#FREE 10/17th-21st SCOTCH BROOM
Break out of the same-old Ireland (not that Ireland isn't neat) and step into the Otherworld of Scottish legend and myth. Cailleach is less known than her sister Bride (Bridget), but she used to be the one with the real power. Nowadays, not so much.
Cailleach, the Winter Goddess

Cailleach is a goddess in the Scottish Celtic pantheon. Descriptions of her looks and personality run thegamut from ugly monster or beautiful protector of the land. This split personality goddess is the winter counterpart to the beautiful Bride (Bridget), the goddess of spring.
Living in the Otherworld after theCelts have stopped worshiping the old ones, Cailleach has letherself go to seed. She spends her days attempting to make sense ofthe hags’ potion in Macbeth (Double, double, toil and trouble).When she hears that a witch has come into the Otherworld, she beginsto scheme. If Cailleach can only steal the witch’s magic, she canbe young and powerful again. But the crone is cautious, she sends herminions out to learn more about the witch and to lead her to thegoddess. While waiting for news, she learns that yet another witchhas entered the Otherworld, but this one doesn’t make any sense.Cailleach determines this being is male, thus a warlock, but alsosmells of vampire. She decides to draw in this one like she plans forthe first. But first, she decides to do a little homework.
She sends Bodach, the black giant, togive a message to Glaistig, the only Scottish vampire, to scope outjust exactly who or what this male is: warlock, vampire, or both.
From the Monstropedia on Cailleach (Alas, Monstropedia is no more, but this was what it did say):

Sheis depicted as as having an eye in the middle of a blue-black face,long red teeth, and matted hair. In several stories she appearsbefore a hero as a repulsive hag and suddenly transforms herself intoa beautiful girl. At winter’s end, some accounts say the Cailleachturned into a grey boulder at Beltane until the warm days were over.The boulder was said to be “always moist’, because it contained“life substance’. The Cailleach Beara is ever-renewing and passesthrough many lifetimes going from old age to youth or flesh to stonein a cyclic fashion.

TheCailleach is seen as a seasonal deity or spirit, ruling the wintermonths between Samhain (October 31st) and Beltaine (April 30th),while Bride rules the summer months between Beltaine and Samhain.Some interpretations have the Cailleach and Brìde as two faces ofthe same goddess.

Sheis a bringer of snows, death, and sharp storms. On Samhain theCailleach leaves her mountains and walks the Land. The Cailleach thenproceeds to "wash her plaid". Her plaid represents thesand. When the Cailleach is done the plaid is white and the Land iscovered with snow. She is said to ride on the back of a wolf carryinga wand made of human skin, that she uses to strike down all signs ofgrowth. Behind her follows cold winds, blizzards, and ice. InScotland, she is also known as Beira, Queen of Winter.

It’s easy to see why Cailleach is sointerested in regaining her strength, to become what she had been inthe olden times.

Excerpt:
Cailleach groanedwhen she leaned over and lifted her bare foot high enough to clip hertoenails with the gardening shears. She looked up and sniffed twice.The hag dropped her bare foot, stuffed it into her flipflop, andshuffled to the door. Throwing it open, she held her head high,closed her eyes, and sniffed some more.
“Drat! Notanother witch.” She sniffed again. “Wait, a warlock. No, avampire. Hmm.” She closed the door and slumped into a chair. “Thisis confusing. Maybe there are two.” She went to the woodshed door.Cailleach rapped three times and then stood back as it creaked open.
Bodach, herroommate and minion, dragged his crippled body out of the smallhatch. “Yes, Mistrezz,” he slurred, casting one protruding eyeupwards.
“We haveanother foreigner in the swamp. Get out there and find a skrat tocheck. No, not a skrat. I smell vampire. Find Glaistig and send herto investigate.” Cailleach patted him on the head. “There’s agood boy.”
“Can you tellme where Glaistig is hiding?” Bodach examined his armpit andsniffed.
“Go to thestanding stones on the north side of the loch. She has a cave there.”
“Yes,Mistrezz.” Bodach dragged his limp legs behind him. He began tounfold in a way the eye could not follow. When he reached the door,he needed to bend and shuffle through sideways to fit.
“Bodach, staywith Glaistig and do as she says. She might need some muscle.”
“Yes,Mistrezz.” Bodach ducked and went to seek Glaistig, the Gray Lady.
Cailleach closedthe door behind the giant and sat again. She twanged the long hairprotruding from the wart on her chin. “This is all very disturbing.Two foreigners stomping around in my bog within hours. This second,though, he’s strange. Yes, male. That much is clear. But I smell onhim both warlock and vampire. Very odd, indeed.”
She went to the dusty bookshelf besidethe fireplace. As she tapped each book with her gnarled finger, itspoke its title aloud. The Compleat Book of Bats. Care and Feedingof Monsters. Selling Love Potions on the Internet. Vampires: TheMyths and the Facts. She took this one off the shelf and flippedthrough the pages. An occasional groan or scream emitted from thebook, depending on the chapter topic.
“Ah, here itis. ‘Vampire Half-Breeds.’ Hmm. ‘Cross breedings withwerewolves, ghouls, and Sasquatch have been cited, although most ofthese stories are second-hand accounts at best. It is believed thatvampires could breed with any species; however, it is most likelythis only occurs when the other creature is in an altered form. Thewerewolf, for example, must be in its wolf mode, not its humanaspect.’”
Cailleach stuckher finger in the book to hold her place and plopped down on herrocking chair. She must be mistaken about the invader. This was ascholarly work, although a little dated having been written in 1549.But it seemed to deny the possibility of a warlock-vampire mix. She’dhave to study this a bit more. Still, the vampire smell was strong.Without her power, all she could do was wait for Glaistig to report.The only known true vampire in Scotland, Glaistig wouldn’t waste aminute of darkness beating feet to catch up to the male, determinewhat he was, and report back.
Satisfied she could do nothing more,she leaned back in her rocker, intending to read the rest of thechapter. But sleep overtook her, and she was soon snoring in herchair.

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SCOTCH BROOM: Book 3 of The Witches of Galdorheim A magical trip to Stonehenge lands a witch in the Otherworld where an ancient goddess is up to no good. #FREE 10/17-10/21  Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JKR8XRG  Kat expects to have a great time on her graduation trip to Stonehenge. However, from the moment she leaves the witches’ arctic island, Galdorheim, she gets in nothing but trouble. Her younger half-brother tries to horn in on her trip, she gets lost in the magical Otherworld realm, is led astray by a supposed friend, and then she has to confront a Scottish goddess who’s fallen on hard times.

While dodging the goddess’ minions and trying to find her way out of the Otherworld, Kat soon learns she shouldn’t underestimate the old has-been for one second; the crone still has a few tricks that can drain a witch’s magic in a flash. To make matters worse, Kat's brother secretly followed her into the Otherworld. Now he’s in danger too. Kat has to go one-on-one with the goddess to save herself and her brother.The Cellophane Queen