Do You Believe In Fairies?

Hi, Helen Scott Taylor here. I’m excited to share that today is the release date of my debut Paranormal Romance, The Magic Knot. This book won American Title IV back in April 2008, and all these months later, it has finally arrived in bookstores. To celebrate, I’d like to share some of my thoughts on the paranormal world and fairies in particular.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to believe there are magical beings living alongside us in this modern world that we don’t know about? Beings of preternatural beauty with powers of which we humans can only dream. Beings that live life in tune with a natural world of spirit and magic that we have left behind with our dependence on modern technology.

Before I wrote my paranormal romance The Magic Knot, I pondered what sort of paranormal world I’d like to set my story in. So many authors have written fabulous stories about vampires and shape shifters I wanted to try something different. When I researched the fairy world, I discovered that according to the myth and legend of many countries and cultures, fairies include just about every type of magical paranormal creatures you can imagine. Fairy creatures include vampires and shape shifters. Some fairies are beautiful, some hideous, some benevolent, some malicious, and they come in all shapes and sizes.

Reading my research books on myth, legend, and magical creatures, I realised the fairy world provided a rich source of material to develop my own paranormal world, and the fairy world of the Magic Knot fairies was born in my mind. 

The Magic Knot is set in the South West of England in Cornwall, and in Ireland. My hero Niall O’Connor is half Tuatha dé Danaan and half leprechaun. (He gets rather touchy if anyone teases him about leprechauns!) The Tuatha dé Danaan are a romance writer’s gift: a race of tall, beautiful fairy people descended from the Greek gods who travelled to Ireland millennia ago. My heroine Rose is half-human and half Cornish pisky. The term pisky is from where the better-known pixies originated. In ancient folk law, piskies are small fairies, usually mischievous. In The Magic Knot fairy world, I have bent the rules and made them human sized. 

As the fairy peoples or ‘The Good People’ live in harmony with the natural world, my fairies are all associated with one of the four elements, earth, air, fire, or water. Both Cornish piskies and leprechauns are of the earth. So both Rose and Niall are earth elementals. But I had fun with the Irish fairy queen who is a fire elemental and wields fire to lethal effect. Niall’s father is an air elemental and can walk unseen through the air.

One of my favourite secondary characters is my own invention. Nightshade is a vampiric winged fairy called a nightstalker. He is human sized and he can defy the laws of physics and fly. His name derives from his ability to turn into a shade—like a shadow. For me, one of the most enjoyable parts of writing paranormal romance is dreaming up the world and the beings that inhabit that world. The Magic Knot is a contemporary set story, so the magical world is blended with our more mundane world. The hero Niall rides a motor cycle and plays the stock market using his leprechaun touch of luck to make money. 

On my website, I have a fun quiz where you can answer questions and find out if your element is earth, air, fire, or water. If you take the quiz, come back, and tell us what element you are and if you think it fits your personality. If you would like to read the first two chapters of The Magic Knot and sample my fantasy world, please go to my blog. Join Rose as she sets out for what she believes to be a normal accountancy job. She slowly discovers that in the mystical depths of rural Cornwall there is a world full of magical creatures she never even dreamed of. And she is one of them

The Magic Knot Back Cover Copy

HE’S A BIKER WITH AN ATTITUDE
What woman wouldn’t be attracted to Niall O’Connor’s soft Irish brogue and dark good looks? But Rosenwyn Tremain must find her father, and she isn’t going to let a sexy, stubborn Irishman and his motorcycle distract her. Rose’s intuition tells her he’s hiding something, a secret even the cards cannot divine. Her tarot deck always reads true, but how can one man represent both Justice and Betrayal?

SHE’S A WOMAN ON A MISSION
Magic. Niall’s body tingles with it when he finds the woman snooping in his room. Rosenwyn might believe she’s a no-nonsense accountant, but her essence whispers to him of ancient fairy magic that enslaves even as it seduces. Her heritage could endanger those he’d die to protect, but her powers and her passion, if properly awakened, might be the only thing that can save both their families, vanquish a fairy queen bent on revenge, and fulfill a prophecy that will bind their hearts together with…THE MAGIC KNOT

Helen Scott Taylor  www.HelenScottTaylor.com