#InternationalKissingDay & Seal Mother Reveal

Mwwahh! Happy #InternationalKissingDay

It has been a pleasant, but very busy evening and I thank you all for visiting on #InternationalKissingDay Hope you have been giving out those token’s of love to your nearest and dearest?

Well you have all waited long enough so let me share with you a final teaser and then the big reveal. I hope you like it. The cover illustrations, when I reveal them shortly are by the very talented young artist Hannah Ryan.

Seal Mother Teaser 03

My lovely Indie Author friend Maria Gibbs the Dreams to my Roses when we are at book events as Roses & Dreams let me use one of her beautiful holiday pics as a background.  You can see it above in the teaser, but watch how it makes the beautiful ‘Seal Mother ~ A Selkie Tale in Verse’ stand out in the reveal.

Seal Mother opening verse

On an oyster and pearl
kind of day
and oh how the waves
gently play.
As the sun pours down
upon waters calm,
the waves whisper to shore
like a soft spoken psalm.

~*~*~*~

There will be a chance to win a copy of the book at this evenings event over on Facebook later. Go check out the page by clicking the image below. Giveaway will be open until 12noon GMT UK Sunday 7th July 2018.

Finally the Seal Mother Reveal

Ta Dah!!

Well I do hope you like it? Love to hear your thoughts, the Kindle Copy will shortly be available to download on Amazon. Hardback versions can be ordered through me very soon.

There will be a chance to win extra goodies for those ordering to collect at the UK Indie Lit Fest on 28th July 2018 in Bradford UK

Seal Mother YouTube teaser

I made a short sample of a reading from the book have a listen when you have a spare moment.

 

Thanks for visiting Happy Reading

&

Happy Kissing on #InternationalKissingDay

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#InternationalKissingDay

Mmwahh! Happy Kissing Day

Sending out the love and kisses to you all for #InternationalKissingDay

International Kissing Day is also known as World Kissing Day as you would guess it is celebrated in many different countries. Little is known of when it first started but it is believed to have been right here in the UK in the 19th Century. To find out more about the day visit Holidays Calendar by clicking HERE.

Seal Mother Cover Reveal

What better way to celebrate #InternationalKissingDay  than by sharing a Cover Reveal for the beautiful folktale of the Selkie Seal Mother. The actual reveal will be around 9pm GMT UK this evening over on Facebook but I will be sure to share it here immediately after.

Poetry & Kissing

There must be millions of poems that deal with the subject of kissing and love. However, my favourite of all has to be Love’s Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Click the image to enlarge (opens in a new window)

Love’s Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine?—
~*~
See the mountains kiss high heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?
~*~

Thanks for dropping in. If you have a favourite poem that features kissing I would love to see it. Drop your favourite line from it and a link perhaps in the comments below.

Happy #InternationalKissingDay

#WIP Seal Mother 1st July 2018

Seal Mother Sneak Peek 5

Well Happy #IndiePrideDay today we celebrate books by Indie Authors, and Spread The Word far and wide in hope of trending on Twitter. (It didn’t help that I got blocked  for retweeting too many times with similar # Hastags LOL).

Sadly I have been unable to get together a cover release to celebrate the day but I have put up a short teaser.

The Seal Mother YouTube Preview

So here hopefully for your pleasure, I have created a short preview on YouTube the first three verses. You will notice at the end there are a couple of faint images, they are a glimpse into what the illustrations could be like in the book and hopefully the final sketch will be the one to adorn the front of the final cover of the book.

On an oyster and pearl
kind of day
and oh how the waves
gently play.
As the sun pours down
upon waters calm,
the waves whisper to shore
like a soft spoken psalm.
~*~*~*~
The sea reaches out
to kiss golden sand,
like the gentle caress
of a warm mother’s hand.
One lonely seal
in the midst of the ocean
rolls on the waves
to the rhythmical motion.
~*~*~*~
The seal watches over
the child on the sand.
Her lovely young daughter
born of the land.
The girl sits on a rock
with her feet in the water,
Not yet aware
she’s the pretty seals daughter.
~*~*~*~

 

---

Seal Mother Sketches

TA DAH! The sketch Hannah has done for the design of the front cover. I have added the fonts just to give a very basic idea of what I have been looking for. I am no graphic artist so this is only a very VERY rough idea. Plus there is a peek at the image of Seal Mother finding her sealskin. Happy #IndiePrideDay

I still love it, I hope you do too. Click to enlarge.

Thank you for visiting, I hope to have news on a cover reveal soon.

Happy Reading

#WIP Seal Mother 30th June 2018

Seal Mother Sneak Peek 4

There is absolutley nothing like the satisfaction you get when you type and print out ‘The End’ on a final draft document, of your up coming book.  The illustrations are all by the young, talented, Hannah Ryan.

The Seal-Maid & children down on the sand.

So you already saw that I have written the end, but editing is not easy and being passed from one person to another means it can take such a long time. But I am almost there now.

In the distance he heard
his family outside.
So quick in the trunk
the skin he did hide.
He locked up the chest
with seconds to spare.
When they all stepped inside
they just stopped to stare.

---

Seal Mother Updates

Oh I have just discovered that Hannah’s beautiful illustrations have not translated well into digital. Meaning that the resolution is currently too small to use on the front of a book cover. It looks like I probably will not be able to do a cover reveal for #IndiePrideDay after all.

Hopefully that will be remedied soon. Meanwhile I will think on whether I should allow you a peek of the sketches done for the cover or not. Watch this space.

