The next character background page to go up is Marsali's. To read more about Kirsty's ancestress (before she became a painting) follow the link.

The character pages are provided as extra information and a bit of fun. They will only go up as I get them finished, though may have additions from time to time. Links will go live on the main list of characters as their notes are made available.

Happy birthday Dad. Sorry that daughter and I are too out of sorts to be trusted baking your cake like we'd planned to.

I'm adding a backlog page so that readers can see how much I have ready to post in Kirsty and Etain's story. As I finish installments and chapters, or release one to be read, I will update that. It will feel strange when the story is done and the backlog gets repurposed for the next project.

We have quite some time before that though. For now, let's just keep enjoying the unfolding of this story.

I work from an outline, but it surprises me how much is happening in between the points that I had originally plotted. I am considering posting the original outline after the entire story is done so that people can see how much what manifests differs from the original thoughts, and for budding writers to have a glimpse of what my writing process is like.

I forgot to post on here (for the newcomers) that the first part of the latest chapter in Selkies' Skins is available.

It is actually available a few days early, as I usually try to do the postings on Sundays. This weekend is to be busy though so I was not expecting to have had the time.

I managed to have time to do some more work in my manuscript, and am still busy in chapter 24. In this chapter (which started out around Morvan and his having to learn a little lesson, and gave a chance to get Kirsty into the path she's chafing for) I now find the Cailleach making a short appearance.

Because of this I added a short entry on her on the Characters page. A few other characters in the story had some information added as well, but that page is far from complete. Below I am including the short blurb on the Cailleach (with both mythological information, and in story since I claim poetic license).

Cailleach - An Irish/Scottish Goddess of disease and plague to some. Others count her as The Washer Woman and/or Banshee. The Cailleach is also part of the Maiden/Mother/Crone trinity of Goddesses. There are actually several goddesses that fill this role, and several goddess trinities in Celtic mythology. Monstrous dogs are said to guard the gates to her underworld realm (the land of Death). In this story I hope to have the chance to capture more than one side of her in her brief appearances. As one might expect, in this the nameless Things will be her "children" in much the same way as the various types of merfolk are Mara's.

I have not had the time to sit down with the character sheets and publish them to the Characters section of the story's website. However, Chapter 22: About that Thing... from Selkies' Skins is now available to read.

This week there is also a poem for the story as an extra. I hope that you enjoy "A Selkies' Lament" on the new Songs and Poetry page, which I originally uploaded to my DeviantArt account. Eventually I will collect all the songs and poetry in and about the story there.

As always, the content on this website is free, but donations are always appreciated to help pay for the time that is spent on this story. Although it will be available in print and ebook formats as well, most authors do not make enough from book sales to support themselves. If you have something to spare, tossing a little into the fund helps support both the story and make sure my kids are fed, housed, clothed, and that their service cat has his needs met as well.

I do keep track of how much has been donated by whom, so those that donate may find themselves not only speeding the release of the story for everyone, but also earning ebook copies as thank you gifts once the book is complete. If they already are in the lineup for those ebooks, donators can earn extra licenses which would let them give friends copies.

This week I started the last class of my current semester. International Law is proving already to be fascinating and full of confusion. The course focuses on law between nations. This actually may help me with learning more about the particulars of how the Order that the Makays are part of functions, since they have to deal with human international law, merfolk laws (which are more like ancient Celt and Viking laws although I've not been able to get to those in the story, and in the case of Japanese or other regional merfolk such as Ryugyu's Dragon Palace more like ancient Chinese/Okinawan/Japanese/Korean law), AND the two or more conflicting sets of laws and norms in the magical community and THOSE subcommunities.

I plan to take summer off of school and intend to finish up my Bachelor's in the school year after summer (that would be Northern Hemisphere summer).