Tag Archives: Dayna Leigh Cheser

#CoverReveal ~ Logan’s Time by Dayna Leigh Cheser

#CoverReveal

for Logan’s Time by Dayna Leigh Cheser

#coverreveal

Blurb: 

Set in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands, this 19th century historical romance looks at the life and loves of Logan, the Duke of Muileach, beginning when he’s seven years old. Grandson of the old Duke, Logan hides in his mother’s room to witness his brother’s birth. Confused, he watches as his mother, Annella, abandons the newborn, flees to the South Tower, then locks herself and her entourage inside.

After eight self-sequestered years in the South Tower, Annella disappears, leaving a family with too many questions.  Later, Logan and Daniel lose their beloved grandfather, followed too soon by their grandmother.

Logan travels to England to attend school, where he meets Richard Grayson—the youngest son of an English duke. After graduation, a celebratory trip to Paris results in tragedy. Minuet, the love of Logan’s life, may be dead, while his best friend, Richard, leaves Paris without notice.

Peadair, Logan’s father, then the duke, renounces his title and leaves Muileach, to face an uncertain future in southern France with his long-missing wife who hates him. Logan, at age twenty-five, becomes the Duke of Muileach.

Believing Richard had betrayed him with Minuet, Logan needs to square things with his former friend. He learns Richard now lives in America. Setting sail to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, he arrives just in time to crash Richard and Janelle’s wedding. That same day, he meets, and marries Rachel.

Too long absent from Muileach, Logan returns to Muileach with his family to discover Seanna, a childhood friend, and sometimes lover, has birthed his first-born son. Later, Seanna reveals her plans to make sure her son is the next duke.

And now for the moment we’ve all been waiting for…

#coverreveal

Free Chapter: http://bit.ly/DLC-LT-Free

Muileach Castle ~ A Description and History #Logan’s Time by Dayna Leigh Cheser

Muileach Castle

History and Description of Muileach Castle

LOCATION:  Western Islands of Scotland > Isle of Mull > Southern Region > Loch Buie > Muileach Castle on Eilean Mor, just off the shore from the real town of Lochbuie.

The island of Eilean Mor, 750’ x 1000’ (approx.) is at the head end of Loch Buie.  In reality, it’s an island, surrounded by shallow water.  For the purpose of the book, it’s hitched to the mainland from the main gate area by an irregular strip of land, maybe 15’ to 20’ wide, to accommodate walkers, riders, and wagons.

Muileach Castle

History

William I, King of the Scots, ruled from 1165 to 1214. During this time, he was involved in a number of battles and skirmishes (also known as ‘royal expeditions’) that reflected his headstrong tendencies. At the Battle of Alnwick (1174), he charged the English troops himself but was captured by troops loyal to King Henry II of England. In 1175, under the conditions of the Treaty of Falaise, that included his swearing fealty to King Henry, William was allowed to return to his duties as King of the Scots.   (truth)

During the early years of King William’s reign, Daniel mac Conor, a close friend and trusted advisor of Irish descent, stayed by William’s side, even while he was held by the English after the Battle of Alnwick. For his loyalty, Daniel was rewarded with lands that encompassed much of the southern part of the Isle of Mull, including all of the land around Loch Buie. Daniel mac Conor took possession of the lands and immediately started building a castle for his family and followers.    (fiction)

Construction

Muileach Castle

The shape of the castle compound is very roughly rectangular. None of the outside walls, excepting the back wall of the Main House, are straight for any distance. The walls at their base follow the general contour of the landmass of the island under them with straightening of the walls as they increase in height. The approximate center of the northern long side of the island is the back of the keep so that is straight and the house is rectangular, with 3-floors, except where the North Tower sprouts up out of it, adding 2 more floors.

The original construction of the castle began in the 11th century with the keep and the North and South Towers. The main structures were built entirely of stone, with wooden connecting fences that created a reasonably secure small compound, roughly on the center of the largest part of the land, northwest to southeast.  The wood for the walls and other uses were large trees brought in by ship from forested lands to the south. Other buildings within the castle walls were wooden.

By the later part of the 13th century, the western end of the compound was complete, including the West Tower, which allowed access to the sea by way of a natural inlet and jetty. The western wooden wall was replaced with stone.