Thank you for your wonderful comments throughout social media concerning Seal Mother. Drop by tomorrow for #IndiePrideDay celebrating Indie Authors and their books.

 

Happy Reading

#WIP Seal Mother 27th June 2018

Seal Mother Sneak Peek 3

Click the image to enlarge. The illustrations are all by the young, talented, Hannah Ryan.

The Seal-Maid & Fisherman Marry.

So for today’s sneak peek you should already know that the handsome fisherman guided the Selkie home from the beach. Slowly she is adapting to her life on land but she longs for her family in the ocean.

Still no wiser about her missing sealskin, (which is locked in the deep dark, chest in the bedroom). She believes the fisherman to be a kind soul, he does indeed love her dearly and treats her with great kindness. The magical creature has brought light into his mundane life, and one day he asks her to marry him.

It has been many weeks since the Seal-maid’s beautiful pelt disappeared and she is losing hope. She needs protection in this strange world. Fearing humans, she keeps well away from them. However, slowly she grows fond of the fisherman, with his gentle caring ways. Eventually the Seal-maiden gives him a little piece of her heart, and then the pair are joined in wedlock.

On land it was hard for
the Seal-maid to cope.
Of finding her skin,
she was losing all hope.
Then the fisherman said
“You’ve brought light to my life,
I love you most dearly
so please be my wife?”

---

Seal Mother Updates

I hope you are enjoying these little insights into my Seal Mother – Selkie Tale in Verse. So the latest news is that Hannah is working on the cover for the book to be in FULL COLOUR, and fingers crossed we may be able to do a cover reveal on Sunday for #IndiePrideDay.

But to tease you a little bit more here is a sketch of one of the seals that could very well be adorning the cover.

 

Watch this space. Thanks for visiting if you enjoyed being here please share with your reader friends.

Happy Reading

#WIP ‘Seal Mother’ 25th June 2018

Seal Mother Sneak Peek 2

The illustrations are all by the young, talented, Hannah Ryan.

Seal Maiden Rescued??

So for today’s sneak peek the beautiful Seal-Maiden is trapped in her human form –  naked. Having had her sealskin stolen away on Midsummer’s Eve. (Click the image above to enlarge).

Meanwhile the young fisherman, who actually stole the prized shimmering skin, (under the sight of the Moon Goddess) is strolling along the beach hoping that the Selkie will be there and he can take her home to be his bride.

The sealskin was hers
this he knew from the start,
but they’d soon be together
she would be his sweetheart.
So he took off his coat
then when he felt bolder,
with tenderness he wrapped
the coat round her shoulders.

The handsome fisherman falls madly in love, he takes the lost, lonely maiden back to his cottage on the edge of the beach. He feeds and clothes this magical creature, whom he longs to take as his own. He is determined that she will become his wife.

All she longs for is to find her skin and return to her family in the sea. The Seal-maid is quite unaware that her beautiful pelt is only in the next room, locked away. Hidden from view in a deep, dark chest.

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Seal Mother Updates

I hope you are enjoying these little insights into my Seal Mother – Selkie Tale in Verse

It is unbelievable how quickly the tale is now coming together, after my sister-in-law Sylvia suggested I write the story in verse. It was only a matter of months since I went to visit her in Frecklton, Lancashire.

Sylv had to go to work, so she told me to perhaps look at turning the Seal Mother into a poem. Using a similar style to Young Ebenezer ~ A New Christmas Carol which I released Christmas 2017.

So I took myself to the pub, settled down with a latte (and then a white wine spritzer, well it was a pub it would have been rude not to). Within the 2hrs I waited I had re-written the whole story, and converted it into approximately a sixty verse poem. WOW I admit I shocked myself.

Finding an Illustrator

Hannah Ryan was sent to me by fate I believe. But I’ll tell you about that in another blog.

Watch this space. Thanks for visiting if you enjoyed being here please share with your reader friends.

Happy Reading

#WIP ‘Seal Mother’ 24th June 2018

Old Seal Mother Blog Posts

Oh my goodness I cannot believe how time flies, ‘Seal Mother’ has been a work in progress (WIP) for many years now. I cannot believe that when I just did a blog search it took me back to 2015. Below is a teaser from my original story. Click HERE to go to the earliest post I found.

About Seal Mother and the Selkie Sealfolk

‘Seal Mother’  is finally about to be released. It is the re-telling of a Selkie Tale. Legend has it that on certain times of the year a seal can come onto the land, shed their skin and take on a human form. Sadly if a seal had their skin stolen they would have to remain in human form. It is said fishermen often stole the skin and hid it away so as to get themselves a bride.

Many stories of the Selkie Sealfolk can be found online but my favourite source is Orkneyjar and the Heritage of the Orkney Islands. Click the Selkie image below to visit the website to find out a whole wealth of information on these magical creatures.

2018 Seal Mother Updates Sneak Peek 1

Now I am in the middle of final formatting, and even put my almost completed book into the CreatSpace reviewer for proof reading. I must say I am secretly pleased with how things are turning out. Take a sneak peek at the images below. The illustrations are lovingly created by Hannah Ryan a wonderful young lady currently studying at art college in the US. Click the image to enlarge (opens in a new window).

Seal Mother video on YouTube 2016

Thank you to Karan Casey & Friends for permission to use snippets from the beautiful album ‘Seal Maiden: a Celtic Musical’

My favourite ‘The Seasons’ is composed by Ger Wolfe with vocals by Karan. The Silkie Song’ vocals again by Karan Casey

Thank you for visiting, watch this space for further updates and a cover reveal coming soon.