Tag Archives: Dubh Linn

Magical Places of Dubh Linn: The Hellfire Club

New Books, New releases, Photo Moments, , , ,

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

New Books, New releases, Out and About, Photo Moments, , , ,

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

Excerpts, Photo Moments, Publications, Uncategorized, Writing Life, , , ,
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.

#IntheWild

Cover Love, Excerpts, Free Read, New Books, New releases, Out and About, Photo Moments, , , ,

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
DubrayGSt2
Dubray Grafton Street
DubrayGSt3
Dubray Grafton Street
DubrayStill
Dubray Stillorgan
HodgesFiggisERM
Hodges Figgis
DubrayDL
Dubray Dun Laoghaire
WaterstonesDrog1
Waterstones Drogheda
WaterstonesDrog2
Waterstones Drogheda
WaterstonesDrog3
Waterstones Drogheda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Back home and box of joy

Cover Love, New Books, New releases, Young Adult, ,

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.

A Crack in Everything Playlist

links and stuff, Music post, New Books, ,

Obviously music is important in A Crack in Everything so I thought I would share some of the songs that inspired various aspects of the story and the characters. There are actually a lot more than on this list (it changes as the mood takes me), and some versions I personally prefer to others. I tried to restrict this list to one song by an artist, but… yeah, I’m not very good at that in real life. There’s a lot of Florence + the Machine and Camille O’Sullivan going on at the best of times. And two Camille covers just had to be the ones.

Playlist

I could go on for ages about the different songs and why I picked them. If you’ve any questions, just ask.

There’s also a YouTube playlist but not all of the versions I chose are up there, so we’ve Elkie Brook’s version of Lilac Wine instead of Camille O’Sullivan for example. Why not Jeff Buckley? Well… there’s a debate for another day. Why The Fratelli’s version of All Along the Watchtower?

I am a big fan of covers and reinterpretation, especially in music. I like new versions of old things. I like seeing things afresh. And sometimes they say something a little bit closer to what I was aiming for in the book.

Hope you enjoy.

News Glorious News: a New Series

New Books, Writing Life,

At last I can share the news I have been sitting on until all the i’s were dotted and the t’s crossed.

Then we’ll all do a happy dance, okay?

I’m writing a new YA series for O’Brien Press, set in Dublin and its surroundings (although probably ranging further afield as well) featuring the folklore of the Sidhe, the Irish fairies, and their angelic and demonic cousins. I’m so excited for this one as it has been a while in the making and I’m so delighted to be working with O’Brien Press. I’ll post more about it’s inception and the world these characters inhabit as we get nearer the time. I can’t wait to share it all with you.

The first book in the series “A Crack in Everything” will be out towards the end of next year.

And now for that happy dance, let us all run amok!

Amok