By the 15th century, the eastern end of the compound was added, including new stone outside walls, the Left and Right Towers, and a new main gate between the new towers. The last of the old wooden outside walls were removed. This created a large, open bailey inside the compound.

The outside walls of the castle are approximately twenty feet thick at ground level, tapering to ten feet thick at the sixty-foot high level, and to three feet thick at the eighty feet level at the tops of the five towers.

The ramparts are at the sixty feet level all the way around the compound with arrow slits, but with some openings large enough to utilize other defenses, such as to pouring hot oil onto the attackers, if necessary.  No openings, other than the defensive openings, exist in the smooth outside walls. Where the ramparts meet the towers, there is an eight-foot wide by ten-foot high, enclosed walkway through the outside of the tower, with arrow slits in the outside walls.

The castle walls are trussed every fifty feet around the inside from the ground to a height of forty feet, except in the keep where the inside walls give strength to the outside wall of the compound.

The towers are eighty feet tall and have five levels (floors). They are round and measure about sixty feet across at ground level, tapering to about forty feet across at the fifth floor level.

The entrance to each tower opens into the bailey. Each of the towers has a stairwell located inside the entrance.  The stairwell is round, approximately fifteen feet across, tapering as the tower does, with stairs that are six feet wide attached to the walls of the stairwell that go from the ground level to the uppermost rooms. Access to each floor is by a large, wooden door. Access to the ramparts is by a heavy wooden door on the third floor.

The North Tower is built (as described about the other towers) inside the keep on the approximate center of the back wall, at the back of the house. See the paragraph in the keep section. The first, second and third floors of this tower are secure rooms within the keep. This tower has a secret escape route from the top two floors built into the walls, which exits into a storage area in the scullery.

Description of Interior of Compound – Towers

The Left and Right Towers are on either side of the gate that opens onto the isthmus of land connecting the castle to the mainland (that exists in the book, but not in reality). The first and second floors are living quarters for the castle guards, with or without families. The third floor (the level of the ramparts) is where much of the weaponry is stored. The fourth floor is where new weapons are made, and the fifth floor is the observation post. The view from eighty feet in the air is spectacular.

The West Tower’s ground floor is accessible on the outside to the water with a natural inlet and stone jetty, and a wooden dock that extends out into the water. When under attack, either from the sea or by Mother Nature (wild storms are common, especially in the winter), large, heavy wooden doors are closed and secured from the inside on the outside wall, and from inside the compound on the inside wall of the tower. There is no access to upper floors from the ground floor level. The second floor is accessible from an outside stairwell inside the compound, and stairs above that, to the third, and fourth floors, which are for storage for the needs of the castle. The fifth floor is the west observation post

The South Tower, from the original compound, was abandoned by Logan’s 3-greats-grandfather. This was after much of the original roof was destroyed, and interior badly water-damaged by a severe winter storm. The roof was repaired, using stone tiles laid almost flat on new support beams with enough of a slope to drain adequately (different from the roof construction of the other towers which had pointed roofs with wood shingles), but the internal damage was too extensive, and too expensive to repair. Since that time, the upper floors were deemed unsafe. The ground floor level served as storage for unused and cast off items.

Description of Interior of Compound – General

While glass for windows and other uses was available in other parts of the world much earlier, it didn’t come to the Muileach Castle until the 1830s when Duke Logan did major renovations on the house after his marriage. Before that, wooden shutters were used, opened during the day for the heat and light, weather permitting. The shutters were closed at night against the chill. The shutters did little to stop the wind – the house was very drafty and very cold in the winter. When glass finally arrived at Muileach Castle, it was first installed in the Main House, then, later, in other areas of the compound. Duke Logan also created a ‘solar’ (sitting room) out of a south-east facing room on the second floor, lining both the east and south walls with large windows.

The Keep

Built as the main part of the original compound, the keep, at that time, housed everyone in the community. By Logan’s time, the keep was for family, extended family, some staff, and guests/visitors, as everyone else had other living arrangements in the area outside the castle.

