Trad Tuesday: The King's Shilling sung by Mick McAuley, Winifred Horan, and Colm O'Caoimh

This is in the traditional mode though written by Ian Sinclair in the 1970s. It has been performed by many people; I featured a version sung by Karan Casey and James Taylor previously.

Ian has taken a traditional folk theme of the young man beguiled by the recruiting officers into joining the army and sealing the deal by his acceptance of money, the King’s Shilling.

According to the BBC website, History Factfiles, War and Conflict: “For many years, the private soldier's daily pay was one shilling, although money was deducted from this to pay for such things as rations, some items of uniform, medical treatment, breakages and barrack damages. It was not until 1847 that it was ordered that all soldiers had to receive at least a penny a day regardless of deductions. One shilling was given to young men who agreed to enlist in the army, and a variety of subterfuges were used by recruiting sergeants to persuade a young man to accept the money.

Often a potential recruit was made dead drunk and the shilling was slipped into his pocket: sometimes a sergeant might give a young man a shilling to run an errand for him, and then declare that he had volunteered. Once a recruit had been attested before a magistrate he received a more substantial bounty, but usually found that this was swiftly consumed in drinks for the recruiting party, ribbons for the sergeant's wife, and items of uniform that had to be purchased.”

Oh, my love has left me wi bairnies twa
An that's the last o him I ever saw
He joined the army and he mairched tae war
He took the shilling, he took the shilling,
An he mairched tae war

Come laddies, come
Hear the cannon roar,
Tak the King's Shilling,
An we're aff tae war

Oh, he stood sae proud an sae gallant then
Wi his kilt and sporran and his musket gun
The ladies kissed them as they mairched
awa
And they sailed awa by, they sailed awa
by the Broomielaw

The pipes did play as they marched along
And the soldiers sang out their battle song
"March on, march on," cried the captain gay
For king and country, for king and country
we will fight this day

Well, the battle raged to the sound of guns
And the bayonets flashed in the morning sun
The drums did beat and the cannon roared
And the shilling didn't seem, oh the shilling didn't seem much worth no more

The men they fought and the men did fall
Cut down by bayonet and musket ball
and many of these brave young men
Would never fight for, would never fight for their king again

Come laddies, come
Hear the cannon roar,
Tak the King's Shilling,
An you’ll die in war

Words:
Broomielaw: the dockside in Glasgow where soldiers took ship to go to war
King’s Shilling: offered to likely young men by recruiting officers. Its acceptance was regarded as a binding agreement to join up.

lyrics and info from http://sangstories.webs.com/kingsshilling.htm

Book Review: Phoenix Always by Jae Dawn

Phoenix Maison has lived through many lifetimes and remembers them all. Now that her birthday is approaching, she knows that this may be the one where she dies again except this time she wants to stay. She likes her life in New Orleans, her family, and her girlfriend. The only life she can't remember is the first one, the one that started this cycle. If she can finally figure out what happened then, she might be able to break the curse.
Phoenix tells her own story and an interesting one it is. Phoenix must deal with all sorts of paranormal creatures and she is a plucky heroine. Of course, she's  not your typical high school student with the number of lives she's lived, but in many ways, she's also a product of her times which is one of the reasons she wants to remain in this life.
The New Orleans setting is fascinating and the author incorporates much of the culture and descriptions into the story. New Orleans is often the setting for paranormal stories, but I found this a fresh view of the city and a story with a very different take on the usual paranormals that I enjoyed very much. This is the first book in the series, and I can't wait to see what happens next. I received an ARC from the author and am giving an honest review.

Link to Amazon

Book Review: Strawberry Kisses by Marianne Rice

Strawberry Kisses is the second book in this romance series about Rocky Harbor, Maine. Rachael
Riley was recused by her brothers from an abusive relationship and brought home to Maine. She's spent the year since hiding in her mother's kitchen and baking for the local coffee shop. Her sister Lucy attempts to get her out of her shell by enrolling them in a self-defense class.
The class is taught by Jake Morgan who also does landscaping on the side. He is attracted to Rachael and manages to also bring back some of the 'real' Rachael who was lost when her ex-boyfriend abused her. Jake has issues of his own, and it takes a while for him to confide in Rachael about his past.
The Riley family is interesting in that all of the six kids were adopted and came from abusive or uncaring homes. Now they have to overcome their issues to find the meaningful lives that their adopted parents want for them. Rachael was more neglected than abused, unlike some of her siblings, but that makes her all the more sensitive in looking for love.
Jake was raised by good parents but chose the bad-boy lifestyle. When it all goes wrong, he has to learn how to be the son his parents raised him to be. This romance story is just as much about the choices made by the hero and heroine as the romance itself, and that makes the reader think. But the love story is sweet too, and Rachael and Jake are a good pair.
Living in Maine where the story is set, I enjoy the mentions of places I walk by every day. I also can't wait to read the next book which is about Colton.

