It’s been almost three months since I published the prequel story about Lady Mairead and now I’m less than a month away from finishing book 14, The Guardian. The Guardian has a subtitle: A year at Kilchurn Castle.
So it has some passing of time, but also, Magnus, Kaitlyn, Froach, Hayley, Quentin, Beaty, Zach, Emma, and James are all there together. (Don’t forget the bairn!)
And lest ye think tis all fun and games—
There is still Sir Padraig to deal with.
When I first planned this book, way back at the beginning of the year, it had sort of a different bend to it, but once I sat down and started writing it has become a classic, full of madcap adventures and time bending twists and romantic entanglements, plus a new person who I think you’ll love.
So anyway, right now I’m in big edits, on this page… a tiny glimpse for you.
Here’s the preorder for book 14 of Kaitlyn and the Highlander here: The Guardian: The Kilchurn YearsAnd in case you missed it, the prequel to this whole story (to be read in the #13 position): Lady Mairead
Yesterday I published the prequel about Lady Mairead. I loved writing her story and can’t wait for you to read it…
Thank you so much for the preorders, but if you aren’t the preorder type, the book is live, in ebook and print.
Some of the fans over in the Facebook group have already finished and are talking all about it…
There are mysteries and details to ponder. Magnus is in it, so that’s always a perk. Also, Donnan, Lord Delapointe (Boo!), Reyes (Double Boo!) and Hammond. The book has this letter, from Lady Mairead to her granddaughter, as a prologue:
I have been writing a prequel about Lady Mairead. When I jumped in I thought, it will be cool to know what she was like and how she got to be how she is… well, now I know, and it’s been so interesting. And also fun.
Magnus is in it, so that’s always a perk. Also, Donnan, Lord Delapointe (Boo!), Reyes (Double Boo!) and Hammond. There’s even a new love of her life named Sir Godfrey Kneller (he’s a real painter from the court of William and Mary.) Here he is in all his hotness.
The preorder is here: Lady Mairead. There’s also a preorder for what’s going to be book 13 of Kaitlyn and the Highlander here: The Guardian: The Kilchurn Years This story will be a branch off the main tree as the group tries to center their lives in the 18th century.
The first of these books is coming in April, the next in August, so I’m writing like crazy over here!
In case you missed it, book 12, The Wellspring was released mere weeks ago… and the audiobook of book 10, Our Shared Horizon has been released too.and just yesterday the audiobook of book 11, Son and Throne, went live…
How much longer for book 6? Sighlander is over March 29, 2019.
by the Proofreader’s Reads (a guest post)
Well, it has happened! Those of us who love hot Scots, strong women, adventure, heartache, and true love now have a double hit: two more months until book 6 in the Kaitlyn and the Highlander series, and the end of Outlander’s fourth season. In an effort to secure emergency sustenance, I’ve started putting together a reading list.
The Novels of Loch Moigh by Barbara Longley. There are four volumes, each may be read independently but there are interesting character overlaps. Time travel, a bit of magic, good men who also have a sense of humor, Ren Faires, 15th century Scotland, an eye to colorful details, marvelous personalities, and genuinely fun adventures. I have re-read these – LOTS!
The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett. Dame Dunnett was herself a Scot! She was awarded an OBE for her work. This is her best known, six books that take place in England, France, the Holy Land, Renaissance period, with an amazingly brilliant hero, rather a cross between Magnus, Jamie, and James Bond! These books are dense, highly detailed, and not the fastest reads, but they are richly rewarding. The bonus is, they will certainly keep you occupied for a good while!
de Wolfe Pack by Kathryn Le Veque. If you can overlook the odd anomaly, or a word that’s a bit ‘off’, the fifteen volumes that swirl around this family dynasty provide a deep dive into a more medieval world, spanning time from roughly 1066 to around 1400. No time travel, just some pretty amazing tales of knights in armor, men of honor, strong women who too often are being crushed by circumstance, and then it’s the handsome warrior who changes her life forever. Le Veque has authored some sixty books at this point, so this is just a beginning.
The Saga of Roland Innes by Wayne Grant. Aha! Finally something written by a man! Again, no time travel in this series. For you who are not comfortable with sexy bits, Mr. Grant wrote these stories for his own sons, and romance is not on the menu. But they are great adventure reads, a young man coming of age, and a tale that is reminiscent of what I grew up reading about Robin Hood: friendship, honesty, bravery, and standing firm for what is right. If you have kids who don’t like reading, this might be one way to hook them, and you’ll enjoy the books, too!
