Irish Lords and Kings, in chronological order.  Every now and then the old man would bellow out questions randomly, and Pat had to respond with a basic bit of information.  If he paused at all, Declan would holler “Crap!” and make him back up a few hundred years or so and start again.  If Pat stopped jogging to think, “Keep moving! Keep moving!” rang down the beach and Pat had to back up his recitation again.  Last week it had been Gods and Goddesses.  The threat of Irish Saints was looming in the future.

Pat didn’t complain.  He found it as exhilarating as he did infuriating.  Even though the sound of “Crap!” made him want to punch something, he kept at it and kept at it until he could recite the entire list uninterrupted but for the unexpected questions which he fielded without pause.  Once he could achieve that, his teacher made him do it again five, six, seven times with no respite.  

The first time Pat had been able to complete the exercise undisturbed, he had felt the power of the knowledge within himself.  He felt like he owned the names, dates, and details and in the joy of it, his jogging broke into ecstatic leaps and spins.  His teacher grinned as he watched Pat careen across the sand and rocks, never once letting up his trial of the young storyteller. 

A PREVIEW of "A Trio of Irish Tales II"

It's about time to begin tempting you with tidbits from November's release.  Already I am busting with pride: these stories are some of the best and most complex that I have ever written.  Over the next few week's, I'll be sharing selections from Patrick's Path - the first of the trio of tales in this volume.

"Patrick's Path" features Pat Flynn from A Trio of Irish Tales' "In the Mists." Pat is 24 now and he's tired of always walking in everyone's wake - following along behind.  He wants to find something that he is passionate about; something that he can claim as his very own. He also wouldn't mind catching the eye of Daimhin Finnegan.  

Enjoy!

***

Patrick’s Path

"Wild Grazing" by Brian Henry from publicdomainpictures.net

By Judith Cullen

© 2015

Pat tried to loose his frustrations with the stone as it flew from his hand, making a proper splash into the sea about thirty feet away.  He looked down, assessing the rocks and shells at his feet and choosing another stone that felt right.  Tossing and catching it several times with his sand-gritted palm, he leaned back and let this stone fly with the same emotional propulsion, watching it drop into the serenely lapping waves.  The ripples the rocks made in the gentle surf did nothing to reduce Pat’s disquiet.  He pondered another stone.

He was sick and tired of always being the one following behind; always being the best friend, the side-kick.  It had been this way all of his life.  It wasn’t that Pat wanted to be popular. He was an honest soul and well liked, he knew that just as he knew that everyone gets a bit of attention at one time or another.  He didn’t want more friends or more glory.  Pat didn’t crave the spotlight or the admiration of others; he just wanted to stop feeling like an “also-ran”; like an extra bit of nothing-in-particular hanging around for everyone’s convenience.  He wanted to have one thing that was his: something he was good at, a source of pride that was his own.

He kicked his boots into the sand and rocks of the shore. Choosing another stone, he hurled it with all his might. He tried to concentrate all his dissatisfaction into it: the times he’d followed someone else’s lead, done what he was bidden to do, every instant that he’d trailed behind compressed into that one missile.  He threw it so hard he spun himself off balance, almost falling.  The rock plopped into the water so far away that he couldn’t even hear it break the surface.

Coming in November: MORE IRISH TALES

2013's A Trio of Irish Tales is by far my best selling collection, ever. Finally, the much promised second volume of stories is heading for completion and will be released in plenty of time for the holidays.

A Trio of Irish Tales II features two stories that rejoin characters introduced in volume 1, and the third story introduces an entirely new cast of characters in a situation inspired by real places found in Ireland.

In "Two Houses" a young American couple on their honeymoon find their ties to Irish heritage are far more insistent than just a simple perusal of genealogies.  As the past disturbs their future, Mark and Cate must unravel the mystery of two houses that suffered very different fates, but that are somehow connected.

