Worlds

"Ship Prows" where Lark solar sails.

Picture of Heather Residence:

Cats/Fams/Animal Companions:

Zanth: huge black and white tomcat with attitude, T'Ash's Fam in HeartMate, tagline "Life Is Good"

Pansy/Princess: grey tabby cat (not a Fam) who loves jewelry, Danith's cat in HeartMate

Ilexa: large hunting cat of Tinne Holly in HeartMate

Samba: fat and sassy, especially on her flying saucer, Fam of Ruis Elder in Heart Thief, tagline "Let's Go Play"

Primrose: teacup poodle puppy, Fam of Ailim D'SilverFir in Heart Thief

Meserv: fat and lazy orange tabby tom kitten Fam of Holm Holly in Heart Thief

Phyl: tough tom kitten Fam of Lark Hawthorn Collinson in Heart Thief
The kittens' tagline: "We all have fine fates."

Sinafin: fey-coo-cu shapeshifter/fairy, companion/mentor/trickster of Alexa in Guardian of Honor, coming February 2005 (also included are miscellaneous flying horses)

Boris: tough black and white ghost/angel tomcat with attitude in the novella Road of Adventure, coming July 2005 (see excerpt under Announcements on Home page)

Drina: blue-eyed half Siamese Queen of the Universe Fam to Straif Blackthorn in Heart Choice, coming in July 2005 tag line "Everyone adores Me," and "Everyone Who Counts Adores Me." (see excerpt in WIP, Work In Progress)

Pinky: small cream colored tomcat who becomes a Fam, companion to Antenn Moss in Heart Choice, coming in July 2005 (no tag line yet - if you have ideas, get back to me before October 27th - next month)

Tuck: hamster who travels with Marian to Lladrana and becomes intelligent and sentient (pay attention to the golden walnut in Guardian of Honor!), in Sorceress of Faith, currently scheduled for February 2006

More Information on HeartMates:

Yes, women DO experience the reaching out for a HeartMate during their Passages and DO recognize their HeartMate. So far I've gone with men finding their HeartMates first because that's the way the stories came to me. Other stories will have the women more knowledgeable about their HeartMates, and one (Heart Quest) will have Trif Clover literally searching for hers. I believe that this has not happened before because I needed to learn more about Celta and also develop as a writer.

Tinne Holly: I've had many questions about whether Tinne Holly will have his own story. Hopefully, yes. I'm not quite ready to write about him yet, I think he needs to season, as do his circumstances and his lady's, as well as the parental Hollys. Tinne's story is still very amorphous in my mind. If readers care to send ideas, I'm open to them. ;) robin@robindowens.com Without spoiling anything, I will say that Holm and Lark will play a large part in that story and it will take place in Druida..

Check out the cut scene from Heart Duel.

©INVERARY CASTLE
Robin's Note: Typical of the Holly Residential Decoration…

This basket of kittens came into our lives when Phyll and Meserv were being written.

I did a lot of labyrinth research, with many photos. Here’s a working idea of the Great Labyrinth at night. The tree is courtesy of: http://www.sacredlands.org/Dragonvale/WorldTree/

Interview of Ailim D'SilverFir, heroine of Heart Thief: Warning she LECTURES...

HERE IT IS, the cover copy for THE SUMMONING: GUARDIAN OF HONOR!

With their magic boundaries falling and terrible monsters invading, the Marshalls of Lladrana must follow ancient tradition and Summon a savior from the Exotique land....

For Alexa Fitzwalter, the Marshall's call pulled the savvy lawyer into a realm where she barely understood the language, let alone the intricacies of politics and power. Armed only with her wits, a mystical companion and the help of the chevalier, Bastien, Alexa must use her very human mind and skills to fight the encroaching evil-and resist manipulation by the Marshalls to force her to stay in Lladrana.

Now torn between her affinity for this realm and Earth, if given the chance to return home will she? Or dare she risk everything for a land not her own?

FOREGIVENESS CEREMONY
When we leave Heart Thief, we know that those who judged Ruis must come to him and beg forgiveness. Originally this scene was set after Ruis' heroics in the council and before he reconciled with Ailim.

THE MAP OF CELTA IS HERE!

I’m excited. I’ve had a very poor/amateurish map of the two continents of
Celta presently known since before I was published. Finally I found
software that has helped me make it acceptable for general use. The cities
of Druida and Gael City are only dots, but other landscape items can be seen
including the dreaded Great Washington Boghole. The map will be updated as
I become more famililar with the program.

Heart Thief Lost Scene and Character!

Note on Thanksgiving: For Celta, the day of Thanksgiving is Discovery Day,
when the colonists of the three ships found a new home world. This takes place in the summer and is talked about in HeartMate.

Lost Scene: Ailim Judging

Heart Thief

Ruis Elder family home – T’Elder Residence (Chenonceau)

I don’t know who took this photograph.
If you know the artist or the copyright holder,
please contact me.

T'Blackthorn Residence —Cliveden

The History of the book Heart Thief

HeartThief - Missing Scene

In the Dedication to Heart Thief I mention Diva’s Scene. I'm SORRY I had to cut it!

Click here to read "Diva's Scene."

Find out How Ruis and Samba originally entered Ship

Read this month's installment: The Blight

Banishment or Death?

25 First Families Vote on Ruis Elder

Character Interviews

T'Ash from HeartMate

Days of the Week

Mor (THE SEA)
TwinMoonsday
Midweek
Quert (APPLE)
Koad (GROVE)
Playday
Midweekend
Ioho (YEW)

Ash Names

Celtic Ash Names and Associated Names:

Nuin, Nion, Lleu, Gwidion, Abred, Gwynedd, Ceugent, Don/Domnu, Govannon,
Arianrhod, Amaethon, Sorbus, Alnifolia, Aucuparia, Scopulina

T'Ash's father: Nuin
T'Ash's brothers: Nuin & Gwidion

Plant Names

Ornus: wild mountain ash
Fraxinus: olive family with pinnate leaves, thin furrowed bark, gray branchlets, tough, elastic wood of an ash

Zanthoxylum americanume - Prickley Ash Bark

T'Ash's Fam: Zanthoxyl, Zanth

Old English Names and Derivations

OE aesc--Lejer, (see British St. Leger, Sellinger)

Welsh Words Associated with T'Ash

Steel = Dur
Coal = Gloyn, Glo
Iron = Haearn
Carbon = Carbon

Traditional Celtic Color for Ash--Glass Green, Hazeltourmaline

Celtan History/Ancestry

T'Ash's ancestor was the rebel leader in the time of the last Captain of the
Starship Nuada's Sword right before the discovery of Celta. He married Missy (Mistletoe) Wayland, a daughter of the Holly family.

Jacob Randolph
This boy's name is used in English. Its source is Randwulf, an Ancient Germanic name meaning "Wolf shield." Nickname of Randolph is: Randy.

Thus the name RAND came down the ancestral line as a first name for Rand
T'Ash.

Celtan HeartMate Laws

The HeartMate must accept a HeartGift willingly and without knowing it was a HeartGift before the other can claim them as a HeartMate and HeartBond with them.

The punishment for telling a person they are your HeartMate is that the offending party must always be chaperoned while in the presence of the HeartMate. If no chaperone is available, the guilty party must remain at least three meters away from the HeartMate. The restrictions are for five years or until the wronged one states in front of three heads of FirstFamilies that s/he accepts the HeartMate status and repeats it five times.

The punishment for HeartBonding with a HeartMate without telling them is exile of the offending party from within eighty kilometers of the victim for a period of five years.

HeartMate Consequence

Since the HeartBond is so deep, when one HeartMate dies, the other follows within the year.