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FICTION
Illustration by Saba Joshaghani
OTHERWORLD: Nine Tales of Wonder and Love from Medieval Ireland
(Oxford University Press, 2024.)
(From the publisher:) “These nine anonymous medieval tales, more than a thousand years old, tell of mortals and supernatural creatures of the Otherworld –the síd-- who dared to cross the boundary between their parallel worlds in pursuit of love. The stories are sexier, funnier, and bloodier than later fairtytales and folktales based on them…Like all good storytellers, Bitel interacts with her readers, interpreting, commenting, and asking for opinions on the originals as she retells them. Nine enchanting drawings by Saba Joshaghani accompany these ravishing tales of wonder and romance.”
Becc Dreams of War
This is the tale of Becc, an orphan and storyteller who sees things that others cannot—not angels or demons, but slices of the everyday lives of other people, from past and future. Set in 8th-century Ireland, an island of feuding kingdoms, at a time when Christianity had finally begun to sink in, the story follows Becc as her visions begin to turn violent. She knows a war is looming, but when, where, and between whom? To find answers, Becc travels to a lively community of scholars and monastics called Tobur Brigte, where she finds more than she bargained for: mentors and enemies, love and betrayal, her origins, and the key to her visions of war—but too late to save her kingdom and newfound friends at Tobur Brigte?
Coming in 2025
The Highwayman
(In progress.)
The Highwayman.
Imagine an heiress arrived to claim her Irish estate in the 1790s and found that an entire kingdom of aos síd—fairies—came with it and, worse, the fairies turned out to be nationalist rebels…