Magical Places of Dubh Linn: The Hellfire Club

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Hellfire

Montpelier Hill looms large in the supernatural tales of Dublin and even larger in Dubh Linn. Standing on top of it is the Hellfire Club, once a hunting lodge built in 1725. Stones from the cairn beside it were used in the construction and that sort of thing never ends well. It was used by members of the Irish Hellfire Club for meetings and the stories of wild behaviour, gambling, drunkenness and deals with the devil soon followed. They abandoned it after a fire which was reputedly started by one of the members when a footman spilled his brandy. His solution? Setting the man on fire.

Strange occurances, ghostly reports and bad luck continue to be associated with the Hellfire Club.

 

Magical Places of Dubh Linn: Sídheway gate on Bray Head

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Sidheway

Doorways to Dubh Linn are everywhere. Sometimes they can be seen and sometimes not, but there’s always some sort of marker, something to identify them. While doing research for A Hollow in the Hills on Bray Head we came across this tree (or maybe these trees?) right in the middle of the path (I use the term loosely, it’s quite a scramble). I had to put it in.

Magical places of Dubh Linn: Shielmartin Hill

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Sheilmartin Hill, Howth in A Hollow in the Hills by Ruth Frances Long
Shielmartin Hill, Howth in A Hollow in the Hills by Ruth Frances Long

Shielmartin hill is part of Howth Head, overlooking Dublin and features in A Hollow in the Hills. Local tradition says that the cairn on the summit was the burial place of Crimthann. Most of the summit appears to be made up of the cairn, with other cairns built on top of it.

One of my many magical places around Dublin featuring in A Crack in Everything and A Hollow in the Hills.

I’m going to post some more of them over the next while.  Stay tuned.

In the meantime check out the Goodreads giveaway running for another 8 days.

Booklaunch

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Windows

We had a wonderful evening on Wednesday. Thank you to everyone who came along or send good wishes. And thank you especially to Bob and the staff of The Gutter Bookshop for putting on such an amazing night.

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Meanwhile, over on Goodreads, The O’Brien Press are giving away three copies of A Hollow in the Hills. You can enter here.

And in their review of A Hollow in the Hills Parents in Touch said ‘Brilliantly drawn characters & a tightly knit plot combine to make an exhilarating read.’

A Hollow in the Hills Playlist

Uncategorized

To celebrate the release of A Hollow in the Hills (all right, it escaped a bit early  but I think they have it firmly under control now) here is my playlist –

AHollowInTheHillsPlaylist

There are songs for different characters, and various events. There are songs that are for overall mood as well.

And you can listen to them on YouTube too.

A Hollow in the Hills is out now from O’Brien Press and available at your local bookshop or online.

Something is stirring beneath Dubh Linn.
When an ancient and forbidden power is unleashed, Izzy, who is still coming to terms with her newfound powers, must prevent a war from engulfing Dublin and the fae realm of Dubh Linn. But by refusing to sacrifice Jinx – fae warrior and her ‘not-really-ex’ – Izzy sets in motion a chain of events which will see them hunted across the city and into the hills where she’ll face the greatest challenge of all. In the deepest and darkest Hollow, an angel of death is waiting …and the price he asks for his help might be too high …

#IntheWild

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I think we can all blame thank the fabulous Celine Kiernan for #InTheWild. I asked for pitures of A CavanCKHollow in the Hills if anyone saw it in the wild. So she put it in a bush and sent me a photo.

As you do in Cavan….

(thank you Celine! You are fab!)

Poor Jinx, however does not appreciate nature in any form. He’s a city fae.

And then others got in on the act. 😀

DundrumJC
John in Dundrum

 

 

Eventually, even I gave in.

LibraryCows
With the library cows

 

 

Luckily the booksellers of Dublin and Drogheda came to our Jinx’s rescue

Here it is on the shelves. Not quite in its natural habitat though. That would be the hands of readers.

If you see A Hollow in the Hills out in the wild, send me a photo – @rflong #IntheWild #Galavanting (because that’s clearly what it’s doing) #HollowInTheHills.

DubrayGSt
Dubray Grafton Street
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Dubray Grafton Street
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Dubray Grafton Street
DubrayStill
Dubray Stillorgan
HodgesFiggisERM
Hodges Figgis
DubrayDL
Dubray Dun Laoghaire
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Waterstones Drogheda
WaterstonesDrog2
Waterstones Drogheda
WaterstonesDrog3
Waterstones Drogheda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news, check out Dublin2019 Irish Fiction Friday today – featuring me!

Literary Listings…

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A nice little mention of the upcoming book launch for A Hollow in the Hills appeared in the Irish Times while I was away (12th August).

“In crime fiction, Louise Phillips’s new novel The Game Changer launches on Tuesday, September 8th, while the launch for A Hollow in the Hills by Ruth Frances Long takes place the following evening, September 9th. Lastly, the short story writer ER Murray launches her anticipated debut children’s novel The Book of Learning on Tuesday, September 15th. All events take place in the shop’s Temple Bar outlet in Dublin 2 from 6.30 – 8pm.”

I’m hoping to get to both Louise’s and ER Murray’s launches too. Both lovely ladies and terrific writers.

Read the full article here.

Back home and box of joy

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I’m back from holidays. Had a wonderful time and got a ton of writing done on book 3. Plus tons of research for the fabled Brittany book which I will get around to writing one day. And some reading to boot.

And best of all a box full of copies of A Hollow in the Hills arrived today.

A Hollow in the Hills has landed
A Hollow in the Hills has landed

Roll on the release day on the 7th September and the booklaunch in the Gutter Bookshop at 6.30pm on the 9th September. All welcome. Come and celebrate.

Giveaway for #IrishFictionFortnight & More Booklaunch news

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IFFI’m very excited to be part of Irish Fiction Fortnight on the BleachHouseLibrary website. This year I wrote about a book that had a huge influence on what I write today. It’s called The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O’Shea and you can read all about it here. 

There’s also a giveaway for a signed copy of A Crack in Everything.

Another exciting bit of news is that Kate Johnson has very kindly agreed to launch A Hollow in the Hills in the Gutter Bookshop, Dublin on the 9th September at 6.30pm. Come one, come all. Kate is a fantastic writer and I’m particularly addicted to her books The Untied Kingdom and Impossible Things. Or maybe its her heroes… 😉 Especially the next one, from the Ghost Book which doesn’t have a name yet but is AWESOME! And is partly set in Dublin.

So another reason, as if you needed one, to come to the book launch.

Lastly, I’m going to be going dark in the next couple of days as I’m working on book 3 and doing some travelling, and hopefully some research as well!