The Feast of Moranu with Jeffe Kennedy of The Snows of Windroven

The Feast of Moranu...


Thanks for having me here on the occasion of the release of THE SNOWS OF WINDROVEN, my standalone story from AMID THE WINTER SNOW.

This story was fun for me to write because it takes place over my imagined midwinter holiday, the Feast of Moranu. I’m a big fan of Christmas for many reasons—the lights, the glitter, the food, the gifts, the general sense of festivity while winter rages outside—but not so much the religious aspects. So the Feast of Moranu is my answer to a winter solstice holiday that has everything I love about Christmas, too.

In the world of The Twelve Kingdoms and The Uncharted Realms, Moranu is one of three sister goddesses. She is the goddess of the night, of the moon, of darkness and all that occurs in the shadows. Her feast naturally occurs at midwinter, during the longest night. I set the story at Castle Windroven—and the journey there—because Windroven is well-known for the spectacular Mornai storms that dump huge amounts of snow on the region. Traveling there, the characters experience the preparations for the Feast of Moranu at the manse of a friend, one who seriously gets into the holiday.

Once snowbound at Castle Windroven, the story becomes also about finding the meaningfulness of the Feast Day amid all the trappings of celebration. Fundamentally, observing the longest night is about accepting the darkness, and recognizing how light comes out of it again. This happens literally in the observance of the Feast of Moranu, but also metaphorically in the characters. Especially for the hero, who finally emergences from his own long night, finally shedding his blindness and allowing himself to step into light and love.

The Snows of Windroven

by Jeffe Kennedy

ebook

Published March 12th 2018 by Jeffe Kennedy

ISBN139781945367267

A new power is at work in the Twelve Kingdoms, unbalancing the fragile peace. For the High Queen and her sisters, it might mean a new alliance—or the end of the love of a lifetime…

As a howling blizzard batters the mountain keep of Windroven, Ami, Queen of Avonlidgh, and her unofficial consort Ash face their own storm. Their passion saved them from despair, but Ash knows a scarred, jumpy ex-convict isn’t the companion his queen needs. He’s been bracing himself for the end since their liaison began. When it finally comes, the shattering of his heart is almost a relief.

With a man haunted by nightmares and silent as stone, Ami knows only that Ash’s wounds are his own to hide or reveal. She can’t command trust. But just as they are moving apart, a vicious attack confines them together, snowbound and isolated with an ancient force awakening within Windroven itself. If they truly mean to break their bond, Ami and Ash must first burn through a midwinter that will test every instinct—and bring temptation all too near…

AMAZON | B&N 

The Uncharted Realms 

About Jeffe Kennedy

Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include novels, non-fiction, poetry, and short fiction. She has been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award.

Her award-winning fantasy romance trilogy The Twelve Kingdoms hit the shelves starting in May 2014. Book 1, The Mark of the Tala, received a starred Library Journal review and was nominated for the RT Book of the Year while the sequel, The Tears of the Rose received a Top Pick Gold and was nominated for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2014. The third book, The Talon of the Hawk, won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2015. Two more books followed in this world, beginning the spin-off series The Uncharted Realms. Book one in that series, The Pages of the Mind, has also been nominated for the RT Reviewer’s Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2016 and won RWA’s 2017 RITA® Award. The second book, The Edge of the Blade, released December 27, 2016, and is a PRISM finalist, along with The Pages of the Mind. The next in the series, The Shift of the Tide, will be out in August, 2017. A high fantasy trilogy taking place in The Twelve Kingdoms world is forthcoming from Rebel Base books in 2018.

She also introduced a new fantasy romance series, Sorcerous Moons, which includes Lonen’s War, Oria’s Gambit, The Tides of Bàra, and The Forests of Dru. She’s begun releasing a new contemporary erotic romance series, Missed Connections, which started with Last Dance and continues in With a Prince.

In 2019, St. Martins Press will release the first book, The Orchid Throne, in a new fantasy romance series, The Forgotten Empires.

Her other works include a number of fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns; the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion; an erotic contemporary serial novel, Master of the Opera; and the erotic romance trilogy, Falling Under, which includes Going Under, Under His Touch and Under Contract.

She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.

Jeffe can be found online at her website: JeffeKennedy.com, every Sunday at the popular SFF Seven blog, on Facebook, on Goodreads and pretty much constantly on Twitter @jeffekennedy. She is represented by Sarah Younger of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.