Skylar Jaye is visiting today to talk about runes and her book, The Flame. If you haven't bought a copy yet, check out the giveaway on her blog. The magic system in this book is wonderful, and I'm thrilled to learn more about it because, for the record, I own a set of runes and want to use them. :D
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I’m so happy you offered to let me do a guest post here,
Tali! I’m excited to share a little bit of random information with your
readers.
Today, I’m going to talk about runes. What are runes? Well
they’re letters, basically, but they’re so much more than the regular alphabet.
There are several different rune alphabets but the most
common is the Old Norse runes. Those are the runes that I use in my book The Flame. The specific name of the
alphabet is called Futhark, after the first six letters of the alphabet. I’ll
share with you each of them and their meanings.
The first letter is Fehu. It means cattle and wealth and is shaped a bit like an
F, but with diagonal lines coming off the straight, not horizontal lines.
The second is Uruz, which looks like a slanted triangle
without a bottom. It means wild ox or sometimes water.
The third is Thurisaz or sometimes Thorn, which looks like a
straight line with a triangle coming off the middle, kind of like a P but with
the hump coming from the middle not the top. It means giant.
The fourth is Ansuz. It means god and especially Odin, the
god of communication. It looks also like an F, but with downward diagonal
lines, instead of the upward of Fehu.
The fifth Raidho, which means journey or ride. It looks like
a capital R, but less round and with sharper angles.
The sixth letter of the alphabet is Kenaz, which means torch
or beacon. It looks like a K that’s missing the straight line. So… like a
mouth, maybe?
The main character of The
Flame, Jeremy, studies runic magik at Samuin College. Runic magik is looked
down upon by many of the magikal society—after all elemental magik is where
it’s at. But Jeremy is proud of his runes and what they can do.
Jeremy is only a sophomore, but he’s thinking of
specializing in defensive runes and wards. One of the best runes for that is
Eihwaz. It means yew, but its secondary meanings are strength, endurance,
defense, and protection.
Marcus Smith is a fire mage prodigy who’s a senior at
Samuin. When he and Jeremy start to date, he gives Jeremy an amulet with Eihwaz
etched into it—the protection Jeremy receives from that amulet becomes useful
as the book goes on.
Hopefully you liked this mini-lesson in runes. Think of it
as a hint at what Jeremy learns every day at Samuin.
The Flame is a
long novella at about 40,000 words, or 162 pages. It’s m/m romance, published
with Dreamspinner Press.
I’m currently giving away a copy of The Flame at my blog. To enter the contest, just comment at the
relevant blog post over there: http://www.skylarjaye.com/?p=538.
Buy Links:
Dreamspinner Press: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3962
Blurb:
Despite the stigma against magiks other than the four
elemental types, Jeremy Ashe works hard toward a degree in runic studies,
navigating his way through family disproval and school clique politics while
trying to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life. What he
never figured on is The Flame, Samuin College’s fire mage prodigy, Marcus
Smith. Sparks strike and threaten to raze Jeremy’s plans to the ground. When
strange fires begin to burn all over campus, clues point to Marcus. Suddenly
life isn’t just complicated, it’s dangerous.
Excerpt:
From the second
chapter—a part of Jeremy and Marcus’ first date.
Then Marcus blushed too. “Sorry,
it’s just… you look great.”
Jeremy’s breath caught briefly and
he lowered his eyes bashfully. “Thanks, you too.”
Marcus did, with his dark-red
turtleneck that stretched across his wide shoulders. Jeremy appreciated the
tightness of it around Marcus’s well-defined chest and then turned his eyes
away again before his thoughts turned to inappropriate territory.
He never remembered the protocol
for first dates. Was he supposed to say that Marcus looked hot? Because he did,
but maybe that was too forward, and Jeremy’s sex drive wasn’t so high that he’d
put out tonight, even if it was Valentine’s Day. Conflicted, Jeremy opened his
menu.
“This place is known for their
burgers,” Marcus told him. “But the rest is good too.”
Jeremy tilted his head. “How about
their veggie burgers?”
“I’ve heard they’re good,” Marcus
said. Jeremy looked up to see that Marcus hadn’t opened his own menu and was
instead staring at him. “Are you a vegetarian?”
“No,” Jeremy said. “But I don’t
like to eat meat very much. A couple times a week only, usually, if there’re
good vegetarian options.”
