Guest Post + Giveaway: Rhiannon Paille of Flame of Surrender

Today I have Rhiannon Paille, author of Flame of Surrender here with us talking about Mysticism in Flame of Surrender! Flame of Surrender is the first book in her new series called The Ferryman and The Flame, and it comes out on November 1st.

Afterwards, Rhi is giving one lucky winner an ARC copy of Flame of Surrender so be sure to enter that below the guest post!

Rhi was never a normal girl. She tried, but she couldn’t get rid of the visions, the voices in her head, and the hallucinations. When she was on the edge of crazy someone pulled her back and explained it all. She wasn’t insane. She was psychic, really psychic, too psychic. Her life was an urban fantasy wrapped in a paranormal romance and served with a side of horror. To escape her everyday weirdness she began writing fantasy. She frequents twitter and facebook, but if you really want to get to know her you should visit her site: www.rhiannonpaille.com.

Mysticism in Flame of Surrender

I had a great idea for this post but I don’t know where it went. I’m really excited to be taking over Sarah’s blog, though I hope I don’t break anything. She keeps it really clean in here. *looks around*

So Sarah asked me to talk about the mysticism in my book, and my first thought was, “What Mysticism?” and then I realized that oh right, I guess it is mystical, except for me it wasn’t.

The mysticism, most of it, is based on my real life experience of metaphysics, as well as what I’ve studied in metaphysics but can’t begin to do, and what I studied in Druidism and wish I had a boat to try out.

I still think about things like going to Scotland, taking a little wooden canoe out onto the ocean in the middle of a thick fog, saying some magickal words and hopefully, crossing my fingers and my toes, landing on the island of Avalon. I based Avristar on Avalon and there’s no point in keeping it a secret. If you read up on Avalon you’ll notice a lot of similarities. There’s the whole hidden island bit, the mists, the boat, the gargoyles, the land being alive, the great oak, etc. etc. I strayed from Avalonian folklore as much as I could when it came to my characters because I didn’t want overlap between the King Arthur stories and my story.

As my Beta Readers once told me, “Your story is original, don’t sully it by making it more like Lord of the Rings!”

And so I didn’t. I tried to combine as much of my knowledge as I could into the book. It’s tough to show the effects of ecopsychology in a fictional novel, but the relationship Kaliel has with the trees manages to pull it off. Similarly, the Celtic belief in Samhain and Beltane was interwoven into the story almost effortlessly.

My husband and kids actually celebrate Samhain and Beltane, so it’s not that different to me. (Although explaining it to all of my daughter’s elementary school teachers has been fun.)

In terms of super powers v.s. magic I went more with super powers. I believe that there’s a time and a place for magic and that it’s only necessary when a super power can’t produce the intended effect.

When it came to the Flames I had to be really careful about what they could do. I first used the folklore I had gathered from my guides and wrote down what the actual Flames can do. (Oh you didn’t know that the Flames are real? Google: Violet Flame) After I had what they could actually do I had to be creative because other characters in fiction have been able to do these things too and I wanted their abilities to be as unique as they are. I went into my notes on the 187 different psychic abilities and the 20 different Energy / Matter abilities, I consulted more with my guides and wrote a few different charts to keep it all straight in my mind. Whether the character gets a chance to showcase their ability is irrelevant to me, I just wanted to make sure when the time came, that it would be cool.

Doing away with all of that in the actual books, I actually think of the Flames as the embodiment of Magic. When I was studying Druidism at the Grove of Dana College, I learned that the Celtic People believed in only three elements, land, sea, and sky. The fourth element (which we would now refer to as the fifth element) was fire. Fire to them was magic, it was something that wasn’t a natural occurrence. Fire had to be created by the sky, sustained by the land and snuffed out by the sea.

I think of the Flames as these magical, mutable beings. They can do anything that they put their minds to, and each of them has their sort of signature moves, the things they can do very well.

In Kaliel’s case, she can heal, she’s telepathic, empathic and clairvoyant. As a weapon, she’s like a nuclear bomb. (Yes, I do have a list of the other weapons the flames represent)

Of course, there was still room for more. When I was discovering more about Krishani it was clear that he had telekinesis, and other forms of kinesis abilities. His abilities work differently, they activate during intense stress, or when he’s forcing them. They are volatile and spontaneous. Krishani has a tendency to be afraid of letting loose because of the destruction he always causes when he does. His abilities are more akin to storms, fires, floods and other natural disasters. I believe he gained these abilities from birth, and while he grew up in a place with others who had similar abilities, he’s always had trouble with focus and control. I also think that these abilities help him as a Ferryman, they’re almost survival instincts as he doesn’t showcase these abilities except when threatened.

I’m going to try to summarize this . . . Flame of Surrender deals with psychic, energy and matter abilities that come naturally to the characters, a few off the wall abilities, a few abilities that come out when characters are stressed and metaphysics that I have personally experienced or fell in love with when studying Druidism. I tried to include as much of my knowledge as possible, without overloading the reader and making it incomprehensible or awkward and confusing.

And it only took me about four years to figure out how to do that . . . but now that I got it, there’s going to be six and a half books in the series! (yay!)

Namaste,
Rhi

Giveaway

Thanks for stopping by Rhi! It’s amazing all the real-life experiences you went through to write a fantasy novel. How fun!

Okay, are you guys ready to WIN it up?! Here’s what you could get:

ONE lucky winner (in US or Canada) will get an ARC copy of Flame of Surrender! Enter using the Rafflecopter form below.

Giveaway Rules

You must be a Google Friend Connect follower (here on I’m Loving Books and at Rhiannon’s Blog).
One winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter.
Open to US & Canada Only.
Open between October 17th-October 23rd. Form closes at 12:01am on October 24th.
Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter. Just click “I Did This” after you’ve done each step.
The winner will be notified by email and can provide their mailing address then.

Giveaway Entry Form

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