Schools do a poor job of getting kids interested in history for this one simple reason. How can you relate to a historical period without seeing it through the eyes of the people who lived it–explore their hopes, their dreams, their hardships and triumphs.? How can you grasp something that radically changed a person’s entire world when the world we live in, (specifically in America) is so settled, so easy and calm and for the most part, just? I’ve said before, Americans are spoiled. Unless you actually go looking for it, how do you become interested in history in the first place. Most often, people don’t develop an interest,  and that’s a shame.

I hated history in school, but about six  years ago I read my first historical novel which changed everything. When I started to research my own novel, The Sun Palace  set in sixth century Ireland, I hadn’t wanted to add fantasy but  but it naturally popped in through my research. I had no idea that fantasy actually began in Ireland and through Irish folklore. Continue reading →