Link to Amazon

Trad Tuesday: Cold Glencoe by Rise

Cold Glencoe is a fairly new song but sung as a traditional "story" song. It tells the story of when the Campbells came to Glencoe in the winter of 1692 and were taken in by the MacDonald clan there, saving them from freezing. The MacDonalds were rewarded by a massacre; most of the few survivors froze to death in the winter cold. The feud between the two clans has long been part of history and it didn't help that the Campbells supported the English King William of Orange.

Rise was a Scottish band from the Isle of Bute that made two great albums, Uncertain Wonders and Posing as Human, but disbanded after that.

New Release: The Amarant by Tricia Barr with Excerpt

Paranormal Romance

Date Published: February 2017

A fictional world brought to life, a dark romance that promises eternity, and a secret that threatens to end it all.

Crimson Wilkinson is a teenage girl who, having survived a dark childhood, finds her escape in reading a popular vampire series. After some investigation, she becomes a very active part in the very true vampire stories the world thought were fiction and falls in love with their author, Nicholae Albaric, the sweetly lonely vampire celebrity. But her happiness is short-lived as she discovers she has a rare gene that makes the carrier extremely powerful if turned into a vampire, and she is targeted as the vampire community’s number-one most-wanted, some who want to kill her before she becomes a threat, and others who want to use her powers to their own ends.

Other Books by Tricia Barr

Ya Paranormal/Fantasy

Phoenyx Blake has a secret. When she wakes in a dungeon with three strangers, she is forced to face it, which isn’t easy seeing as her cellmate, Sebastian, has starred in her dreams. As days pass, they learn they are each one of the four elements bound in human form and they have been abducted by an ancient society that plans to kill them and steal their powers. If they hope to escape, they must master their powers, and Phoenyx must learn to let go of fear and let love in, before it’s too late.

Excerpt

Kerrich entered the coven house with a smile on his face, walking past all the other vampires with a sense of self-importance, for he had news for Delilah, news that would intrigue her greatly.

He walked down the hall toward Delilah’s master bedroom, not making eye contact with the girls who watched him with curiosity. Of course they should stare. Kerrich knew how pleasing he was to look at. But he would never pay these girls any mind; his attention and complete devotion belonged to Delilah.

He stopped before her door, waiting for his mistress to give him permission to enter. Not a second after, the door opened by no other force than simply Delilah’s will. His goddess sat on her lavishly garnished canopy bed, wearing a penoir of white lace, reading a book by candlelight. She is more lovely everyday, he thought. She is like the Moon, with luminescent flesh and ringlets that are spun of the night itself.

She raised her pretty eyes from the pages of her book and trapped him in her gaze.

“What news do you bring?” she asked, her voice like tiny bells.

He came around her bed and knelt on the floor beside her.

“I have been keeping a close eye on him, just as you instructed,” he said. “And I have noticed a strange new development. For several months now, he has been watching a mortal girl.”

 “A girl?” she mused. “I didn’t know he hunted girls. His tastes have changed.”

“No, he isn’t hunting her,” Kerrich said. “He just watches her. For some reason, he seems very interested in her.”

She looked away thoughtfully for a moment.

“Kerrich, do you love me?” she whispered, stroking his cheek ever so tenderly.

“With all my heart, mistress,” he vowed, wanting so badly to take her snow white hand and plant a kiss on her fingers.

“I want you to follow this human. Watch her closely, but do not let him know you are watching. I want you to find out what is so special about this girl, what he finds so interesting about her.” She looked down into her lap, with a smile that was an impossible merger of innocence and wickedness. “She will be the key to my revenge.”

About the Author

Tricia Barr always loved creating worlds and romances through writing; however, loving history and the idea of travel more, she pursued a degree in Anthropology. She graduated from the University of Arizona in 2011 and looked hard for a job in her field for two years before she realized that her degree would not allow her the travel opportunities she truly wanted.

Now she works as a writer and a jack-of-all-trades with her husband, Eric Barr, leaving them both plenty of time and freedom to travel on their own terms as they raise a family.

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Book Review: Elven Dwarf by Amanda Redhead and Craig Petillo

Aliaga is the daughter of a healer and a blacksmith, but Crugeon, the father, also know who to wield an ax and is a great warrior. She's also a dwarf, a member of the Norhar clan. The story starts when she is just a child and progresses from there. Not to give much of the story away, she is adopted by wood elves partway into the tale as her clan falls to disease and battle. So she is renamed Alluria and raised as an elf and thinks of herself as such.
As she gets older, her elven father worries about her finding a mate. When a dwarf named Heptos visits, he thinks he's found a perfect mate for Alluria.
Even before this, a demon has stolen a powerful talisman from the council at Druid's Stone though it won't work without a tome containing its spells. The tome is hidden away and various orcs, goblins, and other evildoers want control of both the talisman, a jewel, and the tome. Adventures ensue, battles are fought, and Alluria is right in the middle of it all.
This is a stirring tale in the vein of Tolkien's books. Neldorailin is a dense and rich world with a lot of characters of all the typical fantasy types, but here the authors have woven a tapestry of colorful characters. There are heroines and heroes, dragons, mages, goblin kings, and evil orcs. Some of the characters are quite funny and provide good comic relief. There is a lot of detail and names which are fine for the most part, this being a high fantasy book, but can slow the story down in places with a bit too much telling and not enough showing.
I look forward to more stories from Neldorailin and recommend this book to lovers of high fantasy.

Link to Amazon

Trad Tuesday - Tramps and Hawkers sung by Old Blind Dogs

Tramps and Hawkers is an old Scottish song supposed written by 'Besom Jimmy' in the 1800s. Another Jimmy, surname MacBeath, brought the song to the attention of modern songsmiths and it has been sung by The Dubliners, Luke Kelly, and the Battlefield Band. I happen to prefer this version by Old Blind Dogs.

Tramps And Hawkers

19th Century        
from the singing of Jimmy MacBeath    

         

Oh come a’ ye tramps an hawkers an gaitherers o bla,              
That tramps the country roon an roon, come listen ane and a’
I’ll tell tae you a rovin tale and sights that I have seen
Far up into the snowy North and South by Gretna Green

I have seen the high Ben Nevis a-towerin to the moon,
I’ve been by Crieff and Callander and roon by bonnie Doune,
And by the Nethy’s silvery tides an places ill tae ken                   
Far up into the snowy North lies Urquhart’s bonny glen

Aftimes I’ve lauched into myself when I’m trudging on the road,
Wi a bag o bla upon my back, my face as broon’s a toad,
Wi lumps o cakes an tattie scones an cheese an braxy ham,            
Nae thinking whaur I’m comin fae nor whaur I’m gaun tae gang

I’m happy in the summertime beneath the bricht blue sky,
Nae thinking in the morning at nicht whaur I’ve tae lie.
Barns or byres or anywhere or oot among the hay,
And if the weather does permit I’m happy every day

Oh Loch Katrine and Loch Lomon’ have a’ been seen by me,
The Dee, the Don, the Deveron that hurries into the sea,
Dunrobin Castle, by the way, I nearly had forgot,
An aye the rickles o cairn marks the Hoose o John o Groat.

I’m often roon by Gallowa or doon aboot Stranraer,
Ma business leads me anywhere, sure I travel near an far.
I’ve got a rovin notion, there’s nothing what I loss,
An a’ my day’s my daily fare and what’ll pey ma doss.

I think I’ll go tae Paddy’s land, I’m makin up my min’
For Scotland’s greatly altered now, sure I canna raise the win’
But I will trust in Providence, if Providence will prove true
An I will sing of Erin’s Isle when I come back to you.

Words:
Aftimes: often
Bla: blaw, travellers’ cant for oatmeal
Braxy ham: salted meat from a sheep that died of braxy, an intestinal disease
Cairn: landmark heap of stones
Doss: night’s lodging
Erin’s Isle: Ireland
Ill tae ken: of bad repute
John o Groat/Groats: furthest north building in Scotland
Lauched: laughed
Loss: lose, miss
Paddy’s Land: Ireland
Pey: pay
Rickles : loose heaps

from: http://sangstories.webs.com/trampsandhawkers.htm