Book Blurb
Hedgeland, an urban fantasy of time travel. Dr April Neuland, a Professor of Ancient Languages turned non-fiction writer, has been plagued by dreams all her life, dreams of her past life in the Otherworld. Meanwhile, in a parallel dimension of April's past and Caridwen's future, Worthing, a Future History Professor, has allied with the Military to access Future Internet communications and use new technology to influence April to write an ebook novel revealing where she, in her past life as Caridwen, hid the Kiste, a device to travel through time and space. Hedgeland weaves all three time/space frames: Caridwen, Worthing, and April. Hedgeland is the first in the Hedgecraft Sequence, but is a fully self contained novel with no cliff hangers
Book Excerpt
Chapter 3. Worthing.
"Welcome to the Faculty of History seminar on Caridwen and the Kiste. I will hand you over to Dean Bellamy who will introduce you to today's speaker, Professor Worthing."
"Thank you, Professor Woods. People in Future times are aware of the Kiste and will give it different names, such as The Golden Bough and The Silver Branch. The Silver Branch is often associated with sacred apples. While not all of you are Future Historians," Bellamy broke off, nodding to Worthing and Fields, professors of Future History at the Scientificarium, and then sweeping her arm in the general direction of their senior students, "all of you do have some knowledge of the Future worlds, Greece and Rome. The Future Roman writer Virgil will write a poem in which the Sibyl - a Seer - says Aeneas needed to carry a sacred branch to enter the Underworld. He was not able to enter the Underworld without it."
Bellamy held up a hand to silence the murmuring her comment had provoked.
"Yes, it is clear that there is some general memory of our world carried into Future civilizations' mythologies. To continue, in Virgil's story the ferryman refused to carry Aeneas over the river into the Underworld until the Sibyl produced the Golden Branch. In the same way, Future worlds will say that the Silver Branch is a passport to Tirn Aill, the Otherworld, and that at times certain faerie women led mortals to the Celtic Otherworld. This is particularly significant for us, since our civilization is later interpreted as the Celtic
Otherworld, as we all know.
"Now I will turn you over to Professor Worthing to present to you his paper, 'Branching out into the His-Tree of Caridwen.'" Some people giggled at Worthing's awful pun; others just looked perplexed.
"Thank you, Dean Bellamy," said Worthing, a Future History professor well liked by all his students for explaining academic matters in a lucid manner and, better still, interspersing them with jokes, most of which were adult rated. "My paper is not too scholarly as we have students from the Faculties of Humanities and Sciences here today.
"The Kiste was of importance to our ancestors, for with it they were able to travel between Caer Sidi and the primitive Otherworld.The Kiste which the Mabinogi stole was of greater importance to them as they used it to travel not just through space, but through time. Our ancestors were unaware of this until just before the Cataclysm. Our details from that period are sketchy, as most documents were destroyed in the Cataclysm.
"Future peoples will also realize the Kiste to be important, although only through their race memories. The Future Greek philosopher Pythagoras will say the letter 'Y' is like life with its dividing ways of good and evil, and he will identify it with the mystic symbol of the branch which initiates such as Aeneas offered to Proserpine in the Otherworld while out of their physical body. We were able to procure a Future Text - for those of my students here, it's Psy.Pyth 8:2 - and I quote, 'He was not allowed to go to the Shades unless he had the Branch to hold up.' Again to my students, you will note that the Future Greek expression 'the Shades' will often be mistranslated in Future Time as 'Rites of Proserpine,' and Proserpine is the Future Roman name for Persephone. More of this in class tomorrow. Yes it's early, but I expect to see you all there."
Now for the giveaway
Ann is agreed to give away one lucky winners chance to be a character in her next book. All you have to do is leaving comment in every blog post including my post. Check the list of blog tour participants here.
Don't forget to check the next blog stop at Book Lover's Hideaway
About the Author
Author Dr Ann Nyland was on Faculty at the University of New England, Australia.
She is a grammar pedant, ancient languages translator, and best selling non-fiction author of such books as The Complete Books of Enoch; Angels, Archangels and Angel Categories: What the Ancients Said; The Book of Jubilees; A Devil of a Job to Find Satan in the Bible, among others.
No comments:
Post a Comment