The bottom three floors of the North Tower are part of the house, while, in the tower, the fourth floor is for the Duke and Duchess’s children and their attendants. The fifth floor is apartments for the Duke and Duchess and their attendants plus a private sitting room for the family.

The main hall takes up half of the first floor on the eastern side of the building, with the rest of the space being the scullery, and storage areas.

The second floor consists of bedrooms and suites, schoolrooms, parlors, the estate office, and more. The third floor consists largely of bedrooms and suites.

Most of the female house staff have rooms on the western end of the third floor, along with most of the female staff of extended family, and attendants of guests. The rest of the third floor is storage.

The Community

Outside the castle, in Logan’s time, dozens of families live on small farms or in groups of cottages, but remain part of the community, coming to the castle often, especially for the many celebrations.

With its location, Muileach has a rich and diverse life with farmers, herders, fishermen, and tradespeople counted among the residents.

Come live in Victorian Scotland while you read the
fourth book of Dayna Leigh Cheser’s TIME Series.

Free Chapter: http://bit.ly/DLC-LT-Free

Logan’s Time – A History of Logan’s Time by Dayna Leigh Cheser

Logan’s Time by Dayna Leigh Cheser

‘Logan’s Time’, A Minor Character Becomes a Big Challenge

After I finished Janelle’s Time, a minor character in the book, Logan Conor, the Scots Duke of Muileach, came to me, demanding I write HIS book, because readers and reviewers liked him.

Now, picture Fabio (remember him?) but with red hair and blue eyes, add a dash of attitude, and that’s Logan. He crashed Richard and Janelle’s wedding in June of 1831 in New Hampshire.

I didn’t know what to do. This was new to me, communicating with a character. Was I losing my mind? Well, I ignored him. But, he was relentless. He was in my dreams, and in my face.

I wondered if I could develop a minor character into a main character and write a whole book about him, so I gave it some thought. Will I be able to do justice to a book set in Scotland (a place I’ve never been) and about a Scots Duke?

Before I agreed to do the book, I needed to sketch out Logan’s life. At that point in the thought process, I had him as a part-time pirate (that didn’t work out ultimately). In order for him to be a pirate, his castle had to be close to the water.  I spent hours with maps, looking for the perfect location. I didn’t know it then, but there are a lot of islands of every size in the western Highlands of Scotland, but I finally found the perfect location.  It’s a small island, Eilean Mor, at the head end of Loch Buie, a salt-water lake on the southern end of the Isle of Mull.  In the book, it’s a peninsula, but otherwise, that’s the locale.

Logan's Time

As time went on, bits and pieces fell into place, and I finally agreed to write the book. At the time, Logan’s Time was slated to be Book 2, but then, Janelle’s twin daughters came along with stories of their own, Moria’s Time and Adelle’s Time. Logan wasn’t happy when I bumped him to Book 4, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. It’s a spinoff (rather than a sequel), and, as it turns out, I believe it is the best book in the series.  With a lead character like Logan, it HAS to be great!

I submitted Janelle’s Time to a publisher in August of 2011, and signed a contract (big mistake) in October. The book was released in July of 2012.

The day I submitted Janelle’s Time, I started Logan’s Time, getting about 50,000 words done before I had to stop to do NaNoWriMo (Moria’s Time), followed by edits in Janelle’s Time, then the release.  I also worked in a switch from my old blog to my new website/blog – a hefty undertaking. Then, work on Moria’s Time, followed by another NaNoWriMo (Adelle’s Time),  Moria’s Time released in August of 2013. As soon as Moria’s Time was complete, I started working on Adelle’s Time, followed by a third NaNoWriMo (Clarissa’s Time). I barely got Adelle’s Time launched when we decided to move from Naples to Lake Placid which took about 6 weeks. By then, I was so far behind on everything, I took several months off to catch up.

I didn’t get back to Logan’s Time full time until September of 2014, and have been working on it ever since.

In April of 2014, I was going through the list of Tweeps who wanted me to follow them. I came across a Scots writer who listed his town so I went to Google Maps and found him and all but freaked out. He lives a scant 50 miles (the way the crow flies) from the locale of Logan’s Time. I followed him, then sent a tweet: “Have you ever been to Eilean Mor?” His response was, “No. Are you from there?” We’ve been friends ever since.