"The Fairy Tree" reunites us with young Liam Killough of "The Shadow by the Gate."  He and his family have settled into life in rural County Wicklow, but Liam is at continual odds with farm manager Rose McLane. The tension has been mounting and explodes with unexpected results, leaving young Liam desperate to set things to rights again.

"Patrick's Path" features Pat Flynn from "In the Mists." Pat is 24 now and he's tired of always walking in everyone's wake - following along behind.  He wants to find something that he is passionate about; something that he can claim as his very own. He also wouldn't mind catching the eye of Daimhin Finnegan.

More stories, more adventure, history, romance and mythology.  Three modern tales steeped in the lore of an ancient land.  A Trio of Irish Tales II will call to your Celtic soul, even if you never thought you had one.

Coming to Amazon for Kindle and in Paperback.

Join my new Stories by Judith Cullen mailing list to get special email pre-release updates and news of events!

***

Come to Ireland

By Judith Cullen

© 2015

It happens again and again,

Whispered on the conscience

Subtly suggested coincidence

Inviting, voices entreating

replying, repeating

“Come to Ireland.”

Calling in books, in poems,

A dozen chance implications.

“We’ve been to Ireland,

We just got back in”

Jealously ecstatic

“Come to Ireland.”

Land of past mothers and fathers

Bosom of soul-filled heritage

Yearning past tense, for welcome

On someone else’s native soil

immigrant, heart of toil

“Come to Ireland.”

“One day, child of the scattered,

your heart and your heartland

will reunite once more.”

Murmuring promises sent

Wafting on a green wind

“Come to Ireland.”

##

GOD BLESS ALL HERE!

Why do I love St Patrick's Day?  Why is it as essential as Christmas in my annual pantheon of celebration?

It has never been about the green-beer-pub-crawling sort of revelry.  And I assure you, MY corned beef

Cardinal Paul Cullen, related on the green side 

and cabbage is not the washed out sort of mess that often comes out of other stew pots.  In fact this year I am not even going to have a chance to make "my" corned beef as my new housemate is not a fan of it (baked in Guinness and served over al dente steamed cabbage).  It will be all I can do to manage some colcannon tomorrow, after a big project is delivered.  So again, why?

I think the answer lies in my father, passed these twenty five years or more.  Somehow, in celebrating my very Irish heritage I am celebrating him.  I share his deep longing to travel to Ireland and visit the the places told of in family stories, learn about our ancestors.  It's a hope I haven't given up on.

So yeah, maybe my Saint Patrick's Day, and my writing of Irish tales, has a bit of the yearning that all children of the diaspora reflect. Or maybe I just loved my Dad, and I miss him.

How will I be celebrating?  It might not be all the corniness of "faith and beegorah", but I will be managing Corned beef and cabbage for lunch, and I will be reading Maurice Walsh's THE QUIET MAN in Second Life this evening, and watching the film with Mom (probably tomorrow).  My celebration might be a little like Sean Thornton's cottage in the 1951 film - with roses all around, the paintwork trimmed in emerald green and not the more durable red, and an Irishness that only comes from America. But my parents loved the John Ford film, and I have since fallen in love with the Walsh's short story - indeed with all his short stories.

Alas I cannot stream my reading tonight and share it, much as I would dearly love to - copyright still forbids. So I share these links with you who also yearn for a land beyond green, where the wee folk still dance around the oaks, and the air is ancient and fresh with heather.  ~ Slainte'

The Quiet Man - a short story by Maurice Walsh

The Quiet Man - an award winning motion Picture Directed by John Ford

A YEAR IN TULFARRIS ~ Live Wednesday 9.25 at 7pm Pacific Time!

I'll be reading from Caitlin Walsh & Alfred Hellstern's lovely book of pictures and essays from their year living in Ireland.

"My boss was wondering if I'd be up for working in Dublin for a year. What would you think of moving to Ireland for a year?

"And so began the adventure, chronicled by his photographs and her written musings, as they explore monuments and meet people (and animals) who will leave an indelible mark on them and their children forever." 

This week - Conclusion: Summer on the Emerald Isle and "falling" towards home.

The reading will be live in Second Life at the Seanchai Library in SL Voice...
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Imagination%20Island/46/211/28

CLICK HERE to enjoy John McDermott's rendering of "Grace" which is referenced in one of tonight's essays - "Penny dropping"

Note: To be able to enjoy the streamed reading, your computer may require an application.  You may want to check this in advance ... such programs include:

• iTunes
• Windows Media Player (NOT all versions, so check yours out, don't assume!)
• Windows 8 Radyo

 A Year in Tulfarris (c) 2009 by Caitlin Walsh and Alfred Hellstern.  All Rights Reserved.

THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT!

The Trio Promotion went great Friday and Saturday, in part thanks to my Launch Team, and to my great friends and supporters. (You could be a part of the Launch Team fun!  Just leave me a comment or contact me on facebook!)   I think there might even be some actual fans now! Fans of my writing!  GASP! We'll party again when Miracles: A Trio of Island Tales comes out in a few weeks. 

Thank You One and All!

***

This week I'll begin supporting another friend and author, Caitilin Walsh.  She and her husband, Alfred Hellstern, published this lovely book of essays and photographs after spending a year living in Ireland.

I will be reading from Cait's essays and featuring selected photographs of Alfred's in Second Life (c) at the Seanchai Library at 7pm Pacific on Monday September 9th and Wednesday, September 18th.

At the moment, there is no firm plan to stream Monday's session, but God willing we might be streaming the session on the 18th.  Otherwise, You need to be logged into Second Life and at the Seanchai Library on the grid to hear the live presentation.  If you are an SL resident and you are interested, send a notecard to me as Caledonia Skytower (IMs often get capped).  We'll keep you posted on developments here regarding possible streaming.

To learn more about Cait and Alfred's book, CLICK HERE

TRIO OF IRISH TALES Finally Released!

As of this morning, A Trio of Irish Tales is on sale, and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Meet Ireland's legendary "Man of the Mists", experience the life of one woman through a sacred oak tree, or delight in the old-world vs new-world clash between an annoyed pooka and a digitally savvy teenager. In this first volume of the "Trio Tales" series, author Judith Cullen celebrates her heritage inspired by family and friends, and she even invites the fairies out to dance. 

Don't have a Kindle?  No problem!   Amazon has Free Kindle Reading Apps available to download to you computer or other device of "personal digital satisfaction". (thank you David Fischer!)

You can also "borrow" it ... see Amazon for more details.  These are digital days, and the more "hits" the higher it gets on the radar of the book buying world.  Of course, one hopes people will actually buy it as well.  That's the big dream - love the stories, buy the book!

Wonderful cover photo was done by friend Micki McIntyre in Second Life.  Coming shortly ... Reflections on The Golden Wheel, with more short stories, both fictional and non-fiction, and another lovely bit of virtual photography by Micki.

OCTOBER 7: Selection from "True Irish Ghost Stories" ~ Part 2

More from St. John Seymour and Harry Neligan's compilation of true tales from across the Emerald Isle of "Haunted Houses, Banshees and other Supernatural Phenomena" entitled True Irish Ghost Stories.  In today's selection, a reckless Irish Lord gets a second chance to mend his wicked ways.  Will he take it?  What happens if he doesn't?

Selection from True Irish Ghost Stories ~ Part 2

Recording (c) Judith Cullen 2012

NOT for Commerical Use

OCTOBER 6: Selection from "True Irish Ghost Stories" ~ Part 1

This is one of many, many stories from St. John Seymour and Harry Neligan's compilation of stories of "Haunted Houses, Banshees and other Supernatural Phenomena" entitled True Irish Ghost Stories.  In this particular account, and enraged ghost or demon is dispacted in a very uniquely Irish manner by the local Parish Priest. 

Selection from True Irish Ghost Stories ~ Part 1

Recording (c) Judith Cullen 2012

NOT for Commerical Use

Told you there'd be stories!  Another tomorrow.