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Author Guest Post - Clare Austin

Readers, please join me welcoming Clare Austin, author of Butterfly who will be guest blogging here today!


Aug 31…

August has flitted past on Butterfly’s wings. My novel has been available for about six weeks now and all I can hope is the results of my promotional efforts are getting my book in the hands of readers.

So far the response to this first story in my Fadá½¹ Trilogy has been enthusiastic.

Butterfly has several themes. Music is paramount of course because it is about a family of musicians. It got me thinking again on the question “why music?”

I’m not a cultural anthropologist, but I suspect that throughout the history of humankind, it would be difficult to find a cultural group who had no music. It is likely as basic as an unborn child responding to the pulsing of her mother’s heart.

Why do we react at a deep emotional level to one musical genre and not another? I can listen to Chinese music, but I have to admit, it doesn’t call to my soul like an Irish lament or make my heart pound in rhythm with a bodhrán beat. Is it nature or nurture? Both, I believe.

Perhaps because the Irish had no written language in early history, bards, musicians and storytellers…seanchaí…had a special, elevated position in the culture. If you have spent any time in “the land of saints and scholars” you have seen and heard this for yourself. From the earliest telling of the Táin Bó Cúailnge …a classic tale of Queen Maebh of Connacht and Ulster hero Cúchulainn… to the popular novelist Maeve Binchy, the Irish have coveted their image as a literary society. They have also made an impact on modern music. If you haven’t heard of Van Morrison, you have probably heard his music…Brown Eyed Girl, Moondance, Gloria…yes, sounds like American blues, but, all Irish. From the Chieftains to Bono or Enya, Irish music has captured the hearts of western culture. Perhaps it is the primordial ability to tell a story.

My main character, Flannery Sloane, is a fiddler. Yes, the similarity between this author and Flannery stops there. Well, okay…red hair, green eyes…but that’s it. I’ve been around musicians all my life and am wife to one and mother to a houseful. When we get together we have two fiddles, guitar, piano, flute, banjo and the Irish drum. Our sons were exposed to music of all kinds from conception…really and they all started making music of their own as tiny children. Only one has made it his life’s work and he is the prototype for my Flannery.

I hope I have, in Butterfly, given the reader not only an intense romance, a gripping and emotional glimpse at the impact of family secrets and a humorous romp through Flannery’s bohemian lifestyle, but a curiosity about Irish traditional music and an insight into the world of musicians.

Thank you for having me on your blog today.

Clare

If anyone has questions, please feel free to comment here.

You can also contact me at my email authorclare@gmail.com or see more of my books at my website www.clareaustin.com

Butterfly is available through www.thewildrosepress.com and most online booksellers in trade paperback and electronic editions.

Thank you for that post, dear Author! Readers, your thoughts / comments are most welcome.

This guest post is courtesy Goddess Fish Promotions.
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Comments

  1. What a beautiful post ... it does seem that music touches an ancient part of us. I'll be on the lookout for Butterfly.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've got your button - left sidebar at:
    www.libslibrary.blogspot.com

    Thanks

    libneas[at]aol[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for your comments and I hope you enjoy Butterfly.

    Clare

    ReplyDelete

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