Bloodkin (Jaseth of Jaelshead) (49 page)

irstly I would like to thank and apologise to all my beautiful friends whose faces, sayings, mannerisms and even names I have appropriated and bastardised for my own ends. Any and all bad behaviour and drunken idiocy perpetrated by my characters are purely the imaginings of the author and not reflections of reality. Thanks for putting up with me, for giving me light and laughs and companionship and constant inspiration. You know who you are.

A special thanks to Morgan for sharing with me not only the learning that sparked the life of the Nea’thi people, but an unquantifiable amount of love. I wish you all the happiness in the world - you deserve it.

All my love and gratitude to Nick for caring about my imaginary friends and all the assurances that I wasn’t mental. And thanks for all the cups of tea!

I would also like to thank all the people who made my PDC course at Solscape, Raglan, such an amazing experience. All my love to Aurelie, Ben, Lorraine, Dan, Leita, Lisa, Bay, Bevan and Julius as well as our amazing tutors – it only took two weeks for us to become a family, but the real work starts now. The time for change is here, you all have my support just like I know I have yours. Kia ora!

I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without the help of my own personal Mentor, Dr Anne Young. Thanks for all the drugs!

To the team at Write Right: this book wouldn’t be anything without your assistance. To Graeme Lay, my original assessor and editor, thanks for the repetition busting, syntax straightening and massively important confidence boost. And my thanks to Tina Shaw, final editor for
Bloodkin
. I hope you’re looking forward to the next three as much as I am!

I would also like to thank my publishing consultant Jenny Legun, and the team at Createspace, for making this process so easy.

I am indebted to Daniel Reeve for designing my beautiful cover and map and for putting up with my endless requests when he was so frightfully busy.

My thanks also to the wonderful photographer Iain Fergusson for taking my lovely author picture. How nice I look is truly a testament to his skills.

The original, Human-language version of “Will You Fade” was written and performed by Love Spirals Downwards on their 1994 album
Ardor.
My deepest gratitude goes out to Ryan Lum for his permission to use the lyrics and Sam Rosenthal for all his help in obtaining it. Thank you for all the beautiful music!

I must also mention that the lyrics of Jaelshead standard “Gina” were originally written by my awesome flatmate, band-mate and friend Ashley McCormack. Thanks for all the laughs!

The teachings of the Temple are based on a modern Wiccan interpretation of many European Pagan beliefs. Many of the words spoken by the Priestesses were inspired by the rituals described by Scott Cunningham in
Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner
(Llewellyn Publications, 1994). This is an excellent book and is incredibly helpful for anyone interested or new to the craft.

Lastly, and probably mostly, I would like to thank my family, especially my parents, without whom
none
of this would be possible. To Dick & Liz, Mops, Jam Jam and my beautiful grandma Augusta I would like to say this from the bottom of my heart. Churr!

athy Ashford was born in 1984 in Christchurch, New Zealand and grew up in a small town not far to the south, attending boarding school from the ages of 11 to 17. She then attended Canterbury University for five years, graduating with a B.A. Hons in Classics and History. After receiving a Certificate in Audio Engineering from MAINZ in 2007, Cathy worked for her parents’ company, Ashford Handicrafts, for some time before finding a position in music retail at the famous local boutique Radar Records. The February earthquake of 2011 closed the shop and forced Cathy to abandon for a time her red-zoned flat and take refuge with her family. It was during this time, in the autumn and winter of 2011, that Bloodkin was written. Cathy still lives in the damaged city, and is also a fibre artist, musician, vocalist and gardener, who dreams of one day saving the world with literature and Permaculture.