Jodi McIsaac is joining us today with her novel Among the Unseen. Here’s the publisher’s description.
Life just keeps getting more complicated for Cedar McLeod. As the recently crowned queen of Tír na nÓg, she’s trying to understand her magical new kingdom, even as she misses her life back on Earth. It doesn’t help that a dear friend has just betrayed her—a betrayal that almost cost Cedar and her family their lives. And things aren’t easy at home, either, as Cedar’s seven-year-old daughter, Eden, lost and lonely in Tír na nÓg despite her special powers, has become painfully distant.
Cedar vows to do whatever it takes to protect her family once and for all, and starts rounding up those who plotted against her. But then a new disaster breaks out: a mysterious sickness is plaguing the Unseen, Ireland’s magical creatures, including those Cedar knows and loves. With enemies still on the loose and not knowing whom she can trust, Cedar must race against time to reverse an ancient curse, in a journey that will take her from Tír na nÓg to Earth…and beyond.
Brimming with page-turning adventure, Among the Unseen—the exciting conclusion to Jodi McIsaac’s Thin Veil trilogy—weaves an enchanting, captivating spell.
What’s Jodi’s favorite bit?
JODI MCISAAC
My favourite bit about any book I write always turns out to be the obscure piece of research that I find completely fascinating, so much so that I feel compelled to tell everyone about it, even if they just stare at me blankly.
Among the Unseenwas no different. In fact, I think this bit of obscure knowledge is my personal favourite.
Did you know that Dracula was an Irishman?
Most of us associate Bram Stoker’s Dracula with Vlad the Impaler of Transylvania. But new research has emerged that points to another possible source of inspiration for Stoker’s iconic vampire: a blood-drinking dwarf called Abhartach, whose story is the first recorded mention of a vampire in Western Europe.
The tale of Abhartach is an old Irish legend, which tells of a cruel dwarf chieftain who drank the blood of his people. So the villagers hired a great warrior to come and slay Abhartach and rid them of his tyranny. The warrior slew Abhartach, but the next day the chieftain was back, demanding more sacrifices of blood. This happened three times, and then the people consulted a druid, who told them that the dwarf must be killed with a sword of yew and buried upside down (Gaelic chieftains were traditionally buried standing up and facing their enemies), with a circle of thorns around the grave and a dolmen (standing stones) on top. Once the people killed Abhartach in this way, he stayed dead. If you’re so inclinded, you can still visit Abhartach’s grave in a place called the Slaghtaverty Dolmen, or Leacht Abhartach (Abhartach’s Sepulchre), in Derry. He might even acknowledge your presence. According to Irish historian Bob Curran, “In 1997, attempts were made to clear the land and if local tradition is to be believed workmen who attempted to cut down the tree found that their brand-new chain-saw stopped without reason on three occasions. When attempting to lift the great stone, a steel chain suddenly snapped, cutting the hand of one of the labourers and, significantly, allowing blood to soak into the ground.”
Creepy, no?
So given that Bram Stoker was an Irishman, there’s a fair chance he was familiar with the tale of Abhartach and other stories of the undead in Irish folklore. But wait, there’s more. Stoker was also good friends with the writer Oscar Wilde, and Wilde’s parents, William and Jane. Both William and Jane were noted folklorists and archeologists, fascinated with Ireland’s ancient past. The Wilde family was from County Kerry, where there were stories about blood-drinking fairies living in a mountain range called the Magillycuddy Reeks. The name of the fortress of these blood-drinking fairies was Dún Dreach-Fhoula (pronounced—wait for it—droc’ola), which translates as “The Castle of the Blood Visage” or “The Fort of Evil Blood.”Seeing as Stoker would have likely heard about this tale from the Wildes of Kerry, and his own sister-in-law was a Magillycuddy, one can’t help but wonder if old Abhartach and the blood-drinking fairies of Dún Dreach-Fhoula inspired his famous creation.
It’s an intriguing theory, to be sure, but what does all of this have to do with Among the Unseen? It just so happens that our favourite vampire dwarf Abhartach plays a role in the latest novel in the Thin Veil series. In the previous book, our protagonist Cedar raised Abhartach from his upside-down grave to help her search for the Stone of Destiny. In Among the Unseen, she needs his help again to locate seven magic stones, which were stolen from the cover of the Book of Kells in the 12th century. But in order to find him, Cedar and her friends have to track down the elusive Dún Dreach-Fhoula somewhere in the Magillycuddy Reeks. They find him hiding here with his fellow blood-drinkers, but also discover that he—along with all the other magical creatures of Ireland—are suffering from a mysterious illness that is killing them off one by one.
So there you have it. My favorite bit is an obscure piece of folklore that may have influenced one of the most popular fictional characters of all time—and played a wee role in saving Ireland’s magical beings from a terrible fate.
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BIO:
Jodi McIsaac is the author of the Thin Veil contemporary fantasy series, as well as the sci-fi short story A CURE FOR MADNESS. The third and final book in the Thin Veil series, AMONG THE UNSEEN, was just released on May 20. Jodi grew up in New Brunswick, Canada. After stints as a short track speed skater, a speechwriter, and fundraising and marketing executive in the nonprofit sector, she started a boutique copywriting agency and began writing novels in the wee hours of the morning. She currently lives with her husband and two feisty daughters in Calgary.