In the summer, Bob and his brother took a trip to Lochbuie, the tiny town near Eilean Mor. Up to that point, the only view I’d had of the island was via satellite maps. Between pictures Bob found for me locally, and the pictures he took while he and his brother were there, I know a lot more about what we’ve come to call ‘my island’.

After his visit, Bob said he’d found no indication that anyone had ever lived on the island. I was thrilled.  Logan’s castle was built in the 1200s, followed by two rounds of expansions and renovations over the years to become the castle in the story in the 1800s.

I learned that Moy Castle was within sight of Muileach Castle, so I had to come up with a scenario to explain that fact.  Also in Lochbuie is a very old small circle of stones – think a tiny Stonehenge.  It’s smaller than Craig na Dun (Outlander’s infamous circle of stones).

***

Set in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands, this 19th century historical romance looks at the life and loves of Logan, the Duke of Muileach, beginning when he’s seven years old. Grandson of the old Duke, Logan hides in his mother’s room to witness his brother’s birth. Confused, he watches as his mother, Annella, abandons the newborn, flees to the South Tower, then locks herself and her entourage inside.

Logan's Time

After eight self-sequestered years in the South Tower, Annella disappears, leaving a family with too many questions. Later, Logan and Daniel lose their beloved grandfather, followed too soon by their grandmother.

Logan travels to England to attend school, where he meets Richard Grayson—the youngest son of an English duke. After graduation, a celebratory trip to Paris results in tragedy. Minuet, the love of Logan’s life, may be dead, while his best friend, Richard, leaves Paris without notice.

Peadair, Logan’s father, then the duke, renounces his title and leaves Muileach, to face an uncertain future in southern France with his long-missing wife who hates him. Logan, at age twenty-five, becomes the Duke of Muileach.

Believing Richard had betrayed him with Minuet, Logan needs to square things with his former friend. He learns Richard now lives in America. Setting sail to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, he arrives just in time to crash Richard and Janelle’s wedding. That same day, he meets, and marries Rachel.

Too long absent from Muileach, Logan returns to Muileach with his family to discover Seanna, a childhood friend, and sometimes lover, has birthed his first-born son. Later, Seanna reveals her plans to make sure her son is the next duke.

Come live in Victorian Scotland while you read the fourth book of Dayna Leigh Cheser’s TIME Series.

Free Chapter: http://bit.ly/DLC-LT-Free

Moria’s Time by Dayna Leigh Cheser

Moria’s Time

MT Cover 286Moria’s Time, Book 2 of the TIME Series, by Dayna Leigh Cheser

Janelle Grayson is distraught over a troubling vision. Old Agnes MacKendall has seen her infant daughter, Moria, as a young woman, years in the future, traveling afar to a perilous place, fraught with danger.
Janelle and her husband, Richard, are both concerned about the vision. They decide to do all they can to prepare their precious little girl for what likely lies ahead for her. It’s a future charged with risk the likes of which, for the unprepared and ordinary person, could spell certain doom.

So begins Moria’s Time—Book 2 of the TIME Series.

At six-years old, Moria starts to learn about her heritage. Like her mother, Moria is a MacKendall. The women of this Scots clan have unusual powers including, among many other skills, natural medicine—which Janelle soon discovers is Moria’s special and strongest gift. Richard agrees with Janelle that she should train Moria, focusing on, and nurturing, her rare strengths in preparing for her future. By the time she’s a teen, Moria is a talented natural healer.

At fourteen, Moria meets Elizabeth Blackwell who befriends and mentors Moria, guiding her through the long and arduous journey to her goal of becoming a doctor.

Later, while visiting family in England, Moria meets Florence Nightingale—who will figure significantly in her life in the future. The family also meets Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Later, Miss Nightingale summons Moria to London, where she works at a charity hospital and meets Dr. Simon Hensley.

Moria becomes one of the first 38 nurses bound for Scutari, Turkey with Miss Nightingale. Dr. Hensley, in love with Moria, follows her, much to her chagrin, but she’s skittish—about men, relationships, anything and anyone that might distract her from the challenge of being a woman daring to want a career in the male-dominated field of medicine—and, so … she rebuffs him.