The Highlander Books by Karen Marie Moning. Six plus volumes, and each can certainly be read independently. Good magic, dark magic, the Ancient Ones, amazing men, lovely women, great sex (warning!), curses and spells, hair-raising challenges, and very good storytelling. Each can be read as a standalone, although there are relationships that occur between characters throughout the series. My favorites are The Dark Highlander, and Immortal Highlander.
The Circle of Ceridwen by Octavia Randolph. This is a six book series that begins in the British Isles in the year 871. England as we know it doesn’t really exist yet, Vikings will insist on showing up, life is hard on many different fronts, but – Ceridwen (ker-id-win) is a brave young woman, very well educated for her time, and certainly not one to back away from a challenge, even if it includes marrying a blinded nobleman. Ms. Randolph has very well researched her material; there is a an almost tangible air of Middle Ages settled within the pages of her work.
A break here – because, you know, there are so many different reasons to read, so many different threads to follow. Do you like the romance most? Are you looking for adventure? Is it the fascination with life lived in another time? Is it the time traveling wonders that pull you in? So, I may start ranging a little farther afield – or not, depending on your outlook.
Rashi’s Daughters by Maggie Anton. Historical fiction that takes us to France in the eleventh century, this trilogy follows the imagined stories of Yocheved, Miriam, and Rachel, three daughters of one of the most revered Jewish scholars ever. Rashi himself made his living as a vintner, growing grapes, making wine. His grandsons became famous scholars. His daughters? Ms. Anton crafts an extraordinary life around them, brilliant women living in a man’s world.
Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati. Six volumes that follow a family in upstate New York, later in the 18th century. The fact that our hero is best pictured as Daniel Day Lewis in Last of the Mohicans certainly doesn’t hurt! The best stories always are tales of conflict, and these are no exception. Anglos against Indians, family factions, intelligent women holding their own, escaped slaves to be saved, even a missing link SCOTTISH connection – all against the backdrop of an amazing North American wilderness in all of its ferocity and wonder. Familiar characters, both fictional and historical, also make appearances. The first volume is my favorite, but all are fabulous reads.
You really like the time-travel aspect, right? Well, try this:
Morna’s Legacy by Bethany Claire. So far, eleven books, including Love Beyond Time, Love Beyond Reason, and Morna’s Legacy. Real plots, romance, a mysterious woman who knows more than she’s telling, a castle ruin that has its own secrets, and the tension that carries us on the journey when modern life crashes headlong into the past. A bonus with these: there are edited versions produced by Ms. Claire herself, that sweeten the romantic bits, leaving texts that are safe for teens with a taste for time-travel and parent-approved love.
If you have your own suggestions, we want to know about them! Tell us the title, the author, a bit about the story and why you like it. In the meantime, this Proofreader will keep reading, and I’ll let you know what else piques my interest!
I volunteered. I had signed up to sling sandbags against the always encroaching water, biding my time for the end of my six years of duty, when I heard the Government of the Unified Mainland wanted someone to man an Outpost, to sit out in the middle of the godforsaken ocean and warn the Nomads to head east. The water is coming. Go east fast. And me, stupid as always, volunteered without planning to, without thinking, without considering the implications. I hate the water. Every climbing, sucking, deep ass bit of it.
But now I’m here. The rooftop of a building that used to soar into the sky at some 120 floors, and now looks to be two stories, floating on top, but not, not floating at all, instead: Still Standing. Despite the water, the rust, the structural impossiblities, the currents, and storms: Still Standing—but for how long? The water is coming, this building could collapse from under me. Any day.
So I wait. I wait for Nomad families to paddle up and ask for food. I read the edict and tell them to head east, or else. I wait for my duties to be over, for the helicopter to come and pull me off, finally. But really, I’m waiting for that moment when the water will be one drop too many and with a creak, a crumble and a roar, the whole building will slide away and disappear carrying me with it. That’s what happens when a stupid, not thinking person volunteers.
To bide my time I watch the marks carved onto the port window of the 118th floor. I try to check them once a day but can’t stop checking them all the time, climbing down through the stairwell and noting that the water keeps getting deeper. Deeper and deeper unrelenting and always the same.
Until today. I was checking the marks, worrying about deepnesses, not paying attention to the empty endless terrifying horizon, when a young woman on a paddleboard, soft-paddling in a lazy circle, alone, a few feet away, asked, “Where’s Sam?”
And startled me so much I just about lost my footing.
But that’s the thing about finding someone in the middle of the endless ocean, it could be a near disaster with a splash, but it also might be a beginning; if the water doesn’t collapse us first.
