"That ceiling, though": Treacherous Ground is live.

I wanted you guys to be the first to know: the ebook edition of Treacherous Ground, the second book in the Elemental Keys series, is live on Amazon as of right now. And yes, that's Collum, Raney's favorite gnome, on the cover.

For this book, the action has moved to Ireland. Our Elemental superheroes -- Raney, Collum, Rufus and Gail -- are helping to return some of Collum's dead brother's things to his parents, who live in County Kilkenny. But they're also trying to beat Raney's father, Damien Jones, to... uh, a magical thing. I don't want to give away any big plot points, so let's just say the thing Damien is looking for is not what the team members think it is.

Anyway, Ireland is an amazing place, and I am stoked because I get to tell readers all about the cool stuff I saw when I was there three years ago. Well, not all the cool stuff I saw. That would take more than a blog post, or a book, even. It would certainly take more than a novel, because you've got to work in some kind of plot or else it would be a travelogue.

I did, as it happens, blog about the trip, but that post only highlights one small portion of it. One of the things I left out was my visit to Kilkenny Castle, so in Treacherous Ground, I let Raney and the gang take a tour. And one of the coolest things about the castle -- other than, you know, it's a castle -- is the portrait gallery. Here's Raney's description, but sometimes words don't do a thing justice, so I'm including a photo, too.

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Portraits aren’t really my thing, but it turned out the paintings weren’t the main draw. Gail and Rufus were standing in the center of the room, craning their necks to look up. So I did, too – and was gobsmacked again. The whole ceiling – rafters, braces, and walls – was painted with beautiful designs, including Celtic knotwork, and the ends of the cross-beams were capped with gargoyles. It was as if someone had taken the illustrations in an illuminated manuscript and transferred them to the ceiling.

I managed to do the polite thing and give a little attention to all the old Butlers hanging on the walls. That ceiling, though.

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Gobsmacked, she was. So was I. And when I was there in 2016, I snapped a photo of the informational sign at the door to the gallery:

If you're ever in Kilkenny, I recommend the castle tour -- as well as a stop at the Kilkenny Design Centre across the street, where you can find lots of Irish souvenirs, including yarn. Not that I would have bought any yarn in Ireland.

Anyway, Treacherous Ground is available now -- and in the nick of time, too, as Camp NaNoWriMo starts again tomorrow and I was planning to draft Book 3 then. I'll get a late start on that, as I still need to format the paperback edition of the second book. I can catch up over Fourth of July weekend, though, right?

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These moments of gobsmacked blogginess have been brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell. 

All the yarny goodness, all the time.

It's Sunday, which means I owe y'all a blog post, so I'm stepping away from the first draft of the new book (working title: Book 4) to write this. My head is full of Tricksters and sipapus and an Icelandic princess (oh my!), but I can't really say much about the book yet because I'm only about 15,000 words in and Webb's in the driver's seat again, so who knows where we'll end up.

So let's talk about knitting.

Back in March, I wrote a post about the Olympic Forest Baby Blanket pattern that I was in the process of turning into a Redbud Forest Table Topper. I did, eventually, finish the project, and right now it's gracing the top of my altar. Here's a shot of the a portion of the gazillion freaking French knots, together with the picot border.

So it turned out well, and I'm glad it's over.

When I was preparing for the trip to Ireland, I asked some people what sort of souvenir they'd like me to bring them -- and several said they wanted yarn. This, my friends, is how you know you've found your tribe.

As it turns out, there are thousands of sheep in Ireland, but not nearly as many yarn shops of the type you find here in the States. I did find a really nice shop in Dublin near Trinity College called This is Knit. But the surprise of the trip, yarn-wise, was the shop at the Kilkenny Design Centre, which sold not only finished knitted goods, but Irish yarn, as well. (Note to tourists: double-check the knitted goods for sale in some touristy gift shops. I discovered a lot of them are made from acrylic yarn, and acrylic -- although easier to take care of -- is not as warm as wool, and won't look nice for as long.)


I took a project with me to Ireland, although I didn't work on it much while I was there because I was too busy goggling at the sites. So I finished it this week. It's a cowl called the Olivia, and the yarn is cotton and bamboo, so I'll be able to wear it to work during all but the hottest months of the year.

One would think I'd have had my fill of yarn shopping while in Ireland, but au contraire, mon ami! Last weekend was Maryland Sheep & Wool, one of the biggest wool-related festivals on the East Coast. I only bought a little bit of yarn there, though. No, really. And some buttons made from honey-locust wood. And a small, zippered bag for knitting tools from a Navajo weaver. And honey from the Bee Folks.


My next project, which I've already started, is a shawl called the Pogona. It's by Stephen West, but it's one of his first designs -- before he went wacky and started designing stuff like swants.

What are swants, you ask? Just watch this. (No, I am not making any swants. Ever.)

My work here is done. I'm going back to writing now.

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These moments of swants blogginess are brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell.

The Long Cantwell search.

Long-time readers of this blog know I'm on a multi-year hunt to discover certain landmarks that bear the name Cantwell. A couple of years ago, for instance, I made a pit stop during my vacation in Alaska and took a selfie at the post office in Cantwell, Alaska.

I'm on vacation this week in Ireland, from whence the name Cantwell originates. My ancestors were Normans who settled first in Brittany, then in England (arriving with William the Conqueror) and Wales, and, at last, in Ireland (arriving with Strongbow). There the surname was settled, more or less, and there the family thrived, owning quite a bit of property in counties Kilkenny and Tipperary from the late 12th century on.

Among the Cantwells who lived and died in the area was Thomas de Cantwell, a former Crusader who died of old age in about 1320. He was entombed in the church at Kilfane, not far south of Kilkenny city. A new church was built across the road and the old one has been left to crumble -- and in the process, Sir Thomas's effigy was buried for quite a number of years. It's a remarkable work, as these things go. It's finely carved, and nearly eight feet tall -- hence its nickname: Cantwell Fada, or Long Cantwell. In 1935, some 600 years after his death, his effigy was rediscovered, raised to an upright position, and bolted to a wall inside the ruin.

This is my first trip to Ireland, so while I had seen photos, both in hard copy and online, of the Long Man, I'd never seen him in person. So seeking him out has been on my bucket list for quite a number of years.

Late last week, as I was checking out the Irish National Museum for Archaeology in Dublin, I stumbled across a reproduction of the Long Cantwell.

As cool as it was to see a familiar face in the museum, I knew my task wouldn't be complete until I found himself, as the Irish say. My friend Mike, who lives nearby, agreed to drive me around until we could find him. He and another friend of ours had mounted an unsuccessful search for the ruin of the Kilfane church a year or two ago.

Today, luck or the Long Man were with us. Accompanied by a chorus of cawing from the murder of crows nesting in the nearby woods, we found the old church, and Sir Thomas.

So there you have it -- photographic proof of the success of my search. Now I can get back to more important things...like working on the next book.

(Many thanks to Mike for playing tour guide, as well as for saving me from having to take another selfie.)

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These moments of Cantwell-related blogginess have been brought to you, as a public srervice, by Lynne Cantwell.