An glimpse of life in an Irish Tower Castle

STITCHES IN TIME, an Irish story set around St. Patrick's Day, takes place primarily in Dublin and in the hinterlands of County Limerick. Glenquin Castle sits on R515 (as you can see below, almost literally ON), and I chose it at random for the climax of the story. My husband and I had the opportunity to visit Ireland last summer (May 2016) and made a point of looking for the castle. Thought you might like a glimpse of the castle as it stands today (to get an idea of it from the past, read the story!).

Glenquin Castle (a classic tower castle)
with our rented, manual-transmission
VW Golf parked beside the stone wall and
not nearly far enough off the road!

Steven in the castle doorway.

The placard outside explaining the parts of the castle and its history

The stile to get in. The banners were
there from a celebration recently held in honor
of the centenary of the 1916 Rising, in which,
Glenquin castle played a big part

Standing on the 4th of 6 floors, looking back
at the stairs. We came up the arched set
and the squared-off set continued up.
Steven went to the top.
I didn't push my luck.

The living space on the fourth floor. The roof was no longer in evidence - all the floors to this point had been stone.
The fifth and sixth levels had wooden floors - and they long since rotted away.

Looking up from the 4th level

I love this window, even if it's too
low to the floor.

The view of the Irish countryside from the 4th floor. Cloudy
day, but most of them are, there.

Just a few pictures from Glenquin Castle! Now you'll have a setting in which to place STITCHES IN TIME!

Play safe,

Diana

Stitches in Time - Now on Amazon and Smashwords

Saint Patrick's Day is only 16 days away - what better way to celebrate than with the re-release of STITCHES IN TIME?

Authors are not supposed to have favorites between and among their characters, but Seamus O'Brien, the leprechaun of this story, holds a soft spot in my heart. He's bold, he's brassy, and he's not above giving love advice to Liam Finnerty, the man he hopes will release him from his magic spell.

When I wrote this book, I needed an out-of-the way castle that wasn't well-known for part of my setting. I chose Glenquin Castle in County Limerick. You can see it on the new cover by Lynn LaFleur. I took that picture! My husband and went to Ireland last summer (2016) and made sure we visited it. The castle itself sits right on the edge of the road and is open to the public. No one guards it and there are no entrance fees. We climbed the spiral staircase (and I didn't fall!) to see the views of the countryside. No one else was there and we had the place to ourselves. What a wonderful visit!

Currently, you can buy STITCHES IN TIME at Smashwords - and Amazon (link is for US store. Click here for all other Amazon stores). Disclaimer: this was originally published in Irish Enchantment, an anthology from Ellora's Cave. They then published it as a stand-alone novella before they went out of business.

On another note:

It's March 1st and I thought to update the list of books I've been reading. Yes, I've also been writing - a fantasy started over a decade ago and set aside. But it's the Book of My Heart and more important than ever that I get it written. Why? That's another blog post for when my blood pressure won't go up discussing the current political climate in America.

What have I been reading? I'm so glad you asked!

The Making of Outlander          by Tara Bennett (non-fiction; filled w/ insights & tidbits)
A Promise of Fire                      by Amanda Bouchet (fantasy w/ romance - does the thing I hate. Book doesn't really end. But I LOVE the heroine, so I bought book 2!)
Falling for the Highlander        by Lynsay Sands (why do I keep falling for these Highlander books?)
To Sir Phillip with Love             by Julia Quinn (I have several of her ebooks. Great escapist reads)
How to Entice and Earl             by Manda Collins (ehhh. Pretty typical)
Breath of Fire                            by Amanda Bouchet (Did I mention that I LOVE the heroine? Sassy and spicy. She's great!)
The Importance of Being Ernie by Barry Livingstone (autobiography; great stories and good writer!)


All told, twenty(!) books read since Christmas and two republished (Stitches in Time and A Devil in Winter). I'm on a roll (that's why there's butter on my pants - ba dum dum!)

As always, if you've read a book of mine, PLEASE go leave a review of it. Positive or not, reviews help books rise in the algorithms of search engines. Thank you!

Play safe,
Diana

edited to add new Amazon links