The Frewyn Herald: Home of the Haanta Series

Not everyone likes the holidays. Or surprises. Ailneighdaeth gingerbread display   E veryone’s ready concurrence was given for joining the king in the Great Hall for one of Frewyn’s most beloved and ancient practices, and Alasdair could not have been more in raptures. Though he had grown up with celebrations in the Great Hall, he could not himself hold them often without being wracked by a pang of solemn regret that his grandfather could not attend or that Bryeison and even his father could not be there to delight in all the joys of the day. Now, however, with so many friends and family always about him, he would lavish them with all his doting affection and commemorate their support with the celebration that their unwavering affection must warrant. Everything will be perfect , was Alasdair prevailing cogitation, and while everyone was discussing as to what tunes Alasdair was to play and what dances should be danced and what songs should be sung—Boudicca would not be ...

Happy Ailneighdaeth, the Frewyn holiday of rebirth! This is the day on which the Frewyn Gods made their promise to return to their children by showing themselves as the constellations in the sky. The Roe Gaumhin, the Frewyn cypress, is decorated with lights, gifts are exchanged (usually handmade items like sweaters and socks), and everyone gathers before the fire to delight in family raillery, games, song and dance. This year, we commemorate the release of Tales from Frewyn Volume 2 with a gingerbread barn, the twins, Brother Baronous, and King Alasdair (he's upset because his nice jerkin looks more like a bodice). As well, we commemorate the upcoming release of Damson's Distress with gingerbread versions of Bartleby, Rannig, and Gubbins!

We're at the home stretch of the tour, but the fun is far from over! Here are the latest links from the tour: The Rat read-along continued Tales from Frewyn Volume 2 review at Obviously Opinionated International holiday giveaway Tales from Frewyn giveaway featuring a Sewynpaudir bracelet from Oak and Ivy   Happy holidays!

Join us for the Tales from Frewyn blog tour , going on now till the 22nd. Follow along for new stories, reviews, interviews, and our grand giveaway!  The highlights of the tour so far: Interview on the Dan O' Brien Project  International giveaway to win books, bookmarks, and bracelet Review by the inimitable Sophia Rose Beginning of the read-along   Tales from Frewyn will be on sale for the entire duration of the tour! Grab a copy for the Ailineighdaeth season!    

Rautu is not the only giant in the world who dislikes spiders.                 R annig had only just surmounted his panic from the swarm of gadflies when, stepping into the narrow path leading down the mountain, lined with copses of close trees,   he felt a strand of something graze his neck. At first, he thought little of it and continued down the path with all his usual good humour, happy to think it only a nearby bough that had reached out and browsed him, but another step brought the full feeling of a thread breaking across his throat, and he was instantly plunged into the throes of anxiety: I just walked through a spiderweb , he said to himself, the acknowledgement of which thrust him into a fever of dread. He trembled in consternation, palpating himself, touching his neck, his shoulders, and his chest—was it there? Was it there?-- to see if a spider had landed on him. He felt nothing, however...

While Frewyn is home to many interesting and unique animals, the camel is not one of them. Camels belong to the Bizarmin, the nomads of the Sahadin desert, and are therefore never seen in the south, excepting in what the picture books from the north are willing to depict. Every year, when the Bizarmin make their annual pilgrimage from Livanon to Lucentia, the northern pass is wreathed in a legendary procession of camels that can be seen from the gates of Livanon capital all the way to the southern rim of the Sahadin desert. Many people from the south travel north just to see pilgrimage, and to see whether the pictures of camels they had seen when they were younger were in any way accurate: T he chief called out to his people, and in a moment, three young men, adorned in embroidered robes and wrapped in silks, came forward with two camels and a donkey by their sides, each of the animals burdened with saddles and sacks, their humours unaffected and unconcerned, their mouths bu...