At home for a visit, Moria is overjoyed to reconnect with her twin sister, Adelle, and meets her beau, Walter. He and Adelle convince Moria that Dr. Hensley isn’t the enemy. He may well be the one to protect her from the men she fears. Back in Turkey, Moria and Dr. Hensley work things out.

Simon and Moria return to London after the war. At Devonwood, the Grayson family estate, Moria’s Grandmother convinces Moria can marry Simon and not endanger her future. Simon proposes; Moria accepts. The twins plan a double wedding.

After the wedding, Simon and Moria visit medical schools for interviews. Moria is turned away from school after school, simply because she’s woman. Finally, a school in Pennsylvania accepts Moria who graduates at the top of her class.

Does Moria have the right to impose what her needs on Simon? How long will Simon put his life on hold while she pursues hers? Do they really want to open a practice? As doctors, is a practice all that’s available to them? There are so many questions, and too few answers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About the Author

J head bMy mother, a non-fiction author, two brothers—one as a newspaper editor, the other, a copywriter—and a sister, a church newsletter editor, prove that clearly, writing ‘runs in my family’. Much of what I’ve written over the years was never published – much of it never shared with anyone.

My father, a school teacher/reading specialist, started teaching me to read after story-time one night when I was four years old. I’d stopped him mid-story to ask how he was able to say the same thing every time he read that story to me. My lessons started that night, beginning a life-long love affair with books—and for that, I am grateful.

The short stories I wrote in junior high school entertained my peers – and the occasional teacher who intercepted them in their travels. At the high school level, one English class assignment was to write an autobiography. In the teacher-specified chapter entitled ‘Future Plans’, being a published writer topped the list. I can’t remember not wanting to write.

After a college professor told me I ‘couldn’t write my way out of a paper bag,’ I stopped writing for years. It was not until the late 1970s, when I wrote an article for the now-defunct World Radio News (San Diego, CA), that my writing gene was reactivated. The article was about our amateur radio club providing communications for a March of Dimes Walk-a-thon. Seven of the twenty pictures my husband submitted with my article were used.

In early 2002, between jobs and wanting to write seriously, I obtained a third-shift position as a gated-community security officer and used the ‘free time’ to write what became Janelle’s Time. When the draft was complete, it went on the shelf. At that time, the industry was shifting from the Post Office to the internet – a very confusing time! In 2009, when I started my Twitter page, @Writers_Cafe, the WIP came off the shelf. What I’ve learned from my (now) 19,000 followers is prodigious – I feel like I’ve earned a degree! By August 2011, it was ready—at last—for submission.

@RileyCarney, a Colorado teen, and prolific YA fantasy author, who heads her own non-profit literacy project moved me to write an article about her. Never officially published, countless people have seen the article, thanks to Twitter retweets and some carefully chosen email inboxes.

On New Year’s Day, 2010, my shiny new blog, A Place for Writers, went ‘live.’ It evolved into a combination chronicle of my writing journey and helpful posts on publishing industry topics.

In the fall of 2011, I added ‘DIY Interviews’ to my blog (see the ‘DIY Interviews’ tab of my website for details on doing an interview). Not a primary task in the overall scheme of things, over fifty authors have submitted interviews to date.

Janelle’s Time is book one of my ‘TIME Series’ and was published in July of 2012. Book two, Moria’s Time, was my winning NaNoWriMo project for 2011. It’s now complete and will be released in mid-August of 2013. There are three more books in the series: Adelle’s Time (my winning 2012 NaNo project), Logan’s Time, and Clarissa’s Time (my 2013 NaNo project for 2013).

In September of 2012, I switched from my blog A Place for Writers, and went to a full website: www.DaynaLCheser.com. With thirty pages, my new blog, ‘Posts by Dayna,’ is there now, along with ‘DIY Interviews,’ and extensive information about the ‘TIME Series.’

My husband, Pete, and I have been married for forty-five years—no children—and have lived in Southwest Florida for over twenty years, originally hailing from New England.

You can find/follow Julie at these links…

Website: Dayna L Cheser
Blog: Posts by Dayna
Twitter: @DaynaLCheser and at @Writers_Cafe
and her Amazon author page Dayna L Cheser