At last year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival, I picked up a book on Scottish myths and legends. I was spellbound. Some of those stories kindled my imagination and made me look at my homeland through fresh eyes.

Living in Scotland is awesome. Soaring mountains, inky lochs, thousand-acre skies – just looking at our scenery is an inspiration in itself. And folk tales abound – perhaps a relic of a time when the only thing to do in the long dark winter nights was to sit around the fire and spin a yarn.

It was around this time that I was reading Anthea Sharp’s Feyland, and thinking about a contribution for Samuel Peralta’s Chronicle Worlds anthology. Nearly everything I write is set in Scotland, so it seemed natural to combine the two, and to use some of our stories about the ‘fairy folk’ to inspire my Feyland piece, Unicorn Magic.

But as I wrote about Corinne and Elphin, I realised that their full story couldn’t be told in five thousand words. They had a bigger tale to tell – a tale that will awaken ambitions, enmity and sleeping kings.

In the end, I drafted outlines for a four-part series, The Celtic Fey. Unicorn Magic is the start of the series, which continues with Kelpie Curse: A Feyland Urban Fantasy Tale (The Celtic Fey Book 2)

Kelpie Curse: A Feyland Urban Fantasy Tale (The Celtic Fey Book 2)

Legends aren’t supposed to come to life…

Cursed by an evil crone and trapped in the icy wastes of the faerie realm, all peace-loving Elphin wants is to return home. But the terms of his enchantment make him despair for his future – until Scots teenager Corinne MacArthur stumbles into his world. And into mortal danger.

Aspiring show-jumper Corinne has been playing the virtual reality game Feyland to escape the sadness haunting her everyday life. But the game is more than just a game, and the legendary creatures she meets are more than just legends. Legends that can bargain for your talents – or take your life.

To save Corinne from her untimely fate, Elphin needs to become a hero. Her champion. He needs to keep her safe from the otherworldly creatures who inhabit the realm. He needs to become more than just a legend…

Labyrinth meets National Velvet, Kelpie Curse is the 2nd book in the Celtic Fey series set in Anthea Sharp’s Feyland universe (with her kind permission). Whilst this is a stand-alone book with a full story arc, you might enjoy reading the series from the first story, Unicorn Magic, which can be found in the anthology Chronicle Worlds: Feyland, amzn.com/B01HJBPUWA.

This is a clean urban fantasy suitable for Young Adults which is set in Scotland (and the faerie realm) and uses British English spelling and grammar.

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A finalist in the global Hugh Howey Booktrack writers’ competition, Roz Marshall lives in Scotland with her husband and the obligatory dog and cat. Her writing experience includes screenwriting, songwriting, web pages and even sentiments for greeting cards!

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