Cornelia Amiri

Halloween in May, wow it’s Beltane (May Day) and Samhain (Halloween) all rolled into one. Have you ever dressed up like a vampire for Halloween? Are gone as a fairy? If you went as one of the dark Celtic fey you could be a vampire and a fairy at the same time. From Manx and Irish mythology the Lhiannan Shee (lannan-shee) and the Leanan Sidhe (lan-awn shee) are vampiric fey women. A Leanan Sidhe is a succubus muse, targeting poets or musicians. She inspires her victim to create a great masterpiece by inflaming them with the creativity of an entire lifetime at once. Then, she drains them of all that artistic energy, so the men die shortly after. The Lhiannan Shee, drain their moral lovers of their blood and store it in a red cauldron in an underwater cave. Something about that struck me as funny. So I wrote a paranormal/comedy romance about a Leanan Sidhe on the Isle of Man, A Fine Cauldron of Fish, which is in e-book and paperback from Eternal Press.

Here’s a blurb and a short, funny excerpt from A Fine Cauldron of Fish:

It’s summer on the Isle of Man and Andrew is looking for hot girls and good times. So when he meets the dreamy and seductive Margaid, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot. There are only a couple of minor problems. Margaid lives in a cave under the sea, is invisible, and thinks that only Andrew’s blood can saver her from turning into a kelpie! But hey, whoever said love was perfect?

Excerpt:

Before Margaid could answer, the guy shook his head at Andrew. "It's okay. You can keep my shirt. Although I don't know how you're holding it when your arm's about four inches away from it, but hey, I'm sure I simply had too much to drink. Keep it, that's fine.”
"What? No, I don't want your shirt. Margaid, well she thought I wanted it, but-"
"No, don't let him go." Margaid shook her red head. "You do want his shirt. And you need his pants, too."

Before Andrew knew what was happening, she shoved the shirt into his arms. Then she turned back to the quaking man and grabbed hold of his waist. "Oh, no, Margaid, don't do it." The moment Andrew yelled out, he knew she wasn't going to listen. He watched in utter horror as she unsnapped the poor man's jeans, yanked down his zipper, and slid his pants all the way to his ankles. Damn, I'm glad he's wearing underwear. Black boxers with writing all over them. What does that say? Andrew read aloud, "B is for big."

There’s another Celtic vampiric fey, the Scottish baobhan sith (baa'-van shee), who wear green dresses and in some legends have goat hooves for feet. Like the Manx, Lhiannan Shee, they don’t have fangs, their nails extend like claws and they rake them down their lovers back to draw blood. They are known as the dancing vampires. Of course I thought what a great character for an erotica paranormal romance and I wrote a short story with a baobhan sith, Vampire Dancer, in the vampire erotic/romance anthology, Sleeping With the Undead, which is in e-book and paperback from L & L Dreamspell.

Some of the other ways Celtic vampires differ from their more traditional, fang growing counterparts is they don’t turn mortals and no one stakes them through the heart. But if you are able to resist the charms of a Lhiannan Shee or Leanan Sidhe they become your slave. Also if they do seduce you, the only way to save yourself is find someone to take your place or to appeal to the Sea God, who can free you if he chooses. With the baobhan sith it’s all about the carin, just build one over there grave and they will be gone, they have to return there.

I’ll be leaving you now too, but drop by
http://www.eternalpress.ca/afinecauldronoffish.html and
http://www.lldreamspell.com/SleepingwiththeUndead.htm any time and please visit me at http://www.myspace.com/CelticRomanceQueen