My Favourite Irish Myth

You might think my favourite Irish myth would be the one I used to start the Modern Irish Myth series. You would be wrong.

While I love the story of Balor of the Evil Eye, it's not my favourite. No, my favourite is the Salmon of Knowledge. Not only does it tell the story of a young boy become a veritable genius, not only does it break down the stereotype that the old man in a story has to be wise (after all - it's wisdom and knowledge he's looking for), and not only does it demonstrate that short-cuts to knowledge and power aren't always as simple as they might appear, it's also full of little twists that make it more memorable.

The young Fionn MacCumhaill, the namesake of Balor Reborn's protagonist, is sent to serve the poet Finn Eces, who proceeds to capture the Salmon. Fionn is told to cook the fish - because Finn cannot possibly do that for himself - with instructions not to eat it. Whomever first eats of the Salmon of Knowledge, the story goes, will gain all the knowledge in the world.

Fionn, in doing his job, prods the fish with his thumb to see if it is cooked. When he burns his thumb on a drop of fat that comes off the fish, he sucks his thumb. From that moment on, the Salmon's knowledge is within Fionn!

When the poet realises what has happened, he instructs Fionn to eat the entire fish. Some stories tell of the poet growing angry from Fionn instead, when he realises that he isn't experiencing any of the so-called wisdom that should have been his when he ate the Salmon himself.

The end result is the same, though: whenever Fionn MacCumhaill bites his thumb, he gains access to the knowledge of the world. This allowed him to become the leader of the Fianna, a band of heroes in Irish mythology, and ultimately defeated the fire-breathing fairy Aileen.

He was a hero of good-standing, and his "origin story" is one that has amused children for years. (And, it seems, grown men.)

Why Irish Mythology?

Before I wrote Balor Reborn, I wrote up a list of options for myself, books I could see myself writing but hadn't yet planned. I emailed that list to three people and asked for feedback. Two out of three responded in favour of the Irish myth story that was Balor Reborn (the third didn't have a preference).

Out of that brief email exchange, I committed myself to the idea.

But why Irish mythology? Out of everything I could have written, Irish mythology is fairly unknown. Greek mythology is much more well known. So is Norse mythology, and Egyptian mythology.

And here I was, turning to the Irish. Yes, I'm a native and a resident, but that doesn't mean much these days. Rick Riordan is American and writes about Greek mythology. Alan Early is Irish but writes about Norse mythology.

The stories of Irish folklore and mythology just weren't touched upon that much, and I saw a sense of excitement in that. Here was Balor, a murderous, giant invader with a single eye and an army behind him. Or the literal black dog that, as in many stories, is a symbol of death. Here were fairies and gods that slipped away from general knowledge into ancient history, and heroes with magical powers and objects.

I could have written an urban fantasy series. I could have written about bullying and abuse of power. I could have written about alcoholism and the Irish way. I could have written about mutants or the powers of Heaven. Instead, I chose Balor. I chose to tell the story of an unlikely hero. I chose to give the world magic again. I chose the wonder of the old meeting the excitement of the new.

Day 19: Too Hot to Handle

I'm going to keep this brief, because even though it's half eleven at night, my room is still uncomfortably warm. That said, once I'm done writing this I'm going to get tea. I'm a writer, I'm Irish, deal with it.

Let it be said, the following complaint about the heat is not because of my fair complexion or the ginger in my hair. No, I would be complaining about the sun if that were the case. I'm just uncomfortably hot pretty much all of the time right now, even when I'm indoors, in the shade, with a cold drink.

Productivity levels have fallen to an almighty low. Needless to say, I'm thankful for the "encouragement" I had to write and post the flash stories this week, or I might not have written a single word. If this heat keeps up, I probably won't finish writing The Blood of Leap until August.

Yes, it's looking like I won't reach my Camp NaNoWriMo target. To be fair, I set it expecting an Irish summer. We usually get temperatures in the late teens, three days max if we're lucky, and separated by at least as many days ridiculously chilled, cloudy or raining (though the rain usually comes when there's clouds.) I expected to be indoors and trying to keep warm. Or at least not looking for the coldest room in the house. (Downstairs toilet, in case you're wondering. Pity it's not exactly office material. Nowhere for a laptop.)

That said, I do intend to keep working on. My aim all along has been to write the books, and write them I shall. Next week, if this heat persists, I'll move the laptoparoonie down to the kitchen again on a daily basis.

Anyway, I did do some writing today. The latest flash story. Entitled Helping Hand, it's the last of the four stories that celebrates the release of The Hounds of Hell by filling in the gaps in "normal" people's lives since the events of Balor Reborn. While one story is set after The Hounds of Hell, the others are all beforehand. Today's story actually takes place during the same time-frame as Balor Reborn, which was fun, and addresses a missing element a friend of mine pointed out.

You can read it here: http://modernirishmyth.com/helping-hand/

Tomorrow, I've got a lot of other business to attend to, but you know I'll still be blogging. In the meantime, we're into the last eight hours or so of the giveaway of Balor Reborn and Old Gods Returned. You can find the obligatory links below. I hope you enjoy the read.

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Balor Reborn (US/IRL):https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008S1FGFW
Balor Reborn (UK):https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008S1FGFW

Old Gods Returned (US/IRL):https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00963VXXA
Old Gods Returned (UK):https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00963VXXA

You can also buy The Hounds of Hell at either of the links below:
US/IRL: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DYQNTZA
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DYQNTZA

Day 16: The One with the Publication

Publication day was fun. I had to add in a couple of things to the file before uploading to Amazon, but it's finally done: The Hounds of Hell has been published!

I had planned to do a couple of things for publication day, but that didn't quite work out the way I wanted to. I'd forgotten that the actual publication process took a while when using Amazon, so it wasn't until a few hours ago (and much later into the day) that the book was actually available for purchase. Anyway, I've sorted those little extras out for tomorrow. (So keep an eye on the social media sites!)

In the meantime, I kept to one of my plans: I released a new flash story! Entitled The Poet and the Bride, it's available to read on the Modern Irish Myth site here: http://modernirishmyth.com/the-poet-and-the-bride/

I have three more planned that I need to write that will be going live over the next three days. I think it's a fun way to celebrate the release of a book, to publish a few short stories for people to enjoy for free. Naturally, I had to start with Ogma. He's probably my favourite character to write about in the series.

The writing today hasn't even begun, unless you count the flash story. I should count that, right?

Anyway, I'll be getting on to that. In the meantime, you can check out the little details about The Hounds of Hell below.

Dogs are going wild in Galway, unable to be killed. Gathering around a black hound, they put Ireland at risk.

In the aftermath of Balor’s attack on Dublin City, Fionn Murray and Michael Curran travel back to Fionn’s hometown in Galway, to visit his sickly parents. With the help of his childhood friend, Emily Shanahan, Fionn hopes to nurse his parents back to health. At the same time, he hopes to find some answers about his birth parents.

With the local hospital filling up with victims of dog attacks, and a superhuman neighbour to deal with, Ireland’s chosen hero has another evil to stand up to. The hounds of hell are on the roam, and no one living is safe.

Available here: http://www.amazon.com/Hounds-Hell-Modern-Irish-ebook/dp/B00DYQNTZA/