Today’s guest is just gearing up to put out her first work. She expects to have a short story available at Amazon starting on the 24th. While you wait for that, please get to know C. B., and get acquainted with her work.

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Bio: C.B. Mac Gillavry studied English and Dutch literature, she has an affinity for Colonial Dutch literature. C.B., like so many authors, started writing as soon as she was able to write, although the actual reading started at a later stadium, with the discovery of Jane Austen. She enjoys many different genres and writers, preferably in the original language. The environment is a key topic in her writings and she ideally writes for young adults, in the hope of enchanting them, even if just for a short while.

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The Eco fantasy series Domus Dianae for young adults is composed, so far, of novels and short stories revolving around a group of characters of various nature and backgrounds.

Supermoon.

The first short novel’s main character is a girl of seventeen, Victoria Springer, who finds herself endangered by three people. Their goal is to pollute the Lake Garda and kill the girl. She finds out that she has magical powers she was destined to have, thanks to the aid of people and fantastic creatures who live in and around a highly magical place. From very shy and reluctant, she grows to accept a more active role in the story. She also learns about dragons and fairies, gnomes and magic, and at the end of the novel she finds love.

Here be dragons! A Michaelmas tale.

The first short story picks up where the novel has left, with the main character struggling to accept her new relationship and finding out more about the boy she loves. She is taught about certain mechanics in the magical world and has to fight against poachers in order to save the life of a group of nymphs and the dragons from exposure.

The lights of Saint John. A Fairy’s Tale.

The second short story is a fairy tale, the main character is Agatha the fairy, who has to overcome her past issues with long lost lovers and grow towards another more suitable partner, a nature spirit she encounters on a quest. She has to help him find the golden cloth, in order to save nature from the greed of men. She fight against her last lover, which is also a metaphor for her fighting against all the wrong he has done to her.

Domus Dianae is the magical place on the shores of the Lake Garda, Italy, around which the series revolves. There is an ecological theme waving through every individual story, together with a quote from Shakespeare and a song setting the tone of the  individual tales. The fantasy element also brushes against both real historical events and Greek mythology, as the place chosen for the tales has historically been home to a Greek colony and further inhabited throughout history.

The series will include at least two more short stories and a longer novel (work in progress), mostly set in Indonesia.

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“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright.
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear.”
–Romeo from “Romeo and Juliet” (1.5.43-45)

William Shakespeare

The Lights of Saint John – a Fairy’s Tale

By C.B. Mac Gillavry

Once upon a time, there lived a small, golden fairy who went by the name of Agatha. She lived among many other magical creatures, on the shores of the great blue lake, in an enchanted valley that carried the name of Valtenesi, Valley of the Athenians.

The little fairy had long straight blond hair and was known for her sweet smile that reflected her kind nature. She was able to fly thanks to transparent golden wings that looked far to big for her. They were adorned with very delicate and almost watermarked patterns.

Agatha was the one who was in charge of breeding and training the fireflies that embellished the fields on hot summer nights. Whilst she was preparing for the summer to come, for the feast of Saint John, she stopped at the house of her friend. Susanna was the human who lived in the Domus Dianae, the most magical place on the western shore of the Lake Garda.

It was a bright and shiny morning when Agatha flew into the enchanted garden, the sun shone golden in the light blue sky…

‘Georgie! Come back here. You’ll burn down all the trees…’ Twang ran after the electric blue dragon, while Susanna rushed to and fro with pans of water to put out the little fires. All the while she kept repeating the word no, like a never ending mantra, under her breath.

‘What’s going on?’ Victoria asked.

‘Little George is being a bit naughty. He was supposed to lit a small fire, but the thing got out of hand…’ Susanna yelled over her shoulder.

Victoria and Joe looked at the scene holding hands. They both sighed at once. The girl looked up to her boyfriend and asked, ‘Do you think I should do something?’

He turned his head to her, then to the scene and back to her again. He nodded,‘I’m afraid so.’

Victoria sighed and placed her hands against an imaginary wall. She closed her eyes, muttered a few words and big splashes water fell out of the sky right above the little fires. One after the other, the flames dimmed and turned into thin gray smoke plumes that snaked up to the sky.

‘Well done!’ Joe cheered.

Susanna sagged to the ground and the chanting stopped at once as well.

‘Come here, you little devil!’ said Twang brightly, when she took advantage of the little dragon’s surprise. He only looked up at the sky where the water had suddenly come from.

‘I guess this’ll do for the moment.’ Victoria added dryly.

The little fairy whizzed into the garden and called merrily to the others, ‘Having a bit of a problem with the pup?’

Twang took the dragon by the collar and pulled him gently towards the house. ‘I suppose… He’s lovely when he wants to be. He is an adolescent right now, so I have to work hard to make him behave. Dragons should be treated with a gentle hand, otherwise they might turn aggressive.’

Agatha smiled broadly. Susanna got up and slowly regained her composure. She turned to the fairy and said, ‘Hello dear Agatha, what brings you here?’

‘Oh, I’m on my way to the grass fields. I still have to pick the spot.’

‘You seem cheerful.’ Noted the woman.

‘I am! For the first time in a very long time, I am… and I want to keep it this way. I can’t wait to show you how well the Lights are doing.’ She rose in the sky again, waved at the others, and shot away laughing, enveloped in her golden light.

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LINKS

Author’s Site