Before they could say anything
else, their waiter came up. He was an older gentleman, and he smiled at Marcus.
“Should’a warned me you were coming, little man.”
Marcus smiled back. “Sorry, Rogers.
It was a fairly last-minute decision. I just wanted Jeremy here to experience
some of your wife’s fine cooking.”
The waiter, Rogers, nodded
enthusiastically and turned his warm brown eyes on Jeremy. “Oh, you’ll love
anything on the menu, lad. And the company too, I’ll bet.” He winked. “Now,
what can I get you boys to drink?”
“Water for me,” Marcus said.
“Jeremy?”
“I’ll have the same,” Jeremy
agreed. “Could you maybe bring a lime with that?”
“Ah, sure thing,” Rogers said. “And
do you know what you’ll be wanting to eat, lad?”
“Veggie burger?” Jeremy said,
though it was more of a question.
Rogers smiled toothily. “A great
decision, I’ll say. Fries or chips?”
“Fries,” Jeremy looked at Marcus.
“Though only if you’ll eat some too.”
“Why not?” Marcus shrugged. “Just
the usual for me, Rogers.”
“Coming right up.” Rogers gave them
both another extravagant wink and left.
Marcus cleared his throat as soon
as the waiter was out of sight. “So, did you want to open…?”
“Oh yeah.” Jeremy reached for and
grabbed the small gift. He nimbly undid the wrapping to reveal a plain blue
box. Opening it, he looked inside and saw, surprisingly, a rune. No, an amulet,
he reassessed as he picked the gift up out of the box: an etching of Eihwaz with a soft leather cord to go around
the neck.
“It’s supposed to bring strength to
the wearer. Endurance and some protection,” Marcus said. He looked a bit
uncomfortable. “But as a Runes major, you know that.”
“Yeah,” Jeremy murmured, for a
moment speechless. “Is this yew?”
“I believe so,” Marcus nodded.
“Why?”
“Eihwaz,” Jeremy told him. “It symbolizes the yew tree and is most
powerful when carved onto its own essence. This is a lovely amulet.”
Marcus smiled softly. “I’m glad you
like it.”
Jeremy smiled back and then reached
toward his coat. From one of the inside pockets, he drew out his bag of runes
and set them gently on the table. He opened it and stuck his hand inside, and
then thought strongly of the happiness he felt toward his new gift.
His fingers withdrew Gebo. He set it on the table next to the
amulet, touching Gebo with his left
hand and Eihwaz with his right.
Slowly, he channeled that feeling of happiness and acceptance to both of them,
and then switched his hands so that Eihwaz
was now under the left.
Jeremy opened his eyes, not having
realized he’d closed them. He looked up at Marcus, who was watching him with a
curious expression. Jeremy swallowed down the sudden lump in his throat and
asked, “Would you mind putting this on me?”
Marcus blinked and sat up
straighter. “If you want.”
“It’s just… the gift is more
powerful that way,” Jeremy explained quickly. “What I just did, with Gebo, the gift rune, was to, uh, accept
the amulet. That way it will work with my other runes instead of trying to
protect me against them. And if you put it on me, that will let the amulet and Gebo know that it was from you, so….” He
bit his bottom lip. “You don’t have to.”
Marcus had already stood. He walked
around the table and held out his hand. Jeremy gave him the amulet, keeping Gebo under his right palm.
“This,” Marcus said. “My gift to
you.” He slowly slipped the cord over Jeremy’s head, his hands warm on Jeremy’s
neck as the amulet sat heavy on his chest, setting him ablaze with feelings.
Jeremy took a shuddering breath and
caught Marcus’s hand before he could return to his seat. “Thank you.”
About Skylar Jaye:
As a writer and a person, Skylar Jaye is eccentric,
eclectic, and excitable. Of her many hobbies, she enjoys some of the weirdest
and most ridiculous activities out there. From medieval recreation to
equestrian games, D&D, muggle quidditch, and beyond. She loves learning,
but all of those interests (psychology, anthropology, and sociology) tend to
lead her back to her main passion, writing.
Social Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/skylar_jaye
Yay! Thanks for the intro Tali! And I like the picture of runes you found. And "What the Futhark" omg I laughed so much at that. You rock